It’s Rush Week And Your Child May Be Poisoned
If you’re like me you probably didn’t learn much about the effects of alcohol beyond addiction. Sure, you’ve heard of rehab and know people in “recovery.” But, as far as you’re concerned those people are alcoholics who make bad choices.
You probably drink yourself, may have even had a few last night. It’s quite possible that you even drank with your kid sometime in the last couple of years. I mean, they’re going off to college so why not teach them “responsible drinking” while they are still at home? Turning twenty one is one of the very few milestones that we celebrate in American culture. To repeat, one of the only rights of passage we have in our culture is being old enough to drink.
While you probably prepared your kid for many things as they headed off into new territory I’m wondering if talking to them about alcohol was on that list? I know for me, it was not. I was told to make good grades (which I didn’t) and to stay away from drugs (which I did). But alcohol, was never mentioned. I didn’t rush in a sorority but I did drink my first night on campus and pretty much every night that whole first semester.
This time of year, the news stories will start to circulate about a few kids who rushed fraternities and sororities and died of alcohol poisoning. Just like all of the stories before them, the majority of the blame will go to the University itself, the chapter of fraternity or sorority, and the leadership of the school. There will be some mention of “underage” drinking and the coverage will make it seem like the child drank gallons of liquor by choice in order to get into their preferred peer group. Maybe they were following in the footsteps of their parents or maybe they just wanted to be part of something.
Since most of what we learn about alcohol is only related to addiction, it’s not likely that the student had any idea how poisonous, dangerous, and harmful the substance really was. In researching for my latest workshop I found that alcohol executives spend a lot of time and money marketing alcohol to teens. They fill it will fun flavors, make commercials colorful and fun, and portray the idea that alcohol will help you feel included. In addition, every song, music video, movie, show, commercial, social media ad and more promotes alcohol as being the thing that makes life better. If you drink alcohol then you will be more fun, more sexy, more connected, and life is like a party!
Society reinforces this message by making sure that drinks are covered at graduation parties, baby showers, funerals, baseball games, kids birthday parties, concerts, fun runs, festivals, and more. Day drinking, night drinking, young people, old people, there isn’t an occasion or person that alcohol isn’t right for. So much so, that we as a people forgot to even question What is alcohol? Do I want this?
When students get to college and are offered alcohol (or forced to drink it during rush week) they rarely even question it. They don’t think “my parents will kill me” like they would if they replaced alcohol with cocaine. They don’t worry that they will get in trouble like if it were opioids. And, they don’t fear they could die like if it were heroin. By this point in their lives, alcohol is completely normalized. Being drunk and hungover are natural life occurrences and as long as they don’t become addicted, it’s all good.
Alcohol is not all good. In fact, it’s mostly all bad. One in ten people will die an alcohol related death and that number is growing. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, underage drinking causes many deaths. Alcohol is a significant factor in the deaths of people younger than age 21 in the United States each year. This includes deaths from motor vehicle crashes, homicides, alcohol overdoses, falls, burns, drowning, and suicides.
In addition, does anyone ever wonder how one might become addicted to alcohol? Sure there are some genetic factors, however, drinking alcohol is one of the biggest way to become addicted. Alcohol is VERY addictive, more so than cocaine and heroin. It messes with every system in the body and will rewire your brain completely. Especially brains that aren’t fully developed (like 18–20 year olds).
Back to the students who suffered alcohol poisoning. We are led to believe that you will only get alcohol poisoning if you drink massive amounts. That’s simply not true. Drinkaware reminds us There is no minimum amount of alcohol that could cause alcohol poisoning. The amount that can cause alcohol poisoning depends on a person’s age, sex, size, weight, how fast they have been drinking, how much they have eaten, their general health and whether they have taken medication or drugs. Since we’re not really talking about alcohol use as a problematic, it’s unlikely that kids know this. In fact, it’s unlikely that many adults know this.
While the word “binge” usually means a lot. It’s not that much in terms of drinking. Binge drinking for women is 4 or more drinks in one period (about 2 hours) and 5 or more for men. By drinks we mean one glass of beer and a very small pour of wine. AND this decreases based on size and age, medication, family history, illness, etc.
Let’s say that your student is lucky enough to survive the alcohol intake during rush week. Drinking in college is still extremely dangerous:
The most recent NIAAA statistics estimate that about 696,000 students ages 18 to 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking.
Researchers have confirmed a long-standing finding that 1 in 5 college women experience sexual assault during their time in college. A majority of sexual assaults in college involve alcohol or other substances.
About 1 in 4 college students report experiencing academic difficulties from drinking, such as missing class or getting behind in schoolwork.
Other consequences include suicide attempts, health problems, injuries, unsafe sexual behavior, and driving under the influence of alcohol, as well as vandalism, damage, and involvement with the police.
I personally, fall into many of these categories. I lost a full ride scholarship in my first semester. Mostly because I was too hungover to make it to class. I still have a scar on my elbow from a fall when I was too drunk to walk. I got in trouble for underage drinking in the dorms and had to go to a class called Choices (it was so ineffective that I drank immediately following the class).
And what didn’t happen to me directly, I know someone who was affected. I had friends who were raped, got in fights, got DUI’s or had car wrecks while drinking and driving. I know friends who became dependent on alcohol and 20 years later have still yet to kick the habit. I know people who dropped out of college, lost scholarships, and the list goes on.
Finally, the thing that frustrates me the most is the lack of blame that alcohol gets. If there were a school shooting, we take to the streets demanding gun safety and removal of guns. When someone dies from alcohol we blame the person. We don’t demand prevention on campus. We don’t demand to have warning labels on bottles. We don’t demand that alcohol companies stop persuading our young people to drink. We don’t stop sharing funny memes about getting drunk with friends over social media. We’re terrified to address it at all. We’re terrified that if we pull back the curtain to see the truth about alcohol that it means we might have to stop drinking and we just can’t. We can’t tolerate a world without booze.
But that’s not true. We can learn about alcohol, we can change our minds and develop better and healthier habits, we can educate ourselves, we can assess our own intake without fear. We don’t have to go to rehab or recovery (or maybe we do). At the very least, we can have informed consent. We might choose to still drink but we will do so knowing exactly what will happen. Our body will be impacted, it will affect our mental health, it increases our cancer risk, it will disrupt our sleep, it will impair our judgement, it will cause stomach issues, it will impact our relationships, and so much more. We might choose it but we won’t glorify it.
Cocaine users don’t go around telling everyone how awesome cocaine is or asking if someone wants to meet up to snort. Alcohol can be like that. We can drink without sending kids the message that it’s okay…because it’s not. It’s not at all okay. Talk to your kids about drinking.
More like this:
Alive AF-One Anxious Mom’s Journey To Becoming Alcohol Free
Alive AF workshops
