19 Reasons Why Drinking On The Beach Is Harmful

As we head into the summer, the subject of drinking on the beach comes up a lot. Pretty much people say it is OK to drink on the beach if you do it quietly in a paper or plastic cup. That the majority of people do it with responsibility. That is NOT TRUE.. if you are breaking a law.. that is not responsible. Period..

I don’t care if you are quiet and pick up your trash… You are still breaking the law. The same case could be made:

• I can speed because I am responsible.
• I can run a stop light because I am responsible.
• I can drink and drive because I am responsible.
• I can run a brothel out of my house because I am responsible.
• I can hand out Oxy-Con to my friends because I am responsible.
• I can break any laws I want because I am responsible.
• I can text and drive because I am responsible.

How many laws do we have due to irresponsible behavior? Laws are made only because people abuse good behavior. Then you have to question, what is good behavior? Good behavior varies from person to person… which is why we have laws. Remember some people think that robbing a bank is good behavior.

Good behavior is not drinking on the beach, it is against the law… and who are you really fooling, when you take a red cup, a glass wine glass, or any cup down to the beach? How does that behavior say ‘GOOD’. You are saying, I can break the law, I don’t have to be responsible, I don’t care about what it says to other people..I am exempt.. it is OK to break the law.

This is a perfect example of a total disregard for laws: “Lifeguard tells a guy he can’t drink on the Boardwalk. A motorized skateboard just misses hitting my feet (my left one is in a “fracture boot” already!) The guy says he’s not the only one drinking on the beach…he’s only being hassled “because he’s Mexican” and walks off (with his beer), saying “none of the laws are enforced here, don’t just single me out.”‘

Of course there are complaints about San Diego outlawing drinking on the beach and over-reacting to the few 5% who get drunk and ruin things for everybody. In fact here was one comment… In the meantime the vast majority of responsible people can no longer enjoy a (plastic)  glass of wine as we did for decades. This is not progress, it is another step towards authoritarian zero-tolerance anti-civil liberties government, as we line up in silence.’ (seen on the blogs)

One of the comments on a forum was:  ‘As someone… who opposed the booze ban…. The City passed this law to address about 5% of the beach-goer population. The other 95% of people who enjoyed a beer or wine on the beach were responsible and posed no problem. But the City thought that the answer to the 5% was to enact a knee-jerk blanket law to partially “solve” the problem, in essence punishing the 95%. There were laws on the books to deal with public intoxication, but that would have required an effort, so like most bureaucracies they over-reached. So here we are today and there is still a problem and the City is not even addressing that – enforcing the public intoxication laws.’

Well he is right, with the lack of 200 policemen, the huge amount of bars and liquor stores, the focus is on the areas where the bars are. The 5 mile stretch of ocean front beach and the 10 mile stretch of bay front are like an open invitation to those who want to party all nite. The beach fills up as well as the trash cans. It takes time and resources to run a drunk into jail.

Then the residents complain about all the ‘canners’, the people on the beach picking up cans. Of course, like any business person, they go where the money is. The beaches and trashcans are overflowing with cans and recyclable bottles.

As much as I hate not watching the sunset with a good bottle of wine, there are many, many reasons why drinking at the beach should not be allowed and abusers should be cited. (Sorry, people)

19 Reasons Drinking Liquor Should Not Be Allowed On Beaches 

1.) There is a direct correlation between beach trash and liquor. One gets drunk and one leaves things behind, like personal belongings and trash, lots of trash. The ONLY people who love to see liquor bottles on the beach. are the metal detector guys, who find lots of goodies, money, rings, wallets and other treasures. Towels, clothing, blankets, sheets, hats, shoes are all left behind.. waiting for someone else to pick up after them.

2.) Drunk people do not pick up their trash. They can barely walk, so why would they even think of picking up after themselves. Bottle caps and packaging are just left all over the beach. To top it off, many of those drunks just sleep it off on the beach, garnering more resident complaints about people sleeping on the beach.

3.) Kills marine animals and birds. Those bottle caps are eaten by sea-gulls and or washed out to sea.

4.) There is a direct correlation between drinking liquor and illegal fires. Illegal fires are dangerous, many are not put out completely. The fires and their coals continue to burn all day even if buried in sand. People bring wood with rusty nails in them and just leave them behind. Add in to the fact they just throw their trash around, there is broken glass in the fire. 98% of the illegal fires are surrounded by liquor containers. Wood bonfires outside of fire rings were banned in California in 2016.

Of the average of 7 illegal fires daily in South Mission Beach, 90% have left behind trash and that trash has liquor bottles.

