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Who wants to look like a stumbling idiot tonight? (Improved)

Jul 11 '00 Write an essay on this topic.

This is a newly edited version of an original editorial on this subject. I think it is a bit more of what this category is supposed to encompass, as I used my first editorial to rant on people being either stupid or responsible drinkers. Now I go more into the dangers of drinking and, due to popular demand, I present alternatives.

Who Drinks and Why?

I would expect to be pretty accurate in saying that most college students drinking at least sometime during their college "career." Many drink once or twice, while others are social drinkers on the "party nights" (usually Thursday, Friday and Saturday). Others binge drink (3-5 drinks in a single sitting according to research from a drugs and behavior book, I don't have it in front of me, so I can't give an exact reference) more than a few times a week. Drinking daily is also seen as a way to get away from stress by many college students (who have their grades to display the effects of drinking on learning). And then there are those (this is rare) who do not drink at all.

College students drink for many reasons. For one, in most circumstances, it appears to be the socially appropriate thing to do. I have been drinking very moderately since I was like fifteen or sixteen years old, and when I choose not to it seems that I have to go through an hour explanation of why I do not want to drink. In other places, where drinking is more taboo than it is here, many new college students begin drinking because it is something "new and exciting" that they never did when living with parents. Stress seems to be another "cause" of drinking, as it tends to calm the body after a hard day of school. But I think that peer pressure (and social appropriateness) is probably the single highest cause, and there is a lot of it out there. When a person has their first couple of drinks, it is much easier to egg them on to have more and more and more, and "friends" do this often. This seems to be especially true in the Greek scene (though I am not personally Greek, but this is what my friends who are in fraternities and sororities tell me). Here at LSU, we had a binge drinking death as a result of a pledge party, which can be greatly attributed to peer pressure (though they never poured the liquor down his throat).

Maturity and Responsibility--Avoiding Excess

When someone does make the choice to drink, the most important things they can have is maturity and responsibility. Simply drinking slowly can prevent a great deal of problems, though I guess drinking a fifth of Everclear slowly may still cause a few problems. Avoiding too much liquor can prevent a great deal of the "side-effects" (see below).

The maturity part of the equation means that one should make their decisions before they start to drink. One should say, "Do I want to pass out tonight or just loosen up." And of course, the mature person would not drink to pass out, but at times I am not opposed to getting a bit more tipsy than other times (after finals for example). One must think about how many drinks they will have for the night. And girls must remember that it takes much less alcohol than their male counterparts. The mature person will probably take several things into consideration, such as the environment and companions. The immature person will just go to any old bar and start downing liquor. Another thing that the underaged immature person does quite often (I see this all the time) is get really drunk, lose all inhibition, then drink at a bar and get a nice underage drinking ticket ("Hey mom, I need 300 bucks!")

Once the partying starts, it is time for responsibility to take in. If the environment seems even the slightest bit dangerous, the responsible person will limit their drinking to very little if any at all. Responsibility is also to make sure that drinking does not get out of hand, and I personally think that responsibility is to at least somewhat look after friends. Money is also a factor in responsibility. Who is buying the drinks? What else could that money be used for (is it worth sacrificing meals, etc.) The responsible party will also abstain from drinking before tests and never let drinking interfere with classes. If I drink during the week, it will be very little, as I don't want to look back 10 years from now and say, "Wow, my GPA really sucked because I drank so much." I sure know I have friends who will regret their behaviors.

"Side-effects" of Alcohol

But why not drink? Besides a hangover what can it possibly do? For one there is something called DEATH. Death can occur from drinking too much or from other alcohol related causes, such as drinking and driving. If a person is lucky, they do not get to crash because they get the nice little DWI (boy, those are real fun, too). But this fortunately does not happen as often as it theoretically could. This is why many people take drinking so lightly, but there are lots of other problems from drinking. I will give a few examples that I have personally seen just to show how quickly this can happen (these are things I have witnessed, not just things that "can" happen).

