Fort Collins Alcohol Use

[suzco]

Originally Posted by barefootmeg

. . .I decided not to even apply to CU when I found out that they were the number one party school in the U.S. . . . According to the County Health Rankings website, Larimer County is pretty far down the list in terms of excessive drinking in Colorado. (Top 5 are Routt, Moffat, Pitkin, Eagle, and Gunnison. Denver is ranked 8th. Larimer County is tied for 19th place with 8 other counties.) . . .

Curiosity makes me ask (I'm not a cat, so it's not likely to kill me) - where's Boulder County on the list, since you didn't apply to CU (I'm assuming in Boulder) because of the drinking?

Do you have a link to the County Health Rankings website - sounds like an interesting site to look at.

[barefootmeg]

Rats! I just closed that tab. Let's see...

ok, here's a link: Excessive drinking in Colorado | County Health Rankings

in case it takes you to the home page, from there click on "measures" then click on the blue "heath factors" link then select excessive drinking. if you "view data" then you get percentages and then you can reorder them from highest to lowest.

it turns out that boulder is at 17%, same as larimer. i wonder what the two counties would be at percentage-wise without their universities.

[countryway]

ALOT of Alcohol consumption in this town, especially in the bar-laced "Old Town". As it compares to other places in the country? I cannot say. Out of all the places I've lived, definitely more of an alcohol culture. I think that this is a well-known fact in many if not most University Towns. Although, I did not notice this in the CA college towns that I am familiar with as much as here. BUT, I am certainly not familiar with many of the CA College towns.

The plethora of drinking establishments and breweries probably has quite a bit to do with it here.

[cocaseco]

Originally Posted by cobmw

Do you think that there is an unusually high degree of alcohol use in Fort Collins? Especially by young people? An alcohol counselor said to me "all young people in FC have at least least one DUI". True enough for one of my kids.

What a ridiulous statement. Has he met all young people in Fort Collins? I'd discount anyone who generalizes this much as they are surely drama queens.

[cocaseco]

Originally Posted by cobmw

I stay clear of Boulder. Place makes my skin crawl. I paid the out-of-state tuition for my nephew to attend CU. Kid went in as a pretty good guy who had worked hard in his father's business. Came out of CU as a worthless mushhead. Now 33 years old and still living with his mother. Does not work. Sits on computer all day looking for scams he can get into. Complains constantly about how life is stacked against him and that the rich people won't let him get ahead. What a shame.

yep that sounds like the city and university clearly failed him.

[AMidnightSoul]

Originally Posted by cocaseco

What a ridiulous statement. Has he met all young people in Fort Collins? I'd discount anyone who generalizes this much as they are surely drama queens.

LOL, I agree. I know plenty of young people in Ft. Collins that don't have DUI's or alcohol problems. I would never trust a so-called expert who makes such generalized statements.

I think people are confusing two different aspects of Ft. Collins. There's the college town vibe with a bunch of college kids who like to party. That aspect can be found in most college towns. I've lived in several college towns and they all have that vibe around the bar scene, which happens to be Old Town.

The second aspect of Ft. Collins is the micro-brew culture. People take it serious here and it's a favorite pasttime of many people to home brew and to compare different microbrews from establishments. Those people should not be confused with the "drunk college kid" crowd. It's two completely different groups of people and I don't see a irresponsible drinking culture around the micro-brew folks. Not like the college kids.

[AMidnightSoul]

Originally Posted by cocaseco

yep that sounds like the city and university clearly failed him.

Personal responsiblity went out the window years ago. Now, people need someone else to blame. Establishments are preferred over other individuals, but as long as there's someone or something to point the finger at, people are happy.