Binge Drinking Should Be Banned

Over the past few years, there has been this big debate about whether the drinking age should be lowered to 18 or if it should stay at 21. Those in favor of lowering the drinking age to 18 argue that someone who is old enough to serve their country should be allowed to have a drink. Those who are in favor of keeping the minimum legal drinking age at 21 because of consequences regarding psychological development and health problems later in life. However, there is a bigger problem concerning alcohol. The problem is the excessive amount of drinking or commonly known as binge drinking, done by primarily college students and by raising taxes on any and all alcoholic beverages can lead to significant reduction of dangerous binge drinking and simultaneously reducing the dangerous effects of binge drinking.

Underage drinking is a problem within the US and has been for some time. No matter how hard many businesses try it still goes on because of the kid’s lucrative ways to obtain it. Many kids use fake IDs or have a person of age purchase it for them. This problem of alcohol abuse is most prominently seen it college. One college it often occurs at is Indiana University in Bloomington. The early habit of drinking alcohol can have many bad effects on one’s body at a young age and causes habits, decrease in grades, and other negative outcomes.

“According to the CDC, about 90% of all teen alcohol consumption occurs in the form of Binge Drinking, which experts say peaks at the age of nineteen.” (qtd by Listfield). Binge Drinking is the consumption of excessive amounts of alcohol in a short period of time. The author, Emily Listfield, defines that the standard alcohol consumption over a two hour period is considered to be four beers for women and five beers for men. This has become a great distraction for college students nationwide and a major dilemma on college campuses. Nearly two hundred thousand students visit emergency rooms each year due to the abuse of alcohol, and more than one thousand seven hundred students die. In the article “ The Underage Drinking Epidemic”, Listfield identifies the problems that underage drinking can cause, the dangers that could happen, and four solutions on what parents can do to keep their kids from binge drinking.

The legal drinking age in the United States will always be a point of contention. No one can settle upon a drinking age that everyone is in agreement with; should it be 18 or 21? Ages 18 and 21 are the most popular options, yet neither one has 100% of the vote. With the current legal drinking age in America standing at 21, meaning that people under the age of 21 cannot purchase or consume alcoholic food or beverages, there is the question of whether or not to lower it to 18 or 19 years old. This paper will argue that the drinking age should be lowered, and examine its impact on State University.

As freshmen step foot on Boston College during move-in, the newest Eagles have many expectations for their upcoming college years which involves tailgates, parties, clubbing, and other activities. Boston College is a Jesuit Catholic university. Although Boston College is a religious institution, students still consume alcohol in dangerous amounts. Freshmen come to Boston College with various drinking experiences: familiar, somewhat familiar, or unfamiliar with alcohol. Many drinking habits are established during a student’s freshman year. Freshmen are excited to experience their first ounce of freedom and this definitive moment in their life often leads to dangerous drinking habits and poor decision making. Freshman year is the time where one forms their identity in college without the physical presence of their guardians. Aristotle claims that humans are “social animals” and our interactions with others shape how we live and who we are. (Mattison 139). Humans naturally take cues on how to act from those who we surround ourselves with. From Senior Tuesdays, to Thirsty Thursdays, to weekends and Marathon Monday, drinking has become a habit for many students at Boston College. It is hard to picture a weekend at Boston College where beer cans are not scattered in a Mod backyard or vague cheers echoing from a crowded common room where a drinking game is being played on a Saturday. We often hear ambulances during weekends rushing through campus to transport students to the hospital who drank too much, but students rarely see drinking copious amounts of alcohol as a real problem. According to Mattison, temperance is the virtue of well-ordered desires for pleasures. (Mattison 68). Drinking and temperance have an interesting relationship here at Boston College. Many students who drink often see alcohol as full of pleasure, but their actions are not well-ordered according to Mattison. The media

The consumption of alcohol as a habitual behavior has long been associated with the American collegiate experience, despite the many known negative consequences a student who partakes in drinking can encounter. Because of the danger drunken students pose to a college’s reputation and the safety of its surrounding areas, much research has been done concerning the collegiate party and drinking scenes. This research mostly studied the demographics of the student body, so strategies developed to curtail the illegal or overconsumption of alcohol could be targeted towards the specific groups that demonstrated the highest likelihood of participating in these acts. When the strategies were implemented, however, there was little decline in the number of college students who chose to party and drink (Vander Ven 2011). This failure did not point toward a flaw in the research data, but instead a lack of research into the benefits a collegiate drinker receives that are rewarding to the point he or she cannot resist. This is the topic of Getting Wasted: Why College Students Drink Too Much and Party So Hard by Thomas Vander Ven.

In fact, of all underage drinking, some 90 percent is consumed through binge drinking [as of March 2014]” (Hall). That being said, by making alcohol more readily available it will reduce pregaming and excessive drinking on and off campus. “ The main consequence of this law has been to drive college-age alcohol consumption underground, which has in all likelihood increased that consumption and probably actually increased drunk driving,” says Gordon. Nevertheless, pregaming can lead to heavily intoxicated individuals driving drunk to their final party destination; which could cause more alcohol related traffic fatalities. By lowering the drinking age young adults could safely drink a reasonable amount of alcohol, legally, without the fear of getting in trouble for doing so.

