Let me start off by saying that I in no way encourage underage drinking or binge drinking in general.

So often the first weekend to college means all the RA's are on duty, extra public safety officers are around campus and many many trash cans next to many many beds. The problem is that we don't know our limits when it comes to tolerance but we have a very high limit when it comes to the availability of alcohol on college campuses. Whether parents and college officials like it or not, underage drinking and binge drinking happen. It always has and it always will, especially when we're the ones policing ourselves. No college student cards everyone who walks into the doors of their house. It. Doesn't. Happen. So let's all agree that stopping the flow of alcohol onto campuses will not work. We will find it, and we will use it. There's this phrase that I hear, especially on weekends, on campus: "you're not an alcoholic until you graduate." Ha ha, very clever. It is true that college students are known for drinking a lot and, after leaving the care and supervision of one's parents, it is expected to challenge the beliefs with which we were raised. What do they expect when they throw us into small spaces with a bunch of other people our age? Okay so they don't expect rampant alcohol use and abuse. We are adults, we can vote, some of us do pay our own way. We should be expected to respect our bodies and the substances that we put into them. The problem with expecting us to respect these things is that, we've never really been taught how to handle them.

So how can we possibly stop the number of alcohol related deaths and injuries?

I don't know about you but in my high school they taught us that alcohol is bad. That's it. No if's, and's or but's. So they were a little right. It is a poison that will have adverse effects. The problem with telling a person, or a generation, that something is bad is that they will only want it more. So let's stop teaching our children that all alcohol in any amount will kill you. We should be teaching them that the average person need only consume six drinks in two hours time to meet the legal definition for intoxication. This means that your balance, speech and overall motor function is impaired. This, however, doesn't mean you can handle the exact same number of drinks in the same amount of time. Everyone is different.

The disappointing thing is that I had to look up these statistics and facts. I never really thought about drinking until I got to college and becuase I was always told it would kill me, of course I wanted to try it. This happens a lot more than you would expect (yes parents, even your sweet angel).

Use and abuse of alcohol can (and does) start before the age of 21. The truth is that finding your limit can lead to binge-drinking at an early age and can lead to alcoholism. My advice is, never try and find your body's limit and never try and push it if you accidentally do find it. Always set a drink limit (per hour) and try and stay below it. If you're going to drink, do it where you know you'll be ok and in the safest manner possible.