<p>I am ignorant? I can tell you, both statistically and anecdotally, that it is very rare and comparitively hard for someone to drink themselves to death. Me and my friends are all very experienced drinkers, and we all know exactly how we get when we drink too much, so we go by those signs. For those we don’t know as well, we ensure that they throw up (so they don’t absorb any more alcohol from their stomach) and are responsive and reasonably coherent to make sure they won’t die. Given the huge number of teens who drink, and the amount that many teens drink combined with the risky drinking patterns inherent in teen drinking (chugging, taking lots of shots before you can even fully feel the first one, the list goes on and on), and the relatively small number of pure alcohol (i.e. stopped breathing) deaths compared to both the number of drinkers and the number of people who die from drinking and driving, it is clear that drinking is usually only problematic when combined with driving. Honestly, that’s why I like drinking with experienced drinkers - it is MUCH harder for someone with a tolerence to drink themselves dead than it is for a drinking novice who has no idea of how to drink and also has no tolerence.</p>
<p>Don’t try to intimidate me with medical facts; I know most any alcohol related fact backwards and forwards. I don’t take blind risks, and I’m fully aware of the risks I take with drinking. In my mind, the benefits of drinking - the fun, the camaraderie, the burn of that first shot - vastly outweight the costs (I’ve paid my dues for drinking in a number of ways). I learned as much from drinking/partying during high school as I did from classes (and I took 14 APs), not to mention that while a lot of the things I learned in HS I’ll never really use again (i.e. chemistry), I’ll always use the skills I learned from drinking/partying (how to read a situation, a lot about people in general, etc.). You’re every bit as ignorant as you accuse me of being, quiltguru.</p>