My girlfriend's friend is currently pregnant because she 1) drank 2) lost inhibition 3) slept with an ex-boyfriend. Many critics of responsible drinking (there are lots) would say that the pregnancy was only caused by #3 above, and she would have done it anyway. Well, scientific evidence through many studies has shown that drinking hugely decreases inhibition. (I can cite this as well when I have my book in front of me). In my experiences with friends alcohol also can lead to drug use (only 1% of people who use hard drugs do not start with alcohol according to research). This is really sad to see friends who just "had a couple of drinks" suddenly decide to take harder drugs that "feel cooler."

Girls should be extra careful, as I know two girls who have been date raped from drinking too much and passing out (one twice...no comment as to her utter stupidity). And I use date rape very lightly as neither were really on dates until minutes before they passed out. This can be very emotionally trying. Boys also should be cautious as the girl who they were "in love with" or who was "in love" with them the night before (the one they picked up at the bar) may decide that they did not really want to have sex. In many states a female cannot give consent for sex unless sober (even though she came on to the guy), and in others this is often an unspoken law. In other words, when a boy has sex with a drunk girl (even if the boy is drunk himself) he is setting himself up for some possible legal action. I have seen this happen, and I know someone who is actually in jail for "raping" his date when he was more drunk than she was (I think she remembered the next day that she had a boyfriend and figured it better to have been raped than stupid).

There are also many more mild effects. One is the proverbial hangover. Thankfully, I learned my lesson early enough in life and very seldom drink stupidly (is that a word?) enough to have even the slightest hangover. Hangovers come in many forms, such as huge head aches or nausea. If a person never has had one, then I would suggest never drinking enough to have one. And of course, stupidity happens often due to drinking, such as really obnoxious flirting with a girlfriend's friend (guilty) or doing really stupid dances (that can be funny) or fights or just making a total fool out of one's self. Passing out and urinating is also something I have seen (I personally never have drank until I passed out, and I do not see where the fun would be in that). Depression is another side-effect of alcohol along with lack of sleep, and some drinks can get mysteriously strong due to a person slipping various drugs in them. The list goes on and on, and while I admit the rewards of drinking can be fun, if not done responsibily it is utterly pointless to think the costs are worth the rewards.

Precautions

Of course, if one still thinks drinking is for them (I enjoy my occassional drink or two), then there are precautions that a college student should take. I think the most important is DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE!!! It's pretty obvious, so I won't go into extreme detail except saying that the number of alchohol related fatalaties are much higher in college students. Many college campuses have taxi services for free, and many towing companies pick up vehicles and give people a ride home for no cost. (Those companies should really be commended, too) Next, bring friends along! Going out alone is stupid for a girl, especially, but guys probably should be careful as well (besides, going out alone and drinking would probably not help the driving thing). Sober friends are extra good, as they may be nice enough to stop someone who has had a little too much to drink from making a stupid mistake.

Also, one should always keep an eye on their drink. People who leave drinks alone just are not thinking. Several fraternity parties that I know of have been prime places for date rape thanks to drugs that unsuspecting, really naive girls drink after leaving their drink unattended. But this can happen anywhere, and even though I am not aware of it at any local clubs, I am sure it happens often. (Fraternity parties just get a lot more media attention, it seems). I would assume that no club is safe.

Girls, in my opinion, should refrain from drinking on a first date (especially if alone). Actually, guys may want to refrain as well (so as not to be a total moron). One drink to loosen up, perhaps, but other than that those side-effects I talked about can happen. I personally think it would take a lot of alcohol to let a girl who was not planning on any sexual activity to have it on a first date, but there probably are girls who would drink enough to regret what they did. (Notice I am talking about girls who have no plans of sex, as I do not want to start a moral debate on sexual freedom and have people accusing me of sexism saying that girls are wrong for having sex on first dates, etc. I am not even touching that issue). Boys may do the same, and there goes the rape thing, I mean not knowing a girl could be bad. She could just be some girl looking for attention or worse yet have some STD (maybe that's worse, don't really know). The point is, drinking and first dates or drinking around strangers at all just is not the greatest idea.

