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Writer's picturePatrick Horan

What is 50mg of alcohol Ireland?

Updated: Apr 12, 2023




Its impossible to know.

I’m not trying to be smart here but “50mgs of alcohol” for who?

That’s the important point.


I understand why people ask this question: 50mgs of alcohol is the legal limit for blood.

So it’s understandable that people would want to know what that is.

But you’re focusing on the wrong thing.

You’re focusing on the number: 50mgs.


The part of the human brain that deals with decision-making really struggles with data and statistics.

So, trying to focus on something as arbitrary as a number -50mgs- tells us nothing as it doesn’t mean anything.

We can’t quantify it.


Every one of us is younger than someone else and possibly fitter too.
These 2 factors alone will dictate how two different people will process alcohol.
But there’s other factors too.

So, we try to equate the number to something tangible -like a drink- so that we can make sense of it.

After all, we know what a pint of beer or glass of wine looks like

But this is pointless.

Here’s why.


“50mgs” is the concentration of alcohol in a person’s blood. Anything above 50mgs results in a disqualification.

But we’re all different.


And that’s the part you’re not focusing on.


Every one of us is younger than someone else and possibly fitter too.

These 2 factors alone will dictate how two different people will process alcohol.

But there’s other factors too.


Two different people could drink the exact same
quantity and type of alcohol (beer, spirits etc.) over the same period of time
but one of them may reach 50mgs faster than the other.


Like your weight. A person with a heavier body mass will take longer to get drunk than a lighter person.

Food also plays a factor, so does your sex (men usually process alcohol faster than women) and whether you’ve slept.


Back to 50mgs.


Two different people could drink the exact same quantity and type of alcohol (beer, spirits etc.) over the same period of time but one of them may reach 50mgs faster than the other.


And no, it’s not “drinking less than a pint” as some irresponsible media outlets have described it.

How could it be?


A seasoned drinker might have a pint and find themselves comfortably under the limit.

But an elderly man who rarely drinks could find himself over the limit after only half the same pint.


So, what’s 50mgs?

It depends on who you’re talking to.



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