Drinking decisions

After waking up every other morning feeling ill enough to die and watching my bank account dwindle to nothing, I still go out and buy beer,” says Cliff*, a 26-year-old college student in Rochester, N.Y. On average, Cliff spends $200 a month on shots, beers and other kinds of alcohol. He holds down two jobs in order to support his drinking habit.

Although his spending habits may seem excessive, Cliff is not alone. Each year, American college students spend $5.5 billion on alcohol. Cliff has spent the past four and a half years attending college and has only earned about 32 credits in that time. Considering the amount of time he has been enrolled in school, he should have obtained more than 150.

”It’s a vicious cycle,” he says. “I’ll party all night and wake up hung over, making it tough to get myself to class. Sometimes I’ll even work a shift instead of going to school because I don’t have enough money to buy alcohol and still get by.”

Binge drinking, defined as consuming five or more drinks in one sitting, is taking over Cliff’s life.

He has moved back in with his parents several times over the past few years and has never had the feeling of being completely independent. “One time, I was out drinking at the bars, and I spent almost all of my money on beers and shots,” he says. “I didn’t have enough money for cab fare, so when the driver dropped me off, I made a run for it. He proceeded to chase me down the street. I lost my shoe, but I couldn’t go back for it. The next morning when I was taking my dog for a walk, I spotted my run-over sneaker in the middle of the street.”

Although his actions were risky, Cliff was smart enough to call for a cab rather than attempt to drive himself home. However, he has made his share of mistakes in the past involving drinking and driving. He has spent more than $5,000 on drunk driving-related charges. Cliff has also spent six weeks attending classes that emphasize the negative consequences of drinking and driving.

On average, 450 people are killed each week in alcohol-related accidents. In single-car accidents, 67 percent of drivers are legally drunk. Facts like these help to open student’s eyes and clear the misconception of “it could never happen to me.”

High school students are aware of the risks that alcohol brings to college campuses. “I don’t plan on drinking when I go to college,” says Caitlin Power, a junior at West Irondequoit High School in Rochester, N.Y. “And if I do decide to drink, I will do so responsibly.”

While a vast number of high school students are aware that alcohol will be more readily available in their college careers, it does not mean that they plan on taking advantage of the easy access.

“College students spend a lot more money on alcohol than high school students,” says Katie Flanigan, a junior at Hamburg High School in Hamburg, N.Y. “I don’t plan on wasting that much money on drinks when I will have textbooks to buy and student loans to pay off.”

A CBS report from early 2003 reports that, according to a survey done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, binge drinking has increased. Between 1993 and 2001, binge drinking shot up 56 percent among 18- to 20-year-olds, who are too young to be drinking legally. Obviously nonchalant about the law, young adults ages 18 to 20 went on drinking binges an average of 15 times per person in 2001. According to www.HadEnough.org, a Web site dedicated to spreading the word that “binge drinking blows,” more of America’s undergraduates will ultimately die from alcohol-related causes than will go on to get their master’s degrees and Ph.D.’s combined. That’s a pretty scary thought, considering the majority of the nation’s college students perceive binge drinking not to be a big deal.

Although binge drinking is technically defined as consuming five or more drinks in one sitting, it can really be defined as drinking to the point that negative consequences occur. These negative consequences may affect the person consuming the alcohol, the people around them or both. Ninety-five percent of violent crimes occurring on college campuses are alcohol-related. According to some studies, alcohol takes part in 90 percent of all reported rapes, while the United States Department of Education’s Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention says 28 percent of college dropouts are alcohol-related.

Despite the misconception that all college students binge drink, it is still a minority of students who consume excessive amounts of alcohol.

Getting accepted to college is a small stretch on the road to success. Consider the vast number of people who lose their lives prior to receiving their degrees and the number of students who have been forced to repeat classes or drop out of school altogether due to the effects of alcohol. Merely attending a school does not guarantee you a diploma. But through smart, healthy choices and the self-confidence to resist peer pressure, you will be on the road to not only a successful future, but to a long life as well.

* Name has been changed.
 

Kathleen Lavin is a junior at West Irondequoit High School in Rochester, N.Y.

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