Explaining Why You Don’t Drink Is Over

Not drinking poison needs no explanation

Drinking has become the new smoking, and no one has to “explain” why they don’t smoke anymore. Smoking causes cancer, damages your organs, ruins your skin, and makes your breath stink.

So does alcohol.

Throw away the articles that tell you “10 things to say at a party when someone asks you why you’re not drinking.”

Fuck that.

“I don’t drink poison.”

There ya go. Eezy Peezy.

In all seriousness, you don’t have to be snarky or condescending, but if you’re at a party where someone might make you feel uncomfortable for not drinking, you’re in the wrong place.

We don’t expect people to justify why they don’t smoke cigarettes. We don’t ask for a detailed backstory when someone refuses a shot of bleach. Yet alcohol — despite being a scientifically proven toxin, a leading cause of preventable disease, and the destroyer of countless relationships — still gets romanticized, defended, and pushed like candy.

Here’s the reality: choosing not to ingest poison is not quirky, strange, or in need of clarification. It’s common sense. The burden of proof should never rest on the person making the healthy choice — it should rest…