Alcohol consumption on college campuses

Alcohol consumption on college campuses

Alcohol consumption on college campuses is increasingly becoming a big problem across the country. There are a growing number of students on campuses that take their lives in their hand every time they get intoxicated by consuming large quantities of alcoholic drinks within a short time. This problem is popularly known as binge drinking. Currently, health, learning, and rehabilitation institutions consider this problem to be a social stigma that is passed from previous generations who were on the same campuses. Learners in campuses consider binge drinking to be recreation since it is reinforced with alcoholic drinks and fancy hangout spots located adjacent to their campuses. The community and campus fraternity are known for the students’ wild and uncontrollable parties. The binge-drinking orientation is the initiations of the peer pressure associated with this cohort of students. The students do not understand that the fun and kind of life they perceive to live during these several heavy drinking occasions often lead to serious health problems and even alcohol dependence.

As a first-hand witness of what is going on in my campus, it is crucial that the relevant authorities and institutions like the National Institute for Drug Abuse with the help of the administration and the community help in solving this menace. I believe that experts from your institutions would be of great help in mitigating this health and social issue within the fraternity and sorority of the campus. Before getting deep into the matter, some vivid evidence must be presented to highlight that it binge drinking is a global problem among student. This can be ascertained by using the hypothesis that heavy alcohol use among campus students is linked to the salient features and conditions around and within these learning institutions. Most researchers on this problem can attest that several students get involved in binge drinking as a result of the conditions they get once enrolled in these institutions.

These findings were made after a recent survey that involved over 50 000 students across 100 colleges in the United States of America. Also, despite the several decades of study on this issue, most campus task forces and significant resources have been invested in studies. Still, binge drinking, especially in the United States of America, remains a problem. It is reported that more than 1,700 college students die from alcohol-related harms each year.

An additional 500 000 sustain injuries, and nearly 120, 000 become victims of sexual assaults influenced by alcoholism. 25% of students across American colleges report that their academic performances and scholarly lives deteriorate as a result of drinking.

According to the National Institute of Alcohol and Alcoholism, the rate of binge drinking among scholars has been above 40% for almost two decades. There are also indications that this figure will increase in the future because ‘the parties are getting even harder.’ More college students have now resorted to drinking to get extremely high by choosing hard liquor over brews like beer. Learners have also begun drinking in advance of social events and for many; the main objective is to get high. Drinking has also become so central to the learners’ expectations that they will fiercely fight for what they believe is a basic right. After some colleges where given red alerts over alcoholism and were profiled not to hold large outdoor parties and gatherings, they were outraged and even threatened to go on a rampage.

Although a majority of students cannot quit binge drinking, there can be coordinated activities that address policy enforcement, alcohol availability, and drinking behavior to help students with this menace. These mitigation strategies can play a significant role in protecting students from alcohol-related harm. Firstly, the campus can formulate and enforce policies that would prohibit students from being intoxicated or possessing any alcoholic substance within its premises. This would play a significant role in ensuring the students drink controllably and attend to their classes while sober. Also, with coordinated efforts from experts and relevant agencies, addicted students should be assisted by being enrolled in special courses that would offer counseling and strategies of reducing the amount of alcohol these scholars take. This should be done by highlighting some of the health, academic, and social impacts alcohol dependency can have on them. Other coordinated efforts of solving this menace should focus on changing the drinking behaviors of binge drinkers. For instance, campuses with the help of relevant agencies should adopt some drinking rituals among students. Hard liquor should be banned at all fraternity parties and social gatherings. Also, it would be great to use student volunteers to monitor for unsafe or prohibited behaviors while there are these parties within the campus community. The good cop/bad cop strategy is also a great approach to implement. This approach entails alcohol prevention strategies by the administration for freshmen while at the same time using law enforcement agencies for the senior students.

In a nutshell, alcohol consumption in collages is considerably increasing. Studies have revealed that students are pushed by peer pressure, and most of them don’t realize that it causes more harm than good. However, with coordinated efforts among agencies and the colleges, binge drinking can be eradicated.