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MADD’s New Focus: Prohibition

The Giant Noodle

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BIIIIG freakin' surprise! As for ME..... not ONE drink before I drive.


San Francisco, CA. July 27 — Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is suffering from mission creep. A victim of its own success, the non-profit group is now pursuing Prohibitionist anti-alcohol policies – such as calling for alcohol detectors in all cars – instead of focusing on its original goal of reducing drunk driving deaths.


“The public needs to realize that MADD isn’t the same group it was 20 years ago,” says American Beverage Institute (ABI) Managing Director Sarah Longwell.

MADD founder Candy Lightner agrees. The non-profit group she started in 1980 after her daughter was killed by a drunk driver “has become far more neo-prohibitionist than I had ever wanted or envisioned … I didn’t start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the issue of drunk driving.”

Part of the problem is MADD’s prior success in bringing the issue of drunk driving to the public’s attention.

“The biggest problem in reducing drunk driving fatalities now consists of the hard core of alcoholic drivers who repeatedly drive with BAC’s of .15 or higher,” says Dr. David Hanson, professor emeritus at the State University of New York/Potsdam. “But MADD has now decided to go after social drinkers and to eliminate driving after drinking any amount of alcohol beverage. This change appears to reflect the influence of a growing neo-prohibitionist movement within MADD.”

The change in focus has been accompanied by a change in the way MADD spends donor funds. The American Institute of Philanthropy recently downgraded MADD to a “D” in its 2010 Charity Guide and Watchdog Report, citing the group’s diminished focus on education and victim services in favor of fundraising and anti-drinking activism.

According to the AIP, MADD spent nearly double the average amount on fundraising, leaving just a little more than half of its revenue for programs. In 2008, despite declining revenue, two-thirds of its budget – almost $30 million – was spent on staff salaries (which increased 56 percent). Meanwhile, spending on community programs dropped 17 percent. It may be even lower than that, as MADD reportedly counts payments to professional fundraisers as charitable work, claiming they help educate potential donors.
 
Groups tend to go off-message with time as their membership changes, it's pretty much inevitable.
 
Power corrupts.

What happens when a group with so many members achieves success? All that power and momentum has to shift somewhere.

MADD is becoming dangerous to our freedom.
 
Power corrupts.
I disagree (with your assertion that this is the case here, not with this general idea).

MADD's membership has changed over the years and as the membership cycles, the group's focus tends to change and a culture emerges within the group. Those whom the majority of the group finds acceptable are allowed to stay and protected, those who maybe are in the same ballpark as the group but who are more moderate get pushed out. Thus the group's viewpoints tend to shift as one group gains control of the power structure of the larger organization.
 
Didn't we try prohibition before? Doh! :)
 
They swung from advocacy to vengeance years ago, I'm not surprised these cows have finally snapped.
 
I want a beer now
 
**** MADD. I hate that organization. And of course they were going to go this route; they want to have zero drunk driving deaths. The only way to get that is to seek out prohibition.
 
**** MADD. I hate that organization. And of course they were going to go this route; they want to have zero drunk driving deaths. The only way to get that is to seek out prohibition.
I would think that those deaths would increase in actuality. The last alcohol prohibition led to complete lawlessness from the black market and since people would have to drive to speakeasys again and then would not have the legal recourse of hailing a cab or getting a tow back to their destination the risk:reward would dictate to many that it is just "worth it" to chance an OWI and drive home since getting caught for being inoxicated would lead to criminal charges anyway. But then again MADD has no common sense and uses biased statistics and dirty lobbying to get their agenda through so none of that would matter if they did have actual intelligence.
 
Ive failed to see where they are trying to ban alcohol.
 
“The biggest problem in reducing drunk driving fatalities now consists of the hard core of alcoholic drivers who repeatedly drive with BAC’s of .15 or higher,” says Dr. David Hanson, professor emeritus at the State University of New York/Potsdam. “But MADD has now decided to go after social drinkers and to eliminate driving after drinking any amount of alcohol beverage. This change appears to reflect the influence of a growing neo-prohibitionist movement within MADD.”
 
