Teen Alcoholism
"Too many college students have just one objective, "to get drunk!" Campus alcoholism is an epidemic sweeping through colleges and universities at a rapidly growing speed. Even though it is illegal for a minor under the age of 21 to purchase or consume alcohol, that law has never stopped those who wished to drink. What used to be a social activity has radically changed to an unsafe pass time that eating away at student's money, school and health. A Harvard study showed that in 1993 only 38% of student's who drank, drank to become drunk. That number jumped to 52% who drink to become drunk, when polled in 1997. Yet alcohol is addictive for only a minority - an estimated 10 percent in the United States - of it users. For most drinkers alcohol is a relatively harmless social beverage. Even though the percent is small, too many students are spending weekends and weeknights drinking the nights away. Time is not the only commodity that kids are wasting on alcohol. Research shows that college students spend 5.5 billion dollars a year on beer and alcohol. That is over four billion cans a year and 430 million gallons annually. All that alcohol is enough for every college and university in the U.S. to
In small amounts it is an exhilarating stimulant. I have seen to many friends wreak trust, friendships and morals being under the influence. Sure the money will be nice, but I could easily say I never drank and still do. I have friends who drink, but I chose not to. Nationwide several fraternities have announced that by the year 2000 their chapter houses will be alcohol-free. In total, it is estimated that America's 12 million undergraduates drink the equivalent of six million gallons of beer a week. The challenge to drink to the very limits of one's endurance has become a celebrated staple of college life. What you've got here are people who think they are having fun. "What has changed is the across-the-board acceptability of intoxication," says Felix Savino, a psychologist at UW-Madison. "The reasons for the shift are complex and not fully understood. And for a person with little experience processing this toxin, it can come as something of a physical shock. Even attending a Christian college doesn't eliminate problems with alcohol.
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