Study: Many celebrate 21st birthday with 21 drinks | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Don Heard showed us this item from the Houston Chronicle. It is timely for me since I have a daughter who will turn 21 in just over a month. I am sending her a box of 21 Godiva chocolates along with a note that says "We know you'll make the right choice." Think it'll work?

An alarming number of 21-year-olds are participating in a dangerous practice of consuming 21 alcoholic beverages to celebrate reaching legal drinking age, according to a new report by researchers at the University of Missouri.

More than a third of men and a quarter of women surveyed at the university who drank alcohol the day they turned 21 reported consuming at least that many drinks of beer, wine and liquor, researchers reported in an article scheduled for publication in the June issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

"We were floored," said Patricia Rutledge, lead author of the report. "I still can't believe it even though I've seen it because it's so dangerous."
[...]
Scott Walters, an assistant professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health who researches the topic, said drinking excessively for one's 21st birthday is not as common as some students believe.

"There is this lore among a lot of college students who think that's the normal practice," Walters said.

Some students likely overestimate how much they drink, he said. For example, some may have counted half-shots as full shots, he said.

"Twenty-one drinks is a lot of drinks," Walters said. "Physically, that would be impossible for a lot of people, or if they did consume that, it would put them well within the lethal range."

That is LETHAL. As in: DEAD. As in" Please give this some thought. Scary. Not to mention all those unintended consequences, like DWI, Jail, Hospitals, that nasty rash that won't go away...

Study: Many celebrate 21st birthday with 21 drinks | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

SMU Report Suggests On-Campus Bar

SMU considers campus bar to combat drunken driving

Associated Press

An SMU task force created in the aftermath of three students death related to drugs or alcohol has recommended opening a campus bar and allowing parties at campus fraternity houses.

The Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force on Thursday handed over a 23-page proposal to President Gerald Turner, Dallas-Fort Worth television station KTVT reported.

The task force said its recommendations are intended to give the school more control over social events and cut down on drunken driving. "The overall goal is to support an environment that encourages wise decision-making and the well-being of our students," the university said in a statement.

The university declined to release the report to The Dallas Morning News on Friday.

“The dilemma is the university community deserves the right to review, consider and provide input on the recommendations,” SMU spokeswoman Patricia LaSalle said. “The task force feels an obligation to follow the process we decided on to give it a full and fair hearing.”

Ms. LaSalle said a draft of the recommendations had been prepared by mid-December and that in the past month, task force members provided input. She said President Turner would likely have reviewed the report by the end of today.

If the recommendations are approved, fraternities would be allowed to hold on-campus parties only if they agreed to hire SMU police to check IDs and professional bartenders to serve alcohol.

"If we keep it in a place that is enclosed and we are able to watch everyone, then a lot of the issues that come with drinking and drugs can be stopped," said Greg Standerfer of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

Another task force proposal would grant amnesty from being expelled or suspended for students who call 911 or campus police to report a student overdose on drugs or alcohol.

Ms. LaSalle said President Turner has the final word on whether to adopt the task force proposals. SMU said in a statement that some of the recommendations may be implemented immediately and that some may require further study.

"We will be happy to answer specific media questions at the appropriate time," SMU said. "But for now we must respect the deliberation process for our campus community."
If a campus bar is approved, SMU certainly would not be the first.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has served beer in its student union building for years, said Susan Crowley, the prevention services director for the UW-Madison PACE project, which educates students about the effects of binge drinking.

Ms. Crowley said the union serves beer and tries to “model appropriate adult behavior” by frequently checking IDs and promoting moderation. “There’s no comparison in health and safety factors,” she said.

Ms. Crowley added that drinking alcohol is not a substantial part of the union bar and that students generally don’t go there to drink.

Oxford, MS May Curb Drinking Establishments

(Courtesy of "The Fratboy News")

Ole Miss Students Could See Tougher Drinking Laws
Ole Miss Drinking
Students at the University of Mississippi could see a change in the way local Oxford businesses handle alcohol if new ordinances are passed.

City officials hope to enact an ordinance which would hold Oxford businesses responsible to selling alcohol to underage drinkers.

If the ordinance passes, businesses found to be first time violators could have their liquor licenses suspended for two weeks and face a year of probation. A second offense would mean a three-week suspension and another year of probation and a third could cause a liquor license to be revoked for a minimum of two years.

SDSU Students Learn to CHUG

Program Forces San Diego State Students to "Chug"
E-Chug Looks to Change College Drinking

A new program called "e-Chug" is hoping to change the attitudes of drinkers at San Diego State University.

E-Chug, which stands for Electronic Check-Up and Go. is a new program which asks a series of questions to students about drinking. The program calculates how much students spend on alcohol, how much the student is drinking in relation to his or her peers and how many calories they are intaking during a binge.

"The program also provides information on how the student's drinking fits in with other college students. It can be a real surprise to some students to find out they're in the 95th percentile in terms of their drinking. It just never occurred to them," said researcher Stephen Walters, of the University of Texas.