, Columnist
'Blackout Wednesday' and America's Boozy Past
The U.S. has one of the lowest rates of alcohol consumption. It wasn't always this way.
Raise one to moderation.
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Known to bartenders and police officers as “Blackout Wednesday,” Thanksgiving Eve holds the dubious, if unofficial, record as the day of the year with the highest levels of alcohol consumption. It may not have the celebratory and commercial appeal of “Black Friday,” but as a ritual it is every bit as entrenched.
Recent statistics compiled by MADD, or Mothers Against Drunk Driving, show a sharp uptick in drunk-driving fatalities on Thanksgiving Eve, competing with other, better known days defined by overindulgence: New Year’s Eve and July 4.