Better Ideas Through Chemicals

In one of my e-newsletters I get about things relating to alcohol and drug news there were two articles this past week:
First is from the Star-Tribune

The Minneapolis specialty beer Finnegans is using St. Patrick's Day this week to launch its rebranded look. The nine-year-old Irish Amber brew, which donates all of its profits to charity, has new green (of course) packaging and signage developed by the Martin/Williams advertising agency. Whimsical posters and banners remind drinkers of the beer that it's "Charitably Delicious" and that "Every time you don't buy one a leprechaun dies." The rebranding also includes an interactive website with a contest called a "Pint-a-thon," which gives players credits in heaven for the number of Finnegans they consume.
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Re-branding is fine, I am sure. But what a weird bit of gaming. If you DON'T drink, a poor defenseless leprechaun dies. And all these years after Darby O'Gill and the Little People, I wouldn't want to be the one who killed one of those little people. Even more so is to get credits in heaven for how much they consume. Yes, I get the idea- it is a charity beer so you get points for helping other people- and the drunker you get the more people you help.

"Come on. Let's go. You've had enough to drink."

"Come on, just a few more. I'm helping my favorite charity."

Oh well. Maybe it's over since it is now after St. Patrick's Day. So we move on.

Well, the second item comes from the Military Times and AZCentral.com

WASHINGTON - Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a Vietnam veteran and former war correspondent who now chairs the Senate panel that oversees military personnel policy, seemed to endorse the idea of letting troops in war zones drink alcohol as a way to relieve combat stress.

At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services military personnel panel, Webb asked defense and service officials about mental health issues facing deployed service members and, in particular, about a recent Military Times investigation into the military's use of anti-depressants and other drugs for treating mental health issues.
-Link

If I am reading that right it sure sounds like having a few drinks to relieve combat stress is being presented as a way of keeping the troops from having to take those medications. Medications, by the way, that probably will work as anti-depressants. As compared to say, alcohol, which is an anti- anti-depressant. In other words, in spite of opinions to the contrary, it is now, and always has been a depressant.

As I remember hearing stories from Vietnam, I'm not sure it worked all that well there either. And tell me again what happens when drunkenness and weapons come together?