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From: bzs@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Barry Shein)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,net.med
Subject: Re: Drug Abuse:  Who is an abuser.
Message-ID: <1834@bu-cs.bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Date: Sun, 12-Oct-86 11:30:50 EDT
Article-I.D.: bu-cs.1834
Posted: Sun Oct 12 11:30:50 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 13-Oct-86 00:43:22 EDT
Organization: Boston U. Comp. Sci.
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Xref: watmath talk.politics.misc:620 net.med:5153


>	- What's an alcoholic?  Some of the surveys being bandied about
>	  consider an alcoholic to be anybody who has consumed the equivalent
>	  of 3 beers or more in a week.

This is amusing. I was once recruited to participate in a beer study.
I had to fill out a questionairre about my drinking habits.

The multiple choice questions STARTED at something like 2 beers per day.
I was rejected as a participant because I drink something like 2 beers
a decade (boy, did they pick the wrong guy, but I don't hate beer or
anything, I just don't drink much.)

The impression I got from the market researcher was that it was very
unusual to find such a light drinker that didn't abstain for some
reason (they asked about other alcoholic beverages, it would have been
ok if I drank wine, whiskey or most any household solvent with some
frequency so it wasn't weighted ridiculously to beer), that their
intervals produced lots of subjects. I told her I wasn't surprised.
Now what does this say about most of us?

	-Barry Shein, Boston University