Would it happen if alcohol wasn't involved?

Rates are higher for death, drunk driving, injury, and police involvement when people are under the influence of alcohol. Students are typically binge drinkers before they come to college. However, when they get here and their peers bombard them with the mass amounts of alcohol they can consume, they do not know when they have reached their limit. People who do not have much experience with drinking alcohol generally do not know how to behave responsibly. Especially when they come right out of highschool and there 17-18 years of age.

If you are caught underage drinking or providing alcoholic beverages to minors on campus it can lead to parental notification, mandatory counseling and suspension or dismissal from the university or from university housing. If your willing to underage drink, you had better be willing to accept the consequences if you are caught. Campus authorities are not the only people you need to worry about when you are under the influence. Police are knowledgable and ready to find and convict anyone who is underage and driving under the influence or is found intoxicated while in public. On a typical Tuesday night you can drive from Charles Street to Osler and find three cops at different locations ready to make their mark. 2.1 million students between the ages of 18-24 were arrested for driving under the influence in 2002. 1, 700 students between the ages of 18-24 die in alcohol related car accidents every year. 599, 000 students are unintentionally injured. Most college students who are underage will drink and the majority of them do get away with it. Drinking is a difficult situation to stray away from while at college because the larger perecentage of students do it. If you choose to drink there are many precautions you can take to make sure that you are drinking responsibly.

First, there is no reason to ever get behind the wheel while intoxicated. You are not only threatening the life of yourself but the lives of those around you or in the car with you. Public transportation is always an option. Cab fares are managable if you travel in a larger group. It is more responsible to pay that extra four dollars on a ride home, then letting your drunk friend tell you that they did not have that much to drink that night. Those four or five dollars would probably have been spent at Mcdonalds the next morning, which are calories that you don't need anyway. Another way to avoid this type of scenario is by making prior arrangements with who your illeged transportation is going to be, like having a sober friend drop and pick you up. A designated driver is hard to come by because no one generally wants to play that role. If you are of age you need to remember that in all 50 states of America your blood alcohol concentration cannot be any higher then .08%; otherwise they are hauling you in the clinger. 2.1 million students drive under the influence each year. Don't be another statistic. Play safe. Drink Responsibly! :)

http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/StatsSummaries/snapshot.aspx