5.) Drinking and driving: I do not know when one of those drinkers on the beach are going to drive. Just within 1 block of my house in one year: One person was killed by a drunk driver and there were 2 ‘Car Swipes’ by a drunk driver. Last month 5 drunk guys ran a stop sign, T-boned another driver, 3 of the guys ran away and the driver stayed. According to eye witness reports, the police did not give him a ticket.

• 2016: 10,497 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for 28% of all traffic-related deaths in the United States
• 2016, more than 1 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. That’s one percent of the 111 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year.
• Someone dies from a drunk driving accident every 50 minutes—that amounts to 29 fatalities a day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

6.) There is a direct correlation between Smoking- Marijuana-Vaping use and Drinking: More vape paraphernalia, more cigarette butts, more pot containers.Many people who quit smoking find themselves picking up the habit again the minute they pick up a drink. Smoking is not allowed on most beaches. In fact cigarette butts are one of the top finds in beach cleans.

• 28.4% of the litter picked up in San Diego from Beach Clean were from cigarette litter
•  59,144 cigarette butts were picked up in San Diego in 2016 by volunteers with San Diego Coastkeeper.
• 13% of nighttime, weekend drivers have marijuana in their system.
• Center of Disease Control)Marijuana users were about 25% more likely to be involved in a crash than drivers with no evidence of marijuana use, however other factors–such as age and gender–may account for the increased crash risk among marijuana users. 

7.) Public Safety: I have NEVER seen a broken glass coke bottle, but everyday, one sees 2-5 broken beer bottles on the beach, on the boardwalk, in the parking lots. Most people walk on the beach barefoot, how safe is this? Kids are playing on this beach all day long

8.) Broken Glass and bottle caps do not get picked up by beach screeners. The screeners only go down 1-2 inches. When buried, they will get re-washed up during weather and tides. In addition, the screeners do not clean all the ‘wet areas’, where much of the liquor and drug trash is.

9.) When one person is seen drinking, others follow. No longer is it 5%, it is now 10-20% drinking on the beach. Beach drinkers are sending messages to the youth, it is OK to break the law. It does not matter what the law is… just break it. Any law.. others are doing it, so can it.. great message to send.

10.) It is against the law at most California beaches. It is also against the law in Hawaii and Washington. Oregon allows drinking on the beach, but there is a bill trying to ban drinking. Texas and Florida have some beaches that allow drinking. It is not just California that has this law.

11.) It cost Taxpayer Dollars. Somebody has to clean up the mess and it comes directly out of taxpayer pockets. Every minute a city worker is sweeping broken glass is one less minute that bathrooms are being cleaned. Is this what we really want to spend our taxpayer dollars on?

12.) The cans and bottles are not recycled. The trash cans on the beach go directly into a landfill. This also goes for aluminum and plastic bottles. The packaging is not recycled.

13.) The packaging fills up the trashcans leading to trash can overflow… leading to more beach trash as the wind and the seagulls eat it and it blows into the ocean.

14.) It is unsightly: What parent wants to bring their kids to a beach that has signs of drinking and trash strewn about? What parent wants to bring their kids to a beach with a bunch of drinkers sleeping it off? It ruins the beach experience.

15.) Hard Liquor, wine and now beer all comes in glass. There is no doubt in my mind that glass bottles and containers are growing on the beach and I attribute that to the growth of craft beers. Beer drinkers think the freshest beer comes in glass bottles. If you go to any of the local liquor stores.. most of the beer is in glass bottles. Ergo… the growth of glass on the beach.

16.) Plastic Pollution: Some of the hard liquor is coming in plastic bottles and there it goes.. out to see along with the other 8 Million Tons of plastic in our ocean, being eaten by marine animals. Many people bring down plastic cups to mix their tequila, scotch, whiskey, vodka in. Just last year a pregnant dead whale washed up to shore with 115 plastic cups in her stomach.

17.) It attracts flies and other vermin: Liquor contains sugar.. flies are drawn to sugar.. Drinking-smoking.. munchies… food… rats… raccoons. Need I say more.

18.) It is rude to other people. One cannot trust a drinker. You don’t know if they are are going to be loud, violent or mellow. Whether they are going to yell at you or shuffle by. You just don’t know.

19.) Lastly, why can’t you just enjoy one of the most glorious-life-giving things in nature, the ocean without liquor? Believe me, I get it.. What happened to the day, you went to the beach and just enjoyed the beach? No mood enhancers, no electronic devices, no play toys.. what happened to just ‘Let It Be’?

All I keep thinking of, whenever cleaning up the mess… it doesn’t have to be this way. This is all preventable.

More Images on our Facebook Page: Drinking On the Beach