Deadly Ritual: 21 shots to celebrate age 21

Parent Cafe
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<p>I’ve never heard of this though it does sound like another drinking ritual called a power hour (a shot of beer every minute for an hour. Basically, 60 shots of beer in an hour). My friends and I have never been able to complete a full hour. I can’t even imagine doing 100 shots in an hour! Who can hold that much liquid?</p>

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<p>I would have to agree with this. Although, my friend decided on her 18th birthday to try for 18 shots. After about 11 (in under one hour) we decided it would be best to rush her to the hospital. It turns out we made the right decision: she blew a .36! Thankfully, she turned out fine. Couldn’t remember a darn thing the next day, but she was still fine.</p>

<p>Another one of my friends had to be rushed to the hospital after attempting to finish an entire handle of Smirnoff herself. She blew a lot lower, .26, but we didn’t take her to the emergency room because we thought she would die from alcohol poisoning (though she could have), we took her because she was so drunk, she randomly decided to punch a frat boy in the face. The boy was also extremely drunk and retaliated by breaking her nose. A fight followed and my poor friend ended up having a broken nose, contusions all over her face, and no memory of how any of it happened. Moral of this story: drink responsibly, know your limits, and if you know you are a violent drunk avoid getting into fights.</p>

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<p>Never heard of anyone actually doing this. I’ve seen people with 15+ drinks in them…it isn’t pretty when they fall off of a foot wide railing.</p>

<p>…just stupid.</p>

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<p>It’s hard to sympathize with ppl who intentionally get themselves killed.</p>

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<p>There’s no accounting for tastes. One person’s “fun” is another person’s “pathetic.”</p>

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<p>In our state (MN) it is illegal to serve someone at 12 AM on their 21st birthday. We have a law that bans anyone from consuming alcohol until 8 a.m. on their 21st birthday.</p>

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<p>Stories like these just reinforce my opinion that there should not be a legal drinking age at all. Alcohol is harmful when consumed in excess, no matter the age it is taken. And alcohol is not harmful when consumed in small amounts, no matter the age. The whole “forbidden fruit” mentality is what makes so many young people use alcohol as a ‘coming of age’ ritual. We would have fewer alcohol related accidents if we eliminated altogether an age limit for alcohol and instead taught our kids to drink responsibly and focused our attention on combating alcohol excess at all ages.</p>

<p>Yeah, I’ve seen those studies that demonstrate that raising the drinking age from 18 to 21 saves lots of lives. My point is that <em>having</em> a drinking age in the first place sends the wrong message to our young people and contributes to irresponsible drinking and driving.</p>

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<p>I’m an adult, reading this thread just to try to crawl inside the heads of younger people who’d even consider doing this. And to me, it sounds like instead of eating 3 meals on your 21st birthday, go ahead and eat 63 meals, one right after the other. Ugh. Sounds like a disgusting explosion, much time at the porcelain throne. Who would even do that to your body? I can’t fathom it. </p>

<p>The real issue of “21 shots” is the possibility of alcohol poisoning, at these amounts and rates (per hour) of consumption. </p>

<p>How is this an act to show maturity? I thought coming of age meant something different than acting like an idiot in public and possibly dying that seem evening (the point of the OP and the Jesse true story). </p>

<p>Coming-of-age “rituals” are established by adults to test the strength of up and coming youth, but the tests are designed to challenge, not to kill. After such a ritual, the new one has proven himself worthy of participation in adult society.
Whether it’s a 3 day survival in the wilderness with few provisions, or some other rite, it’s meant to test but not to kill. And those coming of age don’t invent the ritual, the adults do, because the real goal is to reward maturity or let the younger one know he is capable of realistic challenges, and able to be called upon for adult responsibility. 21 shots within an hour or two is not that kind of challenge.</p>

<p>If this is a macho thing for guys, do girls really admire and praise it as an achievement later on? As for girls, well, rent a movie called “The Accused”
starring Jodie Foster and see what is the possible fate of a girl in a bar surrounded by townspeople and fraternity students when she looks even slightly tipsy wasted.
True story from New Bedford, MA, a famous gang rape incident. She goes into the bar with a girlfriend, but in mid-evening, the male crowd separates them and the friend gets scared and leaves…so the answer isn’t always just “go in with friends.” </p>

<p>I am disheartened to read this, and will be written off by some as just a Mom.
So be it.</p>

<p>I also have memory, as do some on this forum, of a student who wrote here bragging of his capacity and then died of alcohol poisoning. </p>

<p>If other parents have that exact link, please chime in, as this is essentially an
educating dialogue between generations.</p>

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<p>Paying3, I think this is the link you are looking for. I hope that some of the students bragging about their “capacity” will look at it.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/159778-must-read-parents-students-lessons-learned-tragedy.html?highlight=death+Cornell+alcohol[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/159778-must-read-parents-students-lessons-learned-tragedy.html?highlight=death+Cornell+alcohol&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>It’s usually older guys egging on the younger one who’s just turning 21. I’m in a fraternity, where all that high risk drinking goes on all too often, but I really haven’t heard the “21 drinks for your 21st birthday” one before. Usually its that night where we all go out to the bar and get the guy drunk. I don’t drink anymore and won’t ever push people like the older guys do (went to the hospital with a .41 BAC my freshman year, scared the hell out of me), but that’s just how it goes down in a lot of places. Nobody thinks of maturity when they go out…they go out with the intention of getting ‘as messed up as possible’</p>

