By JESSIE OWENSBY
Staff Writer
You know that completely epic night that involved a lot of partying, drinking and fun? What? You only remember parts of it? It turns out the epic night that could forever leave you with the best college memories is not so healthy. Surprised? You shouldn’t be.
According to the National Institute of Health, an estimated 1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, which includes motor vehicle crashes.
Additionally, Each year an estimated 400,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 have unprotected sex, and more than 100,000 students in the same age range were too intoxicated to remember if they had consented to having sex.
The Mayo Clinic describes binge drinking as “a pattern of heavy drinking when a male rapidly consumes five or more alcoholic drinks within two hours, or a female downs at least four drinks within two hours. An alcohol binge can occur over hours or last up to several days.”
If this sounds surprisingly familiar to your weekend or even weekday activities, you may be at risk.
Do you know that binge drinking is more dangerous than chronic alcoholism? This is because of the process that the alcohol goes through when it enters the blood stream. The liver has to metabolize the sugar from the alcohol. Chronic alcoholics absorb alcohol slowly over time. The liver has time to adjust to the shock of the alcohol. When binge drinking, the liver does not have time to metabolize the alcohol, and instead, it just shuts down and stops functioning.
Drinking at Piedmont College has been known to happen of a regular basis, even though the campus policy is not to allow alcohol on the premises.
Chief of Police Dick Martin stated in an email, “We are not required to distinguish alcohol calls from general medical calls, so I would not be able to provide information on alcohol calls specifically.” However, as best we can recall, we have had 4-5 instances that officers had felt the need to take a student to the ER to be checked out due to excessive amounts of alcohol in their system.”
This can lead to death. According to College Drinking Prevention, “Alcohol poisoning is not to be taken lightly.” This is a serious issue, and it can kill you.
If you are planning to drink, please be sure to do it responsibly. Responsibility does not only mean “Don’t Drink and Drive.” It also means to stay aware of your surroundings. You should know your limits. Know when to stop drinking, and help your friends do the same.