“The biggest problem in reducing drunk driving fatalities now consists of the hard core of alcoholic drivers who repeatedly drive with BAC’s of .15 or higher,” says Dr. David Hanson, professor emeritus at the State University of New York/Potsdam. “But MADD has now decided to go after social drinkers and to eliminate driving after drinking any amount of alcohol beverage. This change appears to reflect the influence of a growing neo-prohibitionist movement within MADD.”

The difference between drinking, and driving after having any amount of alcoholic beverage is vast. Driving is not a requirement of drinking.

:failpail:
 
Car builders will fight this as an unnecessary expense given that only a very small percentage of the population drink and drive, and alcohol detectors should only be required on cars belonging to problem drinkers, at their expense....
 
Car builders will fight this as an unnecessary expense given that only a very small percentage of the population drink and drive, and alcohol detectors should only be required on cars belonging to problem drinkers, at their expense....
Hell, it can be installed voluntarily for those people who want to be sure they don't drink and drive if I'm not mistaken.
 
Hell, it can be installed voluntarily for those people who want to be sure they don't drink and drive if I'm not mistaken.

Well, if we are talking about "responsible" alcoholics, I guess they could...:roll:
 
Well, if we are talking about "responsible" alcoholics, I guess they could...:roll:
Maybe it's the area I live in but there is such a thing as "responsible alcoholics" believe it or not. They are functional, never drive, make sure that the bills are paid first, etc. but by any psychologists or medical practitioners standards are alcoholics.
 
The difference between drinking, and driving after having any amount of alcoholic beverage is vast. Driving is not a requirement of drinking.

No it is not. But their stated goal is to have zero drunk driving on the roads. The problem is that sure individually you can say any one person can choose to drink and not drive. However, aggregated over the populace if you have both alcohol and driving as legal acts; then there will be a non zero number of drinking and driving incidents; particularly if we're defining drinking and driving as driving after any amount of alcohol. As a result, practically if you want zero incidents of drinking and driving you have to ban either cars or alcohol.
 
No it is not. But their stated goal is to have zero drunk driving on the roads. The problem is that sure individually you can say any one person can choose to drink and not drive. However, aggregated over the populace if you have both alcohol and driving as legal acts; then there will be a non zero number of drinking and driving incidents; particularly if we're defining drinking and driving as driving after any amount of alcohol. As a result, practically if you want zero incidents of drinking and driving you have to ban either cars or alcohol.

So, because of their stated goal to keep people who have had any alcohol off the street, YOU and people like you create strawman that they are wanting to ban alcohol because of some flawed/stretch of reasoning that YOU created.

Regardless of how much you want to make something negative out of their goal, anyone with common sense can see that they are NOT seeking to ban alcohol, and that all you are doing is trying to spread disinformation because YOU, and others like you, don't like them.

Intellectual dishonesty at its best in this thread.
 
Car builders will fight this as an unnecessary expense given that only a very small percentage of the population drink and drive, and alcohol detectors should only be required on cars belonging to problem drinkers, at their expense....
Although there are polls that say 8% of people within the last year have driven illegally under the ultra-low .08 limit, the more truthful amount is over 34% of the US population. And while engaged to a cop I would say about 80% of the police department has driven "drunk" to MADD's standards every 2 weeks.
 
This is all very interesting to me, but there was no link to an article. Did you write this yourself?

Also, are there stats on drunk driving fatalities -- how many are caused by the 'social' drinker vs. the habitual heavy drinker?

I am not for prohibition or mandatory devices in cars etc., but I think we always need to promote a 'drink responsibly' message. We should never promote the notion that all 'social' drinkers can always drive safely -- as many heavy drinkers consider themselves to be 'social' drinkers.
 
This is all very interesting to me, but there was no link to an article. Did you write this yourself?

Also, are there stats on drunk driving fatalities -- how many are caused by the 'social' drinker vs. the habitual heavy drinker?

I am not for prohibition or mandatory devices in cars etc., but I think we always need to promote a 'drink responsibly' message. We should never promote the notion that all 'social' drinkers can always drive safely -- as many heavy drinkers consider themselves to be 'social' drinkers.

social drinker
n.
A person who drinks alcoholic beverages in moderation, chiefly when socializing.

