<p>Very early in her freshman year my D attended an off campus frat party–her first one–and not too far into the evening she noticed that a boy she vaguely recognized had vomited on the floor and then left the building, reeling with drunkenness. She was concerned, and followed him out. He was making some effort at hailing a cab, but was incoherent and stumbling in the street. Fearing he’d be run over, she got a cab, took him back to his dorm, and sat with him for hours after he passed out on the bed, worried that he’d choke on his vomit if left alone. She finally left when his roommate showed up. To this day, I don’t think he remembers that night or my D, though she may have saved his life.</p>
<p>Point of the story–at college, the first line in protecting our kids are other kids. As sad as it is, even kids who are sensible, moderate partiers are going to be in the company of those who are reckless and stupid. They need to look after one another. I’m sure some of the deaths described above could have been avoided if the right person had intervened. It’s a terrible responsibility to put on our kids, but I don’t see how the brother’s keeper role can be avoided these days. And every kid being sent off the college needs to be aware that this is a burden they are taking on.</p>
<p>I have to tell my sons to fake it to see who would be the angel coming to rescue. ;)</p>
<p>I am not sure if I can blame the school if a student is willing to get drunk on his/her own. But, I have a big problem if the forced drinking is happening in a rush. DS3 and i have been sharing cans of beer from time to time since his HS sophomore year. We would do that especially when my wife prepares something delicious. I trust his judgement of staying away from the predatory and disrespectful practices of the fraternity clubs.</p>
<p>I live in a country (UK) where the drinking age is 18. Most countries around the world have a drinking age of 18, though some go as low as 16 (e.g. Italy). </p>
<p>Things I have noticed…
because it’s legal, people drink in pubs and clubs where there is some level of supervision from the staff. If you get too drunk then they will stop serving you and / or throw you out. People avoid getting that drunk because they don’t want to be thrown out. You simply don’t have that in a frat house.
a US exchange student recently told me that he thought the drinking culture here was more ‘mature’ than the US (i.e. less OTT binge drinking)
there’s a culture of just going to the pub for one or two pints and a chat, and then going home again almost sober. People don’t feel like they always have to be half cut every time they drink
there isn’t some kind of disproportionate level of drink-related deaths. The city I live in has ~80,000 students from 4 universities. I can only think of two deaths since I have been here (3 semesters) where the student was drinking first from any of the university. One the student walked out in front of a taxi at 3am; the other the student fell into a canal (the details remain unclear, most likely because he wasn’t found for 3 weeks) but he was reported to not be particularly drunk). Out of a student population of 85,000, I don’t think that’s too bad.
People have usually turned 18 whilst living at home, and so there has been some regulation of their drinking before they leave home for university.
There are cultural differences; there’s something of a middle class obsession with giving older kids very small amounts of wine so that it doesn’t seem like something and therefore more attractive (forbidden fruit!). I was drinking small glasses of wine with lunch maybe once or twice a week from my mid teens. You can legally give a child of 5 an alcoholic drink (not that people do…) and there’s not any public perception of a need to change that. </p>
<p>Universities have bars on campus, including in halls of residence (aka dorms). The students union organises ‘freshers week’ which is essentially a week-long series of club nights out. People tend to get most of the drinking out of their ‘system’ so to speak in first year, and then settle down a bit more for the rest of their degree. </p>
<p>Yes, you do get kids in their mid-teens who get hold of alcohol. Ultimately though, they invariably get hold of it because their parents have given it to them, or because they have got someone older than them to go and buy it from the shop for them. There’s not much the government can do about that, whatever the drinking age, and it doesn’t present a major problem for society. IDing is strict, and backed up by test purchases by the police (sending in an underage kid and seeing if they get served). Minimum pricing (as mentioned in post #26) is more aimed at ‘problem drinkers’ than underage drinkers; I don’t think it will actually come in though, and given the prices they’ve been talking about, it wouldn’t have a significant impact. Only things like 2 litre bottles of cheap cider would be affected. </p>
<p>Having the drinking age at 21 in the US is largely a hangover (pun not intended) from the days of prohibition, rather than being based on any evidence. I wouldn’t support the raising of the drinking age in the UK, and there isn’t any public clamour for it either.</p>
