When you talk to your children about drinking alcohol, be sure you include “nips.” What are “nips?” They are miniature bottles of alcoholic beverages or whiskey. You’ve probably seen them on airlines. It is legal to bring your own mini bottle on an airplane if it is under 3.2 ozs. and is toted in a carry-on. Of course, the airline’s flight attendants will sell you “nips” if you have legitimate identification.
A nip or shooter is less than a pint or 1.7 ounces of distilled spirits and usually contains a single shot( 1.5 ozs.) It is sold in liquor stores, grocery stores or online and can be delivered to your door. Underage drinkers favor “nips” (from the Scottish word “niperkin”) because they are easy to hide in a car or thrown out the car window when consumed
Because of the littering of these bottles found in parks and on roads, “nips” have been outlawed in such states as Rhode Island. Chelsea, north of Boston, in 2018 was the first municipality in Massachusetts to ban liquor stores from selling nips that cost as little as $.99. Since Chelsea’s anti-nip laws, there have been less hospitalizations from alcohol abuse, drunken driving, and arrests by police.
While one town may ban these minis, another town may be happy to increase their business with nip sales to your child. Nips may look harmless but they have an environmental impact and contribute to substance abuse and traffic accidents.
Wesley Cullen Davidson
Wesley Cullen Davidson is an award-winning freelance writer and journalist specializing in parenting. Currently, she is targeting her writing about recovery to parents whose children have substance abuse disorders.