alcohol?

Pursuing question 3, I read an article about the relationship between alcohol consumption and social interaction in Uganda and wasn't surprised to see the correlation between the two. The authors determined that typically the more people one interacts with, the more they drink because it's something people normally do together, with someone else. I'd really like to find out Ugandan's perspective on alcohol consumption and whether it is looked down upon, accepted, hidden...etc. Uganda has one of the highest per capita alcohol consumption in the world, so it's obviously a huge problem that leads to other problems affecting society.

Thinking about this problem in Uganda has also made me think about our mindset of alcohol consumption in the U.S. From my experience, I feel like drinking is totally accepted in our society and many people just think of it as a part of growing up. At most parties and events, outside of the LDS culture, it's pretty much expected to have alcohol available and ya, you're supposed to be over 21 to drink, but really, who even follows that law? I mean, some people do, but lots of people don't. But drinking at parties and with your friends a couple times a week is different from being an alcoholic. I feel like alcoholics are looked down upon in our society. Have you ever not given money to a beggar on the streets because you thought they'd just go spend it on alcohol? Alcoholics are often painted as people who's lives are completely messed up because of the horrible choice they made to drink alcohol. If you think about it, it's kind of an ironic mind-set. Why is it okay for teenagers to break the law and drink (I've known parents who think their kids are gonna drink anyway, so they might as well monitor it by hosting the party at their house) but not okay to become an alcoholic?

Anyways, I know my thoughts are really scrambled and completely just from my experience, but I just think it would be interesting to see the differences and similarities between the mind-sets of alcohol consumption in Uganda and the U.S.