<p>Actually, it used to be lower in many US states before the national government withheld road funding unless states raised it to 21. This was ostensibly to combat drunk driving among newer drivers. For whatever reason, there was (and still probably is to a lesser extent) much less in the way of legal penalties and social disdain for drunk driving in the US compared to many other countries, as well as much of the population in the US living in places where inexpensive and reliable public transportation is not present.</p>
<p>Catria, I agree with you. Our approach to alcohol is not working. Time for a change. I would like to see rules that kids over 18 can get a state ID that entitles them to either drink - ON PREMISES ONLY – or drive. Whichever they want. Lets move to a world where there is adult supervision.</p>
<p>Great lets have another drug legalized. What’s wrong with a substance free life?Parents we are the models and yes I am a parent and I have made mistakes.We as adults need to stop glorifying the culture of alcohol.</p>
<p>Ten days later, nothing has been mentioned of this poor student’s passing except for this brief news item in the local paper- no email or other notice was sent to students. I understand that the family of this poor young man would like privacy in their grief, but as long as school administrators maintain silence in these tragedies they will be quietly forgotten.</p>
<p>My brother is a retired military officer. If three men in his battalion should have died like this in that period of time, he would have been relieved of his command and be in trouble and there would certainly be investigations and some changes in that group. Someone should be lighting a fire under the administration.</p>
<p>I don’t know if lowering the minimum drinking age would make any difference. From what i have seen at the college and young adult and teen drinking scenes, there is a change from the way these kids are drinking and mixing things like prescription drugs, especially some of the newer painkillers, and the Ritalin type drugs in a way our generation did not do. Also binge drinking is the rage. I don’t think it is caused from the raising of the legal age. If anything, some kids, and parents and school and rules are aware of the law and do take it easy and more cautiously. Truly if I thought for an instant that it would make any difference, I 'd be all for it. This is something that scares me terrible, and I’ve known kids and families who have been handed the ultimate blow in this substance abuse. </p>
<p>My father was in terrible pain before he died, and there was not much to assuage it. Now we have things that can do so much better, and a result has been a lot of abuse of those drugs. How these drugs illegally make their way into these young people’s hands is beyond me. I’ve known two kids who mixed them with alcohol, at “pill parties” and never woke up. I was at the one young lady’s first birthday party, age 1, many years ago. The pain is enormous when I think about it. The parents have to be just in agony. I don’t know if I could go on… But I don’t think the raising of age to legitimately drink alcohol would have done a thing about it–she was 21.</p>
<p>that’s why my son did not apply to UCSB: he’s in at UCSD, UCLA, and UB. UB is the best bet for the least drug abuse, but then it’s the highest bet for a stress-related psychiatric admission</p>
<p>Its interesting that the Portland news station signed off with the comment from an emergency dr saying there havent been enough long term studies to determine if marijuana is safer in the long run than alcohol, but in 2012 when I had to go to the emergency room because I was overdosing on marijuana, the emergency room dr just told me “to smoke it, not eat it”.
Incidentally, the only treatment that was needed was time & ice chips.
[MPP</a> Unveils Billboard in Portland, Oregon - YouTube](<a href=“MPP Unveils Billboard in Portland, Oregon - YouTube”>MPP Unveils Billboard in Portland, Oregon - YouTube)
Now I make my own edibles so I know exactly what is in it.</p>
<p>My d. called us up one day to ask us for a recipe for brownies. What do I know about brownies? I hadn’t had one since 1971. We told her to look it up on the Internet. Well, three brownies later…</p>
<p>I am imagining what the first day of legalized marijuana sales in Washington State is going to be like. It will give new meaning to “Happy New Year!”</p>
<p>Weed or alcohol what’s the difference it really is choosing your poison.Neither is worth dying for.Be an example show our children life is beautiful without drugs.</p>
<p>Missing the point emerald.We model behavior.If our attitudes towards drugs THC or alcohol are flippant we will continue to witness the destruction of young lives.Legal or not mind altering substances kill.So how about the adults I.e parents show some restraint.</p>
<p>Do you have links?
I was told by Seattle drs that you cannot OD on marijuana, my experience not withstanding. ( the marijuana I use is low in THC, higher in CBD)btw.
Cultures throughout history back in time have used substances.
The most we can do is limit access, regulate it for purities and educate the populace about its use as well as attempt to enforce abuse.
However, that doesn’t seem to be working so well…
[Minimum</a> Legal Drinking Ages around the World](<a href=“http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/LegalDrinkingAge.html]Minimum”>http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/LegalDrinkingAge.html)
There is a good article in psychology today entiled reading between the headlines but I cant link to it as it is on their blog page</p>