The statistics youre asking for were around about 9 months ago but the websites which had much of that information has actually been shut down by lawsuits on behalf of MADD.
Not ONLY does one have to worry about the REAL legal limit.. but bad cops Video shows Chicago DUI cop lied in police report - National Civil Liberties | Examiner.com

Former Top DUI Cop Faces False Arrest Lawsuits

There were 150+ DUIs overturned in just Illinois last year because of crooked cops. A DUI to them is a BIG fish. I cant speak for all areas in the Country but here... they are.

In the last 3 years there were al least 3 crooked cops that have faked DUIs to get benefits for themselves!!! And that are ones that got caught!

Stats are very fuzzy because the NHTSA and MADD are almost one in the same. They even "trade" employees. The founder of MADD has been known to say negative things about MADD now that they left because of their current objectives and practices.

I HIGHLY SUGGEST EXPLORING THIS WEBSITE: getMADD.com BAC, .08, madd, lies, crash, statistics, ridl, alcohol, use, abuse, drinking, drunk,
 
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social drinker
n.
A person who drinks alcoholic beverages in moderation, chiefly when socializing.

I am very familiar with the definitions and 'types' of drinkers.

I do not in anyway support overzealous measures purposed by MADD.

That being said, promoting any idea that if you consider yourself a social drinker, then you shouldn't ever worry about getting a DUI--that's wrong.

Everyone that drinks, needs to do so responsibly. MADD needs to stay out of our cars. But if a 98 pound social drinking gal drinks her usual two beers, then decides to down one shot before she heads home, (just to be sociable), this can be a problem.

Plowing into a minivan full of kids is not sociable.

I'm sure many people who got DUIs feel they didn't deserve it. And it sounds like there is a police problem in the areas you mentioned.

However, if I had to choose between over-enforcement or under-enforcement... as a father, I'd rather a few 'social' drinkers be inconvenienced.


The statistics youre asking for were around about 9 months ago but the websites which had much of that information has actually been shut down by lawsuits on behalf of MADD.

Re: The stats. I was just curious what the breakdown was. I mean, I think we can both agree that social drinkers sometimes slip up. But MADD should stay out of cars. Focus on what they did best, promoting awareness and pressuring the beverage industry to promote responsible drinking.

Stats are very fuzzy because the NHTSA and MADD are almost one in the same. They even "trade" employees. The founder of MADD has been known to say negative things about MADD now that they left because of their current objectives and practices.

That's really unfortunate, but to the extent beverage companies have been promoting responsible drinking for many years now, that's all good.
 
Although there are polls that say 8% of people within the last year have driven illegally under the ultra-low .08 limit, the more truthful amount is over 34% of the US population. And while engaged to a cop I would say about 80% of the police department has driven "drunk" to MADD's standards every 2 weeks.

And that means what exactly? That you have some guesses?
 
social drinker
n.
A person who drinks alcoholic beverages in moderation, chiefly when socializing.

The statistics youre asking for were around about 9 months ago but the websites which had much of that information has actually been shut down by lawsuits on behalf of MADD.
Not ONLY does one have to worry about the REAL legal limit.. but bad cops Video shows Chicago DUI cop lied in police report - National Civil Liberties | Examiner.com

Former Top DUI Cop Faces False Arrest Lawsuits

There were 150+ DUIs overturned in just Illinois last year because of crooked cops. A DUI to them is a BIG fish. I cant speak for all areas in the Country but here... they are.

In the last 3 years there were al least 3 crooked cops that have faked DUIs to get benefits for themselves!!! And that are ones that got caught!

Stats are very fuzzy because the NHTSA and MADD are almost one in the same. They even "trade" employees. The founder of MADD has been known to say negative things about MADD now that they left because of their current objectives and practices.

I HIGHLY SUGGEST EXPLORING THIS WEBSITE: getMADD.com BAC, .08, madd, lies, crash, statistics, ridl, alcohol, use, abuse, drinking, drunk,

Your website poped up as a trojan dude.
 
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