Before You Go To USC Or Send Your Child Read This

motherMD
Mon, 12 May 2014 00:47:28 +0000

EVERY COLLEGE in the USA has a drinking “issue” and increased reports of sexual assault.USC is just larger. The root cause is the change in the drinking laws and change in the acceptance of “casual sex”. Since beer and alcohol are the “same”, the kids all drink vodka/everclear/whiskey etc often mixed in high caffeine drinks so they get drunk fast and quickly and are much more likely to die/get alcohol poisoning. Also, our society is bombarded with assumptions that casual sexual encounters are a the norm. Many of the assault cases at colleges have been as another noted…a he said/she said where large amounts of alcohol are involved and memories/stories are fuzzy. There is NEVER an excuse for sexual assault but many "cases " are not true assaults.

As a physician, I strongly believe our drinking laws need to be changed to make beer legal at age 18. Most kids will then prefer the “legal” alternative and it is difficult to become dangerously drunk on beer before becoming nauseous. Alcohol poisoning deaths in Europe are less and binge drinking less. The decrease in alcohol related automobile deaths in the USA is mainly due to police crackdown on DUI and improvement in cars as opposed to the change in drinking age. Several college presidents have petitioned for making beer legal at 18 and I agree.

Obviously this is just my opinion but also what I have seen in emergency rooms. All parents need to counsel their children no matter which college they attend.