I've thought that. In Europe, they are free to drink at a very young age, and they learn what to do and not to do with alcohol because they are used to it. It's not special, nor is it held to the forbidden fruit figure like it is in the states. But the bounds of American irresponsibility can be limitless sometimes. It's the kind of culture that needs to develop. I don't think it could be an overnight change, or you know that the people who are suddenly at liberty to drink will take full advantage of it.



That's banned in my state. Which svcks for students here, because we have one of the highest concentration of colleges in the nation.



People die from alcohol poisoning. It happens a lot in colleges and universities where people are exposed to alcohol for the first time and they go crazy with it. If a 15 year old here died as a result of a change in legislation, it would be a media [censored]storm. The change would be revoked the next day, and alcohol would possibly restricted further. Bear in mind that this is the same country that tried to illegalize alcohol period.

Indeed. At this point, it would take a DRASTIC societal overhaul for a system like they have in, say, Germany to work over here in the US.

Somehow I managed to avoid alcohol poisoning, but I have friends who had to get their stomachs pumped... And you are right, if the age did get lowered, and a younger kid it would probably raise hell and get it reversed, even though that kid probably would have died of alcohol poisoning if the drinking age was 30.

Exactly. Unfortunately, responsibility is not something you can simply bestow upon society. At least not in America. It may make college-aged people more responsible, but then the lack of responsibility simply extends to a younger group who care even less about themselves than people in college do.

Sadly, that doesn't help. The legal drinking age in the Netherlands is 16 (18 for hard liquor) and binge drinking is a problem here as well. Only people start much earlier with it, getting alcohol poisoning or their stomach pumped at 14 years old already, or even younger sometimes. The government is now thinking about raising the legal drinking age again, since binge drinking is even more harmful to particularly the brain of young teenagers than it is for young advlts. I'm beginning to think that there's no solution for it at all, there are some people that will always be irresponsible about drugs and alcohol, especially at such a young age. I think it may be best to just let them have their binge drinking phase, but when they're around 18-20 years old, when they're less likely to kill themselves.

lol!! All these social-problem related questions lately.

I'd say do nothing. What gets called "binge drinking" now, used to be called "drinking" back in the day.

People have and will always get drunk and binge drinking is a part of that.

I would assign multiple Sociology essays on the weekends so no one would have time to drink.

He said decrease, not increase.

I just drink less, I've had a lot of fun drunk but I've also had enough bad experiences to know that drinking is best in moderation. So i drink less and less frequently.

I'd make drink free for everyone, they'd drink so much they'd get sick from it and in turn go away from it.....or they just get alcohol poisoning and die. Either one of these decreases binge drinking

I think the best way of dealing with the problem is to make it compulsory to give alcohol to newborns and infants. That way, they'd build up a suitable tolerance by the time they're at college that the worst that's likely to happen is finding bits of diced carrot in their laundry bag and stuff like that. You know it makes sense.

This makes perfect sense. As well as teaching kids to sniff coke out off hoker's butts to prepare for the inevitable coke fests in the future. This will increase tolerance to around 5-6g's.

Would depend upon the crowd I had been hired to oversee since many different people have different thresholds for pain. For the "Weak Minded" I would probably bring in a dead body and open it up with that person being a heavy drinker. Show them what happens to the liver, the brain, etc... then I would show several videos displaying horrific car crashes worse than "Red Asphalt".

For those that have stronger stomachs then that I would have them step into something that simulates extreme discomfort like those exposed to binge drinking.

There are several other techniques that could be used to stop binge drinking that border on unethical, but hey it saves a life it's worth the pain imho.

I think it is a cultural and social thing.

possible factors:
- the media not portraying the negative consequences of binging, and portraying irresponsible drinking without the damaging health effects
- booze commercials that equate their product with "being a man" and as the only way to have fun - insidious advertisemant
- drinking age limit (like Lady N said on page 1)
- binging isn't stigmatized enough (esp. in the age group that does it)
- lack of good role models (e.g. who drink responsibly)
- pervasiveness of booze advertising (esp. at, say, sports events)


Realistically, having several programs on campus that: provide info on the dangers of binging, are a forum for students to talk about the pressures they feel from peers, and useful strategies to avoid the situation entirely, as well as alcohol-free party events on campus that are alternatives to the binging parties.

In other words: provide info, provide support, provide alternatives

Buy all the liquor from all nearby stores and drink it with me. It's the only way to be sure that nobody is at risk.

I went to one of those. Worst half hour of my life.

Education, education, education... since it's fairly obvious that rules and laws are often skirted, or ignored completely.

Institute a massive ad campaign, laced with subliminal messages and images, that illustrate the many dangers a student is exposed to as a result of binge drinking. Dangers that include alcohol poisoning, drunk driving injury and deaths, date [censored], loss of scholarships, whole lives and careers that could be ruined, etc...

Oh yeah... and public whippings on the university commons every Monday morning for those who show up to class with a hangover.

I've never went to one, but any party I've went to where I did not get drunk was a boring party.

Well, they need to be better, then. More video games, or Apples-to-Apples. Or both! Or corgis!

@TESFanner: that's the problem, people think drinking is the only way to have fun. Well, I think "fun" needs to be redefined, then, if acting like an uncoordinated idiot and blacking out are people's definition of "fun." >:[

@Leviticus: whippings are a little extreme. Maybe pillories instead?

More video games and more beer. That'd sort them out.

But feeling tipsy is what makes it more fun...

I've never blacked out.

Drugs like alcohol etc make social occasions more fun...that's why they were invented and are used as such.

I just can't relate. I'd rather not have my fun-level be dependent on a drug, it feels like less of an accomplishment. In other words, if I'm going to have fun, I want it to be 100% me, and not 60% me and 40% me-on-a-drug. I want to be able to relax and have fun of my own volition. That way, I don't need to imbibe in order to be happy, so I can have fun whenever and wherever I want.

This. Dosent Italy give kids watered down wine or something, then it gets stronger as they grow up, they drink it casually, so no binge drinking. I approve of that system.
Or they should stop making so much cheap alcohol.

Or just refuse to help people who binge drink and develop problems (aside from addiction), maybe it will deter people, maybe it wont. But its better than just helping them and they dont learn from it.

What I can say to this is that before I started drinking etc I would always have fun 100% of the time, but then afterwards if I did not drink, for example, my fun factor would be limited to say....80%.'

Once you pop you can't stop and all that.

I think that it very much depends on the social situation you are in. For example, it's my son's fourth birthday party on sat. Will I have fun? Yes. Will I be drinking? No. wrong circumstances.

But at a party, I pretty much expect to be able to drink myself silly if I choose. I already found the best way to decrease it. Let it happen, the last two hangovers I had were enough to get me to calm down with drinking.