"Alcohol abuse on college campuses has reached a point where it is far more destructive than most people and today realize and today threatens too many of our youth." -Senator Joe Lieberman

Why do college students drink so much? This timeless fad has effected this generation in high percentages since the beginning of college education. Today in America it is estimated that approximately 29% of college students are regular alcohol abusers. Another recent study by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism performed showed that college students suffered 1,400 deaths, 70,000 date rapes and assaults, and 500,000 injuries each year as a result of alcohol. (McDonald) Although binge drinking (5+ drinks in one sitting) is considered a normal part of the college experience many factors contribute to whether or not an individual is more prone to be an abuser.

There are five factors that connect students with alcohol abuse with include: gender, family alcohol abuse, family depression and mental illness, childhood hyperactivity, and deviant behavior before age 15. Deviant behavior, for example, consists of acts such as being expelled from school, fighting, committing vandalism,

It is almost impossible to ever get college students to stop drinking. However, educating binge drinkers about the way they are preventing oxygen from getting to their brain when they black out is a start to decreasing the statistics of abusers. More colleges are starting to offer programs such as prevention education, counseling, and alcohol-free parties. Students need to be confronted their freshman year with frightening reality-based situations of what happens to people who consume too much alcohol in one night. Another situation that needs to be more closely monitored on campuses is Greek Life, in particularly fraternities. There is a great deal of hazing that occurs in many chapters during the freshman initiation period where pledges feel inclined to perform bizarre acts (such as consume excessive amounts of alcohol at one time) in order to feel accepted. When a situation goes beyond a good time with friends and an individual blacks out and experiences such things as date rape, someone should assist them in counseling and give them tests like the one's mentioned earlier to test their likeliness of being an abuser, and perhaps prevent at that point a lifetime of addictive destruction.

Excessive drinking in college can also result in situations such as lifetime dependence. The students most susceptible in this category include males with a history of deviant behavior prior to age 15 and have a first degree relative who has suffered from depression or other mental illness. Alcohol in accumulated years of use can result in diseases such as cirrhosis and many different types of cancer. (Fleming 5)

Criterion B covers more serious abuse whi

Some common words found in the essay are:
Institute Technology, Abuse Alcoholism, University Richmond, Greek Life, Fleming Criterion, Schedule DIS, Joe Lieberman, Drunk Alcohol, alcohol abuse, college students, deviant behavior, binge drinking, social development emotional, drinking habits, depression mental, students drink, mental illness, binge drinkers, depression mental illness, development emotional growth, stop drinking,
Approximate Word count = 1124
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)