The party had really begun to die down, as 2:24am rolled around on the oven's clock. Empty beer bottles stood tall on every desk and table, along with a few vodka and rum bottles every once in a while. The social drinkers had all called cabs home for the night, while one or two people laid out on the grass, reeking of the stench of beer and various other alcoholic drinks, soundly passed out.

Drinking is part of a Nova Scotian tradition, in a sense, and is something that many people enjoy taking part in very much. This is a place with a drinking culture that is unique from many other places in the world, and even most places in Canada. We have our own beer, many Vineyards, and even our own shows like Trailer Park Boys, where nearly every scene contains alcohol. Along with that, we have the highest consumption rate of alcohol for people between the ages of 15 and 24 in all of Canada.

Here, we’ll briefly look at where Nova Scotia's drinking culture has come from, and what it's currently like.
In the early 1900's, drinking was popular and quite common in Nova Scotia, even when it was looked down upon by many. This was largely due to the traditions of the people living here, who were often in the Army, or fishermen, both of which are professions strongly connected to alcohol use. There were also many Celtic traditions that have been passed on from Ireland, Scotland, and Germany.

These times differed from current times, though, as most of the heavy drinking was being done by adults. Now, alcohol is easily available to nearly all teenagers.
That's the real issue today. Despite the drinking age being 19, many kids are starting to drink at the age of 13 or 14, and sometimes younger than that. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the problem lies in that the legal drinking age is high enough, and kids are starting to drink young enough, that they often don't learn to use alcohol in moderation. For example, in certain parts of Europe where the drinking age is much lower, and kids are brought up on alcohol, they tend not to binge drink in the same way that is quite common here. There certainly isn't less drinking in these areas, but there are less alcohol related accidents and alcoholism, which Nova Scotia seems plagued with. This is a problem, despite the fact that many teens' parents will actually buy them alcohol and allow them to drink.

Since it's already generally socially acceptable for teens to drink alcohol, I believe that we should continue doing so, and preserve much of the Nova Scotian tradition that promotes alcohol. But at the same time, I believe that we can do that while keeping things in moderation. I'm sure that the age people start to drink at will continue to lower, and there will be at least as many parties in the future as there are now. Drinking customs and traditions will carry on, but continue to evole and change as new generations come up. Just hopefully we will be able to teach them moderation earlier, and end up with less of the negative effects that we suffer today.

If we drink more responsibly, we could lower the huge amount of car accidents and alcohol related deaths, as well as the amount of alcoholism and problems caused by it's abuse. Drinking has been a part of every culture and civilization on the earth, in one way or another, and that'll never change. However, if we aren't careful, it may destroy the very same traditions that it was once used to celebrate.

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