As a matter of fact, binge drinking would not necessarily lead to negative consequences. For example, “consider the individual who perceives that drinking alcohol is likely to lead to physical harm. This individual is perhaps less likely to engage in behaviors after drinking that are highly related to experiencing negative consequences relative to individuals who do not hold that belief” (root). Binge drinking in campus is universally recognized as misconduct, but the degree of its consequence is determined by the drinking belief of the drinkers. In certain occasions, such as birthday parties, binge drinking is inevitable. But if the college students hold the drinking belief that any immoral, illegal or dangerous activities should be avoided after binge drinking with their friends, in all probability, they would not suffer from the potential negative consequences. Additionally, when there exist a few fellows with proper alcohol awareness among the drinkers in a party, they can help lower the risk of alcohol-related hazards of their friends in the party significantly

Jokes have been made about America’s new favorite pass time being binge drinking. Finding a party to drink at is no longer hard. The new question asked is “which party should I go to?” In fact, teenagers show the highest rate of binge drinkers. Studies show that there are more underage drinkers than legal drinkers. While having the drinking age at twenty-one does not do much for curving drinking on college campuses, because most people graduate at twenty-two, lowering the drinking age will not help stop binge drinking in college (Griggs). If anything, lowering the drinking age provokes drinking. Some universities have rules about underage drinking and kick out any students who break those rules; therefore, having the

This article looks at new approaches that two colleges are using to reduce the amount of binge drinking students engage in. The article focuses on Frostburg State University, a college which has recently acquired joint jurisdiction, enabling campus police officers to patrol off-campus housing areas. The article covers several methods mentioned in the New York Times article, including education via “social norming” campaigns, responsibility of stores and bars to thoroughly check IDs, and reducing availability of alcohol to underage students. It also covers some topics we’ve discussed in class: harm reduction, parents’ involvement (or lack thereof), and alternatives to partying.

This would give students the ability to go to a more controlled area to drink. I began pregaming with some friends before going to an off-campus fraternity venue party. I remember taking a shot. Then I remember waking up, still in my clothes from the night before, on the floor next to my own bed. I didn't even make it to the party. Pregaming is dangerous. Those who pregame drink an average of 7.1 alcoholic drinks per night as opposed to 4.2. They're also more at risk of having severe hangovers, blackouts, unplanned drug use and unprotected sex. Yet studies show that seventy-five percent of U.S. college students engage in this unsafe behavior (Abba n.p.). ​In European countries, where the drinking age is mainly 18, one in 10 drinking occasions result in intoxication, compared to nearly half in the U.S, according to the World Health Organization.​ Bringing the drinking age down to 18, is not going to increase the amount of college students that drink, but it may save a life by promoting better drinking habits.

On any Friday or Saturday night, the average college student is usually drinking, dancing and out having fun. They typically party with friends at fraternity parties, bars, and clubs; and unfortunately most of these students are underage, consuming excessive amounts of alcohol or "Binge Drinking". Binge drinking results in several detrimental outcomes, some are even fatal. Today this type of drinking is rampant on educational campuses everywhere. Large and small, urban and rural educational institutions are not left unaffected by this growing trend to binge drink.

Binge or excessive drinking is the most serious problem affecting social life, health, and education on college campuses today. Binge or excessive drinking by college students has become a social phenomena in which college students do not acknowledge the health risks that are involved with their excessive drinking habits. Furthermore college students do not know enough about alcohol in general and what exactly it does to the body or they do not pay attention to the information given to them. There needs to be a complete saturation on the campus and surrounding areas, including businesses and the media, expressing how excessive drinking is not attractive and not socially

According to a study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, athletes reported more binge drinking, heavier alcohol use, and a greater number of drinking-related harms. Along with these findings, researchers also found that despite athletes drinking heavier than non-athletes, student-athletes displayed greater efforts in alcohol prevention and possessed unique motivations to curb their alcohol consumption. As mentioned before, student-athletes are consistently shown to be an at-risk population among university students. In a journal titled “Protective behavioural strategies and their relationship with negative alcohol consequences among college athletes”, student-athletes participate in greater alcohol consumption as well as experience more negative consequences of alcohol abuse. Within college populations, protective behavioural strategies have been shown to reduce the impact of alcohol-related negative consequences, however not much is known about protective behavioural strategies among the at-risk sub-population of student-athletes. According to this study, protective behavioural strategies did little to increase the distance from alcohol consumption and negative consequences. In conclusion, athletes display greater tendencies to binge drink and show higher numbers of

On college campuses across America, the use of alcohol has been an topic in need of explanation for many years. The concept will be explaned with emphise on the negative effects of hooch. Alcohol in cardio-sport athletes is especially harmful. But at any rate the negative concepts apply to all student. Besides the fact that a large number of students are underage when they drink, alcohol can put students in dangerous situations and give them a headache long after the hangover is gone. The short and long term effects alcohol has can impair students physically and mentally, impacting their education and health.