Binge Drinking Epidemic by Joey Cesarini

“About six times every day, someone in the USA dies of alcohol poisoning after drinking too much in a single binge (Kim Painter , Special for USA TODAY)”. It is estimated that 2,221 people who are over the age of 15 died of alcohol poisoning from 2010-2012, but against popular social belief, most of these people were between the ages of 35 to 64 (1). Most people believe that the binge drinking epidemic claims most victims at their teenage or early twenty years. What causes the “spread” of binge drinking? Those who endure its side effects and survive, what happens to them? These are just a few questions that will be answered upon exploring the binge drinking epidemic.

History of the Epidemic

            Binge drinking has been going on for a very long time in our society. It may not have been officially titled an epidemic until more recent years but that does not mean it was still happening and seen as a big problem. In the year 1915, the entire state of Oregon successfully voted to ban all forms of alcohol, predating US national prohibition by four years (Binge Drinking In College Students). Following this Oregon ban, binge drinking gained nationwide attention as a problem. In 1920 US Congress ratified the 18^th Amendment of the Constitution, Prohibition (History.com Staff. "18th and 21st Amendments."). “Prohibition, legal prevention of the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the United States (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Prohibition.").” Prohibition was lifted and no longer enforced upon the ratification of the 21^st Amendment (1). After 1933, there is a gap in the binge drinking timeline. Americans were not concerned with alcohol issues again until 1984. “On July 17, 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, a law that required states to raise the drinking age to 21 or face a 10 percent cut to their federal highway funding. All states complied and adopted the higher drinking age (Tietjen, Denali. "Why 21? A Look at Our Nation’s Drinking Age.").” President Reagan passed this law to try and put an end to all of the alcohol-related car accidents. During the upcoming time before this law was passed “Over two-thirds of car accidents involving persons aged 16 to 20 were alcohol-related (1).” So many people were driving drunk, Reagan had to act quick with a strong stance to help save more lives being indirectly taken from binge drinking.

            Moving forward about 31 years to more modern examples of the binge drinking epidemic, a high school student who was visiting Oklahoma State University “died of alcohol poisoning while drinking with football players (Binge Drinking In College Students).” This is when the modern binge drinking epidemic started to hit mainstream concern again.

            Binge drinking is a problem that can affect any age group, but where binge drinking is most prevalent in college. “Drinking at college is often glorified in movies and encouraged through the “party culture” pervasive at many colleges and universities. In this kind of atmosphere, students are more likely to engage in unhealthy drinking activities, assuming it is a normal part of the college experience("Binge Drinking in College - The Impact of Alcohol in Higher Education.").”

            Binge drinking is an epidemic that has long been active in our society, as proven in the timeline above. This brings up a key question as to what exactly caused this epidemic of binge drinking? Well an expert on this topic, psychologist Dr. Michael Mantell states that “that all types of bingeing are “ways of dealing with negative emotions that are not rational or healthy” (English, Nick. "Why We Binge.").” This explains why binge drinking is on a very epidemic level in college, the amount of stress students can go through can be very overwhelming. This also explains why alcohol deaths are very high in the older age groups, lots of negative thoughts can occur during mid-life.

            Now that binge drinking has been proven with reliable evidence, what sort of effect does it put on society? Long-term effects of binge drinking include severe brain damage, cancers of the mouth or throat, high blood pressure, severe liver damage, stomach, pancreas, kidney damage, and even more potentially fatal organ damage that can be caused by long term binge drinking (Feargal. "Know... the Effects of Alcohol.").

            Short term effects of binge drinking include, but are not limited to, criminal activity, violence, social disclusion, social inclusion, and short term entertainment (1).

Examples of the Epidemic

            Being an 18-year-old teenager who is months away from graduating high school and preparing to go off to college, I have been a witness to some personal experience binge drinking. My high school has been the hub of a party scene for some of my fellow class mates for years. Students look forward on Friday to finishing up the day and getting ready at home, just to go drink at a house party, only to wake up feeling terrible regretting most of whatever they can remember last night. Some of these kids have engaged in this epidemic to such an extreme level that it goes beyond the point of causing their grades to suffer, or they start to become social outcasts and experience hate from others. I have known of some students to become hospitalized due to alcohol poising from binge drinking.

            Another example of binge drinking is an "Acadia student dies after binge drinking: Student was seen playing 'flip cup' in residence": Being found dead in a basement dorm room was one unlucky 19-year-old student's fate after a night of heavy binge drinking, playing the popular college party game "flip cup." The media respected the parents' wishes to keep the news private, but a friend did make a statement: "He was drinking a 40 oz. of something and he pretty much drank the whole thing … not even mixing it ("7 Crazy Binge Drinking Deaths.")."

 Solutions

            With the estimation that 2,221 people who were over the age of 15 died of alcohol poisoning from 2010-2012 (Kim Painter, Special for USA TODAY), it is clear to see that Binge drinking is an epidemic that is desperately awaiting a solution. Another set of further convincing statistics shows that 44% of college students binge drink, 48% of college students say that “drinking to get drunk” is an important reason for drinking (Seth. "College Student Alcohol Drinking Statistics.").  Two approaches/methods can be made to solve binge drinking. One is at the age level of high school and college students, and the other solution is fitted to help those who are above college age, i.e. thirties through sixties.

