Whistler and Squamish have highest proportions of binge drinkers: survey
Posted June 2, 2015 8:31 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WHISTLER (NEWS1130) – Whistler is known as a party town, and results from a major health survey seem to cement that reputation with about half the resort’s residents admitting to binge drinking at least once a month.
Their neighbours just down the Sea-to-Sky Highway in Squamish are almost keeping up.
The My Health My Community survey asked 33,000 people about their health habits and lifestyle in the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health regions.
When it comes to alcohol consumption, about half of those in Whistler said they pounded back five or more drinks in a sitting, which is the minimum for men to be considered binge drinking (four or more for women) at least once a month.
A graphic presented to the mayor and council of Squamish indicates about 36 per cent of men and 29 per cent of women in the town reported binge drinking more than once a month.
Bowen Island isn’t far behind, proportionally.
The average for the rest of the region is roughly a quarter of the population.
The graphic shows Richmond, the City of Langley and Burnaby have the lowest proportion of binge drinkers out of the 30 municipalities surveyed, at roughly 15 per cent.
The My Health My Community results are being presented to municipal councils. Health region reps will be in Whistler to talk to its mayor and council early next month.
