Rich De Muro
Don't drink your life away
he recent
alcohol-related deaths of two college students and a high school student in
a single week have left government and college officials looking for ways
to curb underage and "binge drinking" by students, especially those in
college.
Unfortunately, the
solutions these officials have come up with, like harsher laws on fake IDs
or stricter rules on social events, will not solve the problems associated
with college-aged drinkers.Only education and
self-discipline on the behalf of students will. At a seminar I attended
over the summer, I learned a great term to describe how college students
drink. Mike Green, a speaker who has educated over 500,000 students on
1,000 campuses nationwide about the mature management of alcohol, taught us
the term "one-niter.""One-niter" is the perfect
way to describe many college drinkers, as the majority of them are out to
get "smashed," "trashed," "plowed" or "wasted." This is not the right
attitude to have when preparing for a night of drinking.All of these events are the
result of "one-nighters." For instance, at MIT, an 18-year-old freshman
fell into a coma and was taken off life support after drinking the
equivalent of 20 shots of liquor in a single hour. At the University of
Massachusetts, a student fell through the roof of a greenhouse while
apparently drunk. And at a party in Andover, Mass., a 17-year-old high
school senior was left by her friends, who thought she was passed out --
when in fact she was in an alcohol-induced coma that eventually left her
dead.The key to understanding
"one-nighters" is realizing that they are not alcoholics. They just like to
have fun, and sometimes that involves alcohol -- lots of it. "One-nighters"
can be class officers or just your common student, Greek or not. In fact, a
study by the American Medical Association shows that 44 percent of college
students can be described as "one-nighters." Once drinkers have heard the
term "one-niter," they can probably consider themselves one.The problem with being a
"one-niter" is that your entire life can be changed, ruined or even taken
away -- all because of a single night of heavy drinking.People who have never drank
in their entire lives and decide one night to get "trashed" are instantly
"one-nighters." That night can be the one in which they get into a fatal
accident like fooling friends into thinking they are sleeping when, in
fact, they are in a coma. I am not, by any means, an
advocate for abstaining from alcohol. All the rules and regulations in the
world will not keep young people from drinking, but by educating ourselves
and understanding why we like to drink, we can manage our intake better.
Many times we forget the reasons why we drink in the first place, and it
mostly boils down to it being a social activity. The reason why most people
who are not alcoholics drink is pretty simple -- to enjoy themselves and
have a good time.But try asking the friends
of the student who fell through the glass of a greenhouse if they had a
good time that night.Almost all alcohol-related
incidents, like the three, are caused by people who forget that drinking is
a social activity, and more liquor doesn't make anyone more social.Social drinking is roughly
the average of a single drink in an hour, while "binge drinking," the type
of drinking done by "one-nighters," is five or more consecutive drinks for
men, and four for women. The difference for the sexes is in their
metabolism, not weight.While drinking massive
amounts of alcohol may seem fun at the time, think of all the things you
don't ask for that come along later -- hangovers, sleeping in and making a
fool of yourself. Even these are not so bad when you look at what happened
back East to people our age just wanting to have a good time. Even though
"social drinking" may not sound that fun or like something your parents do,
remember that to be social, you have to be alive.Rich De Muro is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism.