<p>I know college students drink - they have forever and that won't stop. But how can we possibly change the trajectory of the current climate?</p>
<p>A Villanova student was found dead in her dorm today. A Lehigh student was found dead in her dorm two weeks ago. Both right after upperclassmen came back to campus. Both were allegedly out partying the night before.</p>
<p>Why has the behavior changed from drinking beer (arguably harder to kill yourself from drinking beer) to the current craze of "pre-gaming" and drinking shots of vodka before you go out? The kids can all take the school-provided online alcohol quizzes, but I don't think they quite GET how easily it is to overdrink hard alcohol - they don't feel it before it is too late. Why aren't there friends who are a little less drunk who can spot the problems instead of leaving these kids to die?</p>
<p>I suppose I am just venting here. These two tragic deaths are just the ones I have heard about because they are in the local news. I wonder nationwide, how many more similar scenarios there are?</p>
<p>I went back to my alma mater for a 30th reunion for my Sorority… and found out that all the kids drink now is hard liquor. It’s easier to sneak in than a keg of beer, mostly the greeks. They can hide sneaking in bottles with other innocent items but rolling in multiple kegs… guess not? I guess they could sneak in cases of beer… but they dont. The big thing is to do different shots in every room or on every floor. </p>
<p>I had a chat with my son “life is more fun having 2 beers than 10” and enjoy a nice dinner with a glass of wine. Everything in moderation. Hope it didnt fall on deaf ears.
He is going to be an EMT on campus so I am hoping that seeing kids with alcohol poisoning and throwing up will be enough of a deterent.</p>
<p>-pre-gaming and drinking shots of vodka before going out-</p>
<p>Because they don’t know if there will be alcohol available to them later ~ if they are under 21. They drink when they have the opportunity.</p>
<p>Back in the day of the 18yr old drinking age (I am 50) my high school gang of friends frequented bars/clubs once we were 18. The girls had 1 beer, the guys had 2 (and the girls counted) Most of us needed to be home by around midnight. We had a blast. We had experience with alcohol before we went to college. No need to hide, sneak, or binge</p>
<p>This is a common question on this forum. My yes, I’m in the court that says it’s the hiding. sneaking and binging while one can that is the problem. Beer was cheaper when twe were young (and it was legal to drink at 18). Vodka is easier to hide now that alcohol is illegal and has no “smell”…</p>
<p>Sorry, but “back in the day” alcohol-related deaths among the young were higher than today.</p>
<p>When it comes to setting public policy, I’ll take hard data over anecdotes and misty memories of the old gang – especially when the lives of young people are at stake.</p>
<p>After the drinking age dropped from 21 to 18, kegs were removed from campus. You had to drink a lot of (cheap) beer to get the kind of drunk that shots of vodka gets you in a short amount of time. Add in all the candy flavored versions of vodka (including my “favorite” marshmallow) which appeal to young ladies vs. beer or traditional hard liquor, and it’s easy to drink enough slurpee flavored beverages in a short amount of time without realizing the effect it’s going to have.</p>
<p>Thank you, LurkerDad. Honestly, all the young adults I know who drink have either beer or beer and a bit of liquor, but never just shots of vodka or anything of that ilk. In my experience, people drink socially and to have fun more than to get wasted. Nobody like the guy/girl who passes out, throws up, breaks something, says stupid things, etc.</p>
<p>I am still trying to figure out some things. I went to college in a state where the drinking age was 21, yet we could get beer at frat parties and we could even have it in our rooms. It was kind of a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. No one drank hard alcohol except at maybe a formal event if they served mixed drinks. </p>
<p>The university didn’t police parties regarding the age of party-goers. You just couldn’t walk around with an open container. </p>
<p>Now I guess there is more of a crack down and no one can have any alcohol unless they are 21, hence the desire to hide something like vodka that can get you buzzed quickly. </p>
<p>I think forcing so much underground has led to the “secret” drinking.</p>
<p>LurkerDad - I’d be curious as to your data on alcohol deaths being worse ‘back in the day.’ I just don’t think kids were drinking more than beer for the most part. I remeber one incident in my whole 4 years related to drinking. NOw there are kids hospitalized every weekend.</p>
<p>Why is it when talking about this current generation words like spoiled, entitled and lazy always come up? But when trying to explain why there “seems” to be more alcohol related deaths the higher drinking age is used? Many kids ARE spoiled, entitled and lazy and you can add bored to that list. Boredom was also the reason given by the teens who killed the Australian baseball player in Oklahoma. Either way, IMO the higher drinking age doesn’t factor into any of this</p>
<p>@whenhen Maybe so! I’m at a party school and there are obviously kids who drink. A lot. But there are surprisingly few incidents related to alcohol and the frat parties are actually not that crazy. They’re fairly self-contained, the people who want to drink do so, everyone has their fun, and those who drank too much pay for it the next morning. It’s easy to avoid the drinking scene or be involved and only drink a little. The majority of people I witnessed did it an absolute maximum of 3 nights a week and never to the point of hurting themselves (besides slow liver damage, I suppose) or others.</p>
<p>I know college students drink - they have forever and that won’t stop. But how can we possibly change the trajectory of the current climate?
Legalize marijuana for adults for recreational use.
Marijuana that has not been adulterated with other substances is much less lethal than alcohol. In fact you would be hard pressed to find ANY deaths connected with marijuana alone.</p>
<p>Catchy title. The problem is that theres nothing to back it up.</p>
<p>The Lehigh student who "was found dead in her dorm two weeks ago actually died a week ago in her off-campus apartment and, as of today, the cause of her death remains undetermined. It is known that she had a chronic health condition.</p>
<p>As for the Villanova student "found dead in her dorm today - well, at least that parts true. And it appears she was out with friends last night. But was the cause of death alcohol poisoning? Thats certainly not known yet. The autopsy wont be performed until tomorrow.</p>
<p>“Legalize marijuana for adults for recreational use.
Marijuana that has not been adulterated with other substances is much less lethal than alcohol. In fact you would be hard pressed to find ANY deaths connected with marijuana alone.”</p>
<p>Totally agree. I brought this up on another thread and it was met with total disdain.</p>
<p>Has some of the historical date you are looking for in the charts. And yes mortality has gone down. Historical trends show alcohol use was highest in the mid 70’s, but it’s been on the upswing in the last few years. Mortality rates from alcohol from 70’s to today have been flat for whites, gone down for non-whites. I don’t know though what numbers are for college aged deaths, particularly since there are big disagreements on what should be counted.</p>
<p>“Why has the behavior changed from drinking beer (arguably harder to kill yourself from drinking beer) to the current craze of “pre-gaming” and drinking shots of vodka before you go out?”</p>
<p>It’s a simple answer. It is called marketing. All the new “beverages” developed since 2001-2003, have been aimed at teens (and even pre-teens -the average age at which kids start to drink is now 12.) The development of these new beverages was carefully thought through, aimed specifically at early teens, and especially at teen girls. (It had absolutely nothing to do with the drinking age.) The taste profile of beer was not something that young people particularly enjoyed, and it took too much of it to get wasted, and it couldn’t be snuck into the house (or even into schools!) easily. The new beverages were often clear, tasted better, and carried the same name as adult beverages (i.e. Smirnoff’s), and new customers could be brought along from the kid’s beverage to the adult one. And getting wasted (which is pretty difficult for many kids on beer) now became really easy, and was associated with being an adult. Since there is a significant portion of the population that has a genetic propensity toward alcoholism, and triggering that propensity seems to be most powerful when kids are 13-14, the results are exactly what you’d expect.</p>
<p>So why has it changed? Corporations paid really big money to change it. The upswing noted above is directly associated with corporate behavior. It has nothing to do with the drinking age (which was and is an extraordinary success in reducing morbidity and mortality from alcohol.)</p>
<p>I want to know THOSE young adults. I hate hanging out with people when they’re drunk. I don’t drink to get drunk and being the only sober one gets old quick. I thought in grad school it would be different but once again, every freaking social event revolves around alcohol and getting wasted- and I’m in a top 3 program. </p>
<p>Until THAT changes, the deaths keep coming.</p>
<p>With that said, binge drinking is nothing new. Alcohol-related deaths are nothing new. This isn’t a “my generation” problem.</p>
<p>More anecdotes here ~ The Amethyst Initiative. One Hundred+ college Presidents agreed that the “21-year-old drinking age is not working, and, specifically, that it has created a culture of dangerous binge drinking on their campuses.”</p>
<p>It should probably be revisited. Every parent I know supported it.</p>