Solution Number 1: Law Enforcement, Community Assistance, and Social Media Advertisement

            Proposed solution number one to binge drinking is directed to target the crowd of high school and college age binge drinkers. The solution is broken down into three subsections, law enforcement, Community assistance and media advertisement. Beginning with law enforcement, this is one of the single most preventatives to binge drinking for high school and college students for the simple reason that is illegal for these kids to drink, based off the assumption that they are under the legal drinking age of 21 years old. Law enforcement officers need to crack down on underage kids drinking. This crackdown will prevent these teens from developing binge drinking habits because they will not be drinking at all due to the threat of lawful consequences.

In the state of Texas, it is against the law to possess, consume, or purchase/attempt to purchase alcohol when under the age of 21 (Tex. Alco. Bev. Code Ann. s. 106.05). These laws typically come with small consequence when the offender is caught, usually resulting in a ticket, along with a small fine (1). The law enforcement sub-section needs to enforce harder consequences on those caught in the act of underage drinking. Providing harsher consequences and holding offender’s accountable on a court level will greatly help prevent teens going down the path of binge drinking.

The second sub-section of the three-part solution for early age binge drinking, is Community Assistance. Kids under the age of 21 have a high tendency to follow along with the crowd (Zeiger, Stacy. "Statistics on Peer Pressure."). Peers with pressure each other into things that they may not be comfortable in doing, but the individual will do it to fit in with the others in an attempt to “fit in” or “up social status”.  In an online survey conducted for the intention to be used in the article "Statistics on Peer Pressure.", 70% of teens who binge drink say they started because their friends/peers pressured them to try binge drinking. This is where the community assistance comes in, teens need a nice and clean community to live in. If the community that teens are living in is toxic (endorses peer pressure onto the individual) then bad decisions including binge drinking start to become a problem. High schools and College campuses can solve this by creating social clubs and events that offer a clean, alcohol-free environment for teens/students to enjoy friends who do not pressure peers negatively.

The third and final sub-section of the three-part solution for early age binge drinking, is social media advertisement. 24% of teenagers answered in a survey that they are on social media almost constantly (Steyer, Carly. "8 Fascinating Facts About How Teens Use The Internet And Social Media."). These social media websites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. all make use of advertisements whether it be the marketing of a product, or the promotion of an idea/movement. Social Media Advertisement is a wonderful way to keep teens from binge drinking.

Solution Number 2: Cutting Back Your Drinking

            Binge drinking turns into a different epidemic beyond high school/college age. At this age, expectations that come along with adulthood must be met. These expectations are much greater than high school or college. Many adults start binge drinking as a release from responsibility. (Porrey, Melissa. "How to Stop Binge Drinking.") It can be broken down into a multi-step process. Step number one: Setup some rules for the individual. Make sure to never drink in excess and/or for the sole purpose of getting drunk. Step number two: Slow drinking down, enjoy a smaller amount of drinks for a longer period instead of a large amount of drinks for a short amount of time. Step number three: drink four times as much water as alcohol (1). Step number five: Say “no thanks” to social outings at the bar or any events that may involve drinking. If the individual is not there, where the alcohol is then binge drinking is avoided.

Camus and Absurdity

            Camus’ beliefs do relate to binge drinking in that fact that binge drinking is very negative and dark, but his beliefs do not relate when referring to solutions.  Camus was an anarchist who believed in complete freedom, but he did not believe in violence. The solutions proposed are very realistic and completely possible, not absurd whatsoever. Camus would not have appreciated this being an epidemic, because it could result in un necessary violence. Camus would believe that it is violent and destructive to ones-self.

Conclusion

            In conclusion, binge drinking is an incredibly dangerous epidemic that has the capability to claim victims of all ages. Binge drinking comes from peer pressure, hard social abuse and depression. With the solution suggested above, binge drinking can be stopped and human lives can be saved.

Work Cited

Kim Painter , Special for USA TODAY. "Report: Binge Drinking Kills 6 a Day - and Most Are Men." USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network, 06 Jan. 2015. Web. 19 Feb.

"Binge Drinking In College Students." University of Oregon Sites. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.2017.

History.com Staff. "18th and 21st Amendments." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Prohibition." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 11 Aug. 2016. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.

Tietjen, Denali. "Why 21? A Look at Our Nation’s Drinking Age." Boston.com. The Boston Globe, 17 July 2014. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.

"Binge Drinking in College - The Impact of Alcohol in Higher Education." Addiction Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.

English, Nick. "Why We Binge." Greatist. Greatist, 29 Dec. 2016. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.

Feargal. "Know... the Effects of Alcohol." Feargal. Public Health Agency, 29 May 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2017.

"7 Crazy Binge Drinking Deaths." Project Know. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2017.

Kim Painter , Special for USA TODAY. "Report: Binge Drinking Kills 6 a Day - and Most Are Men." USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network, 06 Jan. 2015. Web. 19 Feb.

Wagenaar. "Effectiveness of Public Health Strategies to Reduce College Binge Drinking and Underage Alcohol Use." Strategies to Reduce College & Underge Binge Drinking. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.

Seth. "College Student Alcohol Drinking Statistics." Statistic Brain. Statistic Brain, 03 Sept. 2016. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.

Zeiger, Stacy. "Statistics on Peer Pressure." LoveToKnow. LoveToKnow Corp, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.

Steyer, Carly. "8 Fascinating Facts About How Teens Use The Internet And Social Media." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 20 July 2015. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.

Porrey, Melissa, and WikiHow. "How to Stop Binge Drinking." WikiHow. WikiHow, 16 Apr. 2017. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.