Character Trait Makes for a Mean Drunk

Maybe not: Will Oremus

(NEWSER) - Some teens are, apparently, now getting drunk on hand sanitizer —would such a binge feel any different than the type of intoxication brought about by more traditional forms of alcohol? Not necessarily, writes Will Oremus in Slate's Explainer column , because "ethyl alcohol is ethyl alcohol" no matter what it's fermented from. There's no proof that different types of alcohol result in different types of drunken moods. More»

Niall Pawsey stripped down and jumped in River Thames

(NEWSER) - A law student drowned in the River Thames after getting drunk to celebrate a month of sobriety, a London inquest found this week. Niall Pawsey, 20, drank more than four times the legal driving limit after winning a bet to go 28 days without alcohol. Kicked out of a pub for singing, Pawsey joined friends to the Thames, stripped to his undies, and jumped in. He was 15 feet from the shore when he went under, the Daily Mail reports. More»

Gene variation causes people to get drunk faster, may stave off alcoholism

(NEWSER) - A "drunken" gene—or, some might say, a "lightweight" gene—has been discovered by researchers probing the causes of alcoholism. Some 20% of people have a version of the gene CYP2E1 that causes them to get drunk much faster than others. The researchers say these people are less likely than others to become alcoholics because they are more sensitive to alcohol and can't consume large amounts of it, the Telegraph reports. More»

No drunk horseback riding in Colorado, and other weird rules

(NEWSER) - Growlers may be the new hipster trend , but good luck finding one in Alabama. Any beer bottle larger than 16 ounces is banned there, along with "sensuous" wine labels. That's just one of a dozen crazy liquor laws complied by Mother Jones :

• No sunrise mimosas in Alaska: you can't buy booze between 5am and 8am.
• Stay out of the driver's seat and the saddle if you've been imbibing in Colorado, where drunk horseback riding is illegal.

Recent H1N1-inspired flood of alcohol-based products into schools are also flammable

(NEWSER) - Schools are loading up on hand sanitizer in an effort to fight swine flu—but the alcohol-based panacea has problems of its own, the Chicago Tribune reports. Bottles and dispensers of the stuff are ubiquitous in classrooms, and officials have belatedly realized the dangers of its 65% alcohol content. “If there's an ignition source, it could catch on fire,” a fire official says. More»