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<p>Why is drinking so prevalent on college campuses? It seems like almost every other college in Princeton Review’s 366 (and they are the better ones, supposedly) have an entry that says ‘beer drinking is prevalent’, and some say hard liquor is prevalent,too . We hear about games like beer pong or similar games.</p>

<p>My SR daughter seems to be having to wage a quixotic quest to find a college where drinking is not a primary mode of socializing. The only such colleges seem to be the extremely religious, which she is not.</p>

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<p>S is at a LAC that’s known as a party school. S doesn’t drink, and has managed to find a nice group of socially active friends who don’t drink. Even at the party schools, there are people whose idea of fun is not drunkenness.</p>

<p>From what I hear, the hard time partiers tend to flunk out freshman year, which means that the longer one is in college, the easier it is to find friends who aren’t hard time partiers.</p>

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<p>Within the last decade, a student at my university drank 21 shots when he turned 21, and he died of alcohol poisoning as a result. He made it back to the house that he shared with several other students, went to bed, and never woke up.</p>

<p>His parents, who are brave people, have given presentations to our incoming students; they also send the students birthday cards, shortly ahead of their 21st birthdays. Fortunately, we haven’t had a repeat incident, and I hope we never do.</p>

<p>For the students reading this, if you were thinking of drinking this quantity, please reconsider.</p>

<p>For the parents, didn’t we lose “lucifer” from this forum, in somewhat similar circumstances?</p>

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<p>Lucifer, who had posted his pro alcohol views on this forum, died of alcohol poisoning. He was only a college freshman. Another article to read and discuss with your children.</p>

<p>"In postings, a tragic portrait of defiance</p>

<p>By KATE CARROLL
STAFF WRITER</p>

<p>Published: Friday, April 14th, 2006</p>

<p>“In my mind, the best way to prevent a kid from screwing up in college (which, incidentiallly [sic], can be caused as much by slacking off and playing videogames with fellow dormers as it can by alcohol or drugs) is to give him/her more freedom in [high school],” lucifer11287 wrote Jan. 15 on collegeconfidential.com, a college admissions message board. “Contrarily, if a kid is used to drinking/partying and doesn’t consider it novel, then they will probably know how to fit alcohol into a successful lifestyle.”</p>

<p>Lucifer11287 would probably have concluded that Matthew Pearlstone, a Cornell freshman who died of alcohol poisoning on March 17, the morning of St. Patrick’s Day, while visiting the University of Virginia, was a novice drinker. But Matthew Pearlstone was lucifer11287…</p>

<p>The story of how Pearlstone died — accidental alcohol poisoning, the local coroner ruled — is not a unique one. About 36 college students die each year for reasons related to alcohol consumption, according to a recent analysis by USA Today…"
[In</a> postings, a tragic portrait of defiance - The Daily Princetonian](<a href=“http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2006/04/14/news/15232.shtml]In”>http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2006/04/14/news/15232.shtml)</p>

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<p>After reading the entire thread, I don’t feel one bit of sympathy for the people who make the conscious decision to drink so much. I do however, feel quite sad for the innocent victims of alcohol abuse and drunken driving incidents. In my opinion, alcohol limits should be enforced as much as possible for the protection of innocent bystanders.</p>

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<p>QuantMech, see post #48 above re: “lucifer”</p>

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<p>the 21 age is ridiculous, in quebec we have an unenforced 18 age and our alcoholism rate are far less than in the states. most people start drinking around 13-14, get sick a few times and then they learn their limits. im 18 now, most of my friends (most of which aren’t typical CC’ers, like C students and party a lot) never drink to excess, just moderation. once you are legal, drinking just becomes anothing thing and its not exclusive and dangerous…</p>

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<p>Thanks for the links, momof3sons and Northstarmom.</p>

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<p>Good riddance! These people won’t be on the streets killing people.</p>

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<p>People like supery need to learn the difference between drinking, and drinking and driving. Drinking generally causes harm to nobody other than the person drinking except in rare circumstances. Law enforcement needs to move away from strictly enforcing this under the age of 21. Drinking and driving, on the other hand, should continue to be severely enforced and punishments should be stepped up regardless of age.</p>

<p>Groups like MADD have blurred the line between the two and made it out as if anybody who drinks is a terrible person and doing something just as terrible as someone who is drinking and driving.</p>

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<p>MADD has become decidedly neo-prohibitionist in it’s message as time has gone on, including coming out against things like free holiday cab services intended to lower the incidence of drunk driving. In several of their ad campaigns they’ve compared drinking (but NOT drinking and driving) to rape, IV drug use, and suicide. I certainly agree the there should be greater emphasis on drinking and driving.</p>