The Wake

“Drinking parties busted”; “Drinking citations increase in the past week”; “Student Dead after reportedly drinking heavily at a fraternity.” Any of these sound familiar to you? They should, they are all media headlines from the past two weeks. Cracking down on underage drinking has become a high priority for law enforcement agencies around the country. Does this mean that underage drinking has increased? Absolutely not. The difference is that now people are beginning to realize the extent of the problem.

Drinking for college students is considered a right of passage, much like the right to drive and vote; it’s just acceptable after a certain age. While it is easy to drink responsibly (and fun to do after finals), many fail to see the dangers of careless consumption. Sadly, many of our peers are acing Drinking 101 but failing to learn the facts about alcohol use.

But for years people under 21 having “a couple beers” has never been looked at as a problem. Over and over again I hear, “Well as long as I don’t drive there is not a problem, right?” Wrong. There are so many more problems that involve alcohol other than drunk driving, so stop me if you have heard any of these:

Did you know that underage drinking is the number one youth drug problem in our country? A problem that causes the deaths of more young people than all other illegally used drugs combined? This year alone, almost 1,700 college students will die, 600,000 will be injured, and more than 70,000 of our fellow collegians will be sexually assaulted due to their or someone else’s alcohol use. College students spend $5.5 billion every year on alcohol, mainly beer. Of that, over half of it is consumed by underage drinkers.

Our campus can be different. We can start to spread the realities about underage drinking. We can learn that alcohol use is a health issue and not a responsibility issue, and we can keep the legal drinking age at 21 instead of lowering it. Keeping it at 21 saves the lives of over 900 youths every year and keeps countless others from being raped, assaulted, or dropping out of school due to drinking-related issues. Alcohol consumption can hurt the developing brain, which continues to mature even past our 21st birthday. And don’t forget that the earlier you start drinking, the more likely you are to become alcohol dependent or a drinking driver as you get older. While we may not always agree with 21, it makes sense and there is enough evidence to prove it.

Need more proof? While many people argue that if the drinking age was lowered fewer students would want to drink because many view alcohol as the “forbidden fruit” studies show just the opposite.

In 1984, the legal drinking age in the U.S. was raised to 21. The Monitoring the Future study, which surveys the attitudes of the nation’s youth, found that in 1984 over 45% of college students reported binge drinking, or consuming more than five consecutive drinks in one sitting. By 2003, that number had dropped to 38 percent.

One study even indicates that the number of underage people consuming alcohol has decreased by one-third since the drinking age was raised to 21. This means that a lower drinking age would actually be placing the “forbidden fruit” in young adult’s hands.

While we’re all accountable for our actions, underage drinkers are not solely to blame. Advertisements boasting “ladies’ night,” the bar down the street that doesn’t check ID’s, and that friend willing to purchase a six-pack if we ask are all contributing factors. If we are going to combat the underage drinking problem, we need to address the factors encouraging it, educate ourselves on the dangers of it and make wiser decisions when faced with the opportunity to do it.

To learn the facts about underage and binge drinking on college campuses, stop by a UMADD meeting. Meetings are held every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month from 5 p.m.-6 p.m. in Vincent Hall room 364 or contact Danielle at .