Most Head Shakingly Bad Thing of the Week

Feds Spend $333,210 Studying Bars Along Mexico Border:

The National Institutes of Health is spending over $300,000 to study bars along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation is heading the project. Among the study's aims are to examine whether bars in border towns like Mexicali have "more dancing" and "louder music."

The study, "Mexican American Drinking Contexts On and Away From the U.S.-Mexico Border," involves researchers going into bars for "unobtrusive systematic observations."

"The U.S./Mexico border is a unique macro context for drinking, with increased alcohol availability due to the lower minimum legal drinking age in Mexico of 18 years and an increased number of venues for on premise consumption of alcohol (bars, clubs, restaurants)," according to the grant for the project. "Previous research has shown that the border population is more at risk for unsafe drinking (binge) and drinking-related problems than the population off the border."