The Pros And Cons Of Binge Drinking

The four years of college (or more depending on the major) are considered the pinnacle of any young adult’s life; from 18-years-old until college graduation, students go through changes day in and day out, learning about themselves in the process. While some of these changes can be looked at as a good thing (maturing the student into an adult) it may also be conceived as a negative change. In college, where parties are the norm, drinking is encouraged and drugs float around there is no doubt that students at one point or another in their college career will experiment with drugs and alcohol. Experimentation is fine; it’s very normal for any person at any age. However, these experiments could turn into a full blown addiction, if the students

The same can be said for someone who drinks copious amounts of alcohol. According to Aaron Brower and Lisa Carroll of The Journal of American College Health, “The NIAAA defies binge drinking as 5 or more drinks for a man and 4 or more drinks for a woman within the period of 2 hours” (Brower, Carroll 1). Drinking 4 plus drinks in that short amount of time is surely to have an impact on a person’s wellbeing and cognitive functions, and is also pretty dangerous, especially if that person was to go out after consuming the alcohol. And that is exactly the authors point; binge drinking is not only hazardous to the drinker, but those around them as well. For example, in 2004, “alcohol-fueled riots after a [2004] Halloween celebration cost the city of Madison close to half a million dollars” (Brower, Carroll 1). Not only that, but more money was dedicated to the college city of Madison, which had negative effects on Wisconsin as a whole; with extra patrol to make sure college students were being safe, the rest of the city was considered