These are just a few precautions. More or less all this stuff was covered more generally above (responsibility and maturity). People can be very naive, as many college students have never even heard of GHB or Rohipinal. College students often think that the new guy or girl just wants them to come over for some coffee after a night of drinking (hey, it's possible, and if a person is sober enough then it actually may be a great idea) or the guy that bought the drink would never slip a two dollar drug into a drink (he's too nice, right?). Naivity is a problem for many, and drinking just adds to it. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I think that being cautious isn't going to do me any harm.

Alternatives to Drinking

As if this editorial is not long enough, I think it is important to present alternatives to drinking (as several people who read my first editorial may have made me see the light). Lately I have almost abstained from drinking. I do not abstain totally (that's an oxymoron I guess), but I drink maybe once every two weeks or so, and these are usually just single drinks. More important than any epinion review on why I shouldn't drink (I really don't think other states are the same as Louisiana...this is a really weird place) is the fact that I have cancer. Chemotherapy and alcohol do not mix extremely well. So that is why I seldom drink, as I would rather not poison my body any more than it is being poisoned. It is very hard for a Cajun college student to not drink at all (just suddenly quiting), but I have been forced to find alternatives to drinking. By the way, research shows that drinking a drink or two or three a day helps to lower the risk of heart attacks but increases the chance of certain cancers. At THIS point in my life, I would rather not increase my cancer risk (if that is possible), but I think this is a good idea (with exercise) for people getting closer to the heart-attack risk age (sorry, that's not college!)

Anyway, besides the obvious alternatives (smoking pot, shooting heroine, etc.), there are many SANE things one can do instead of drinking. From high school until now, I have been the designated driver more times than not (I don't ever recall any of my friends being designated drivers until I started college...they would just drink and drive). Now the alternative to driving with a drunk is staying home. I did it several times, and since my friends once got thrown from the back of a truck on a night that I refused to ride with them, I think that boredom is worth it. Many bars are with walking distances of college campuses, and there are taxis and things like that.

An alternative to drinking once at a party or bar is to just not drink. Go out with friends and look around one time. Seeing all the drunk people running around making fools of themselves can have quite an impact of many people's drinking habits. ("Do I act like that when I drink?"). Going to a dance club just to dance is not that horrible (if you are into dancing). I personally avoid dance clubs and usually stick to live music venues since I do not dance and hate drum machines. Playing pool and listening to live music or dancing (so I hear) occupies time. Live music is also like dancing to an extent, as it is a good reason NOT to drink. Staying sober will allow one to enjoy the dancing without immense pools of sweat and not have any inhibition problems pushing someone away when they get too close OR enjoy live music without the interference of the alcohol.

It is not that hard to go to a party and say, "no" to a drink. To remain in the favor of the drinking social circle, all one needs to do is lie. I am really allergic to beer, so I use that excuse often, but I grant everyone permission to pretend they are allergic to beer (just say that it makes your lip and throat swell...that's what mine does). But I still try to be honest if I am offered something besides beer, saying that 1) I really can't afford it and 2) I just don't feel like drinking. Sometimes I am offered free alcohol with the first one, so I may have one drink, but most people are respectful of the second excuse. Sometimes this takes a bit of explanation, though, but explaining something to someone already drinking (which is usually the case) is not usually too hard because they lose interest. Main point here is that if someone does not want to drink, there is no reason why they should.

College has been the greatest time of my life. I am not ready to finish school because that means extra responsibility. And I admit that more than anything, I like the social scene. But this does not have to be a time of drunkenness. While I am not for prohibition, I am for public lashings to people who take 20 binge drinking episodes to "learn their lesson." Responsibility and maturity are things that I hoped college would teach me in the first place, so why not use the social scene as an expansion of that. Not totally falling into the trap of alcoholism like so many people I know (my girlfriend is from the parish (county) with the highest rate of alcoholism in Louisiana, so I have seen plenty fall to it) has been something that I can be almost proud of. It's not that avoiding alcoholism is a huge accomplishment, but realizing that not being responsible and mature can lead to many problems (and using alcoholism as one example) I and many other college students have the chance to come out of college with a huge lesson in life (not to mention life itself)!

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