French winemakers say: It's OK to drink and drive

PARIS - France's wine industry wants drivers to know: It's OK to have a drink for the road. Or three. The $18 billion-a-year wine industry is fighting back against a government campaign to discourage drunken driving.

It claims the government is scaring people away from ordering a glass when they go out and points to a 15 percent drop in wine sales at restaurants.

"People are so afraid of the police these days that they're not drinking any wine at all," Pascal Bobillier-Monnot, director of CNAOC national wine producers' association, said Friday.

I'm still not drinking French wine but I'll have to agree with the French on this one.

I'm so sick and tired of the MADD Nazis relentless campaign to demonize responsible consumers of alcohol to the point that they are afraid to get behind the wheel of a car after one glass of wine at dinner - which is absolutely ridiculous.

Yeah, drunk driving is a problem that we as a society need to deal with. But setting up roadblocks and ruining the careers (and lives) of innocent people who just happened to have a drink or two is wrong and unconstitutional (unreasonable search & seizure, lack of due process).

Obviously strict measures need to be taken against those who get rip-roaring drunk and pose a danger to the rest of us. Those drunks are easy enough to spot on the roadways without having to pull innocent people out of their vehicles (at roadblocks or routine traffic stops) for having had a drink or two.

If you had one drink of wine and you are pulled over at one of these stops and asked if you had anything to drink, you better not say you had that glass of wine. Because once you admit to any use of alcohol consumption at all, the police officer is obliged to pull you out of your car and issue a field sobriety test. Even if you pass the test, you are still likely to be held and charged with OUI. For no cop wants to risk his career by letting a motorist continue on his way after admitting to having a drink. Once you tell the officer you had a drink, you are pretty much going to spend the night in jail no matter what and have your license suspended and your car impounded. This climate of fear must end.

BTW, I drove home Thursday night after having a glass of Foster's beer at the "Outback" restaurant. Come and get me, you MADD-hatters.

One of the reasons I likes to stay on my island is that if, for some reason, I gets stuck with a DUI, this is probably the one jurisdiction in these United States where your career and/or bank account isn't set back a decade..

That being said, I have mixed emotions over the "drinking and driving" bit. Having seen the "there but for the grace of God go I", it is an unfortunate result that after the more alcohol consumed, the less rational thinking is performed, including, "Am I capable of safe driving?"..

The sad fact of life is that those folks who gets stuck with the one or two beers needs to realize ahead of time that the penalties imposed are harsh and unforgiving. Most of us who consume only one or two beers with dinner don't realize the implication. Until they see or experience the event first hand. Even though the roadblocks and BAC levels are legal, it don't make them right.

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