Your eighteen years old and living away from your parents for the first time. You can sign legal documents, you are eligible for the draft, you can make your own decisions, but you still can't legally consume alcoholic beverages. You are finally an adult, but are you? Under US law, one must be over the age of 21 to buy or consume alcoholic beverages. However, on a college campus, the focus is not on the consumption of alcohol, but binge drinking. Binge drinking, or the consumption of five beers for men and four for women in a row, is responsible for most underage drinking accidents. Alcohol poisoning, and drunk driving are two of the biggest problems facing underage college students.

The problem with binge drinking is that the body looses the ability to process alcohol at the speed in which consumed. Unfortunately students are often un-aware of the effects rapid alcohol consumption can have on the body. The inability to process thoughts and the body's inability to reject alcohol, in the form of vomiting, make binge drinking dangerous for the drinker.

In the early 80's, in an attempt to reduce drunk driving, drinking between the ages of 18 and 21 w

Schneider, Craig. "New uproar, old refrain: Drinking is part of college life."

Consumption of alcohol by students." Atlanta Journal and Constitution 18 September. 1998 C/2.

Although many colleges have come a long way in loosening their alcohol policies, there is room for improvement. College students should not be penalized for drinking responsibly, but school administrators need to create guidelines for what is responsible. A 250-pound football player should not be penalized for dinking a beer, where as a fraternity should for making a pledge drink 30 shots in a night.

In the late nineties we are forced to reflect upon the binge drinking nature of college and ask ourselves what caused binging to become an every day habit. Is it the inability for underage drinkers to surface and practice their trade with responsible adults? Henry Wechsler, who headed the study and is the director of the Youth Drug-Alcohol Program at Harvard School of Public Health, seems to believe so.

Kendall, Allston. "In My Opinion: Legal drinking age should be 18." Atlanta

Atlanta Journal and Constitution 13 October. 1997 A/1.

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Approximate Word count = 1126
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)