Prospective college students should learn how to drink responsibly prior to college, no matter what the law says. Sound ridiculous? Well not as ridiculous as pretending underage drinking doesn’t happen just because parents don’t see it. Just because they hide the liquor bottles. Just because their kid doesn’t “do that.”
While the National Minimum Drinking Age Act raised the drinking age to 21 in 1984, the law has hardly evolved to reflect how drinking culture has evolved in high schools and colleges across the country since then. Underage drinking is associated with a plethora of harmful risks, including drug use, bad grades, injuries and health issues like anxiety or depression. And while both the legal and health-related implications are reason enough for parents to put locks on liquor cabinets to try and shelter their children from these consequences, it doesn’t stop underage individuals, especially college students, from acquiring their own alcohol through sneaky and, oftentimes, illegal means.
The Alcohol Rehab Guide has confirmed that “roughly 80 percent of college students — four out of every five — consume alcohol to some degree.” And yes, while this ranges from the double-fisting, alcoholic frat-bros to the low-key movie-and-boxed-wine-night roommates, drinking in any capacity can be extremely dangerous if you haven’t learned how to do it responsibly in the first place. Drinking in college with little to no experience is like throwing a bear cub into the lion’s den and rolling the dice as to whether those countless green tea shots and keg stands will leave them dead, alive, or with their heads over toilets — like staring down the barrel of the gun.
While the law prohibits underage drinking for good reason, it doesn’t change the fact that young adults still drink despite legal restrictions. And the hard truth is that often enough, the consequences of unsafe, inexperienced drinking in spite of its legality can be far more dangerous than those that come from the act itself.
Uncontrolled drinking can lead to worse consequences than cataclysmic hangovers and walks of shame that could single-handedly convince one to abstain from the act of drinking altogether. Dangerous situations, regarding injuries and assault, are all events that are often catalyzed by drinking. According to the Maryland Collaborative, “excessive alcohol consumption among college students is a contributory factor for unintentional injury, fatalities and sexual assault.” While it is a terrifying thought for a parent to picture their daughter or son as the victim of such a tragic event, it is equally as scary for them to picture the lesser-known alternative, in which their child is the aggressor, because ignorant drinking “might increase sexual arousal, disinhibition and aggression among perpetrators.” Though drinking by no means excuses violent or aggressive behavior, drinking can cause people to act uncharacteristically, violently or even foolishly due to impaired judgment. Either narrative, whether someone is a victim or an aggressor, is heartbreaking for a parent, and, more importantly, they can both be mitigated if preemptive measures are taken to familiarize a child with the pleasures and risks of drinking at home first.
Knowing limits when drinking and self-proclaiming the notorious title of “lightweight” or “heavyweight,” terms associated with people who can either handle fewer or more drinks, respectively, is a lesson and an experience — when learned in a safe environment — that can prove to be critical in college. If drinking is perceived as less taboo by one’s parents, the child is less likely to drink excessively and do so solely to get drunk because it removes the notion that to drink while underage is to rebel. And in the case of a college ingenue, parents can help cultivate that culture of safe drinking at home.
James Madison University’s The Breeze claims that “if college students knew how to handle a few drinks and had a concept of their tolerance before coming to college, their experiences may be much less clouded with blackouts and nights spent vomiting after a party.” This outlook on drinking, one that is realistic rather than hopeful, deals with underage drinking from a vantage point that guarantees at least some degree of success. Statistics that represent how prevalent underage drinking is bring to light how the solution should be much more focused on how to ensure safety and minimize harm as much as possible, as well as to understand that underage drinking in its entirety is much less a question of if it will occur than of when and what we can do about it. This can lead to the development of safe drinking practices among college students, such as “planning a safe context for drinking, using safety measures to minimize harm when drinking and taking care of someone who has consumed too much alcohol.”
People cannot be so naive as to think that the law or a stern “no” from mom will keep young adults from drinking underage. Parents tell their children not to have sex before marriage, and yet, I’m sure they would still be relieved to know that their child knows how to use a condom when they find themselves in bed with a girl from Alpha Delta Apple Pie with no ring on her finger. It’s time we prepare for events we know will transpire to assure the safety of young adults on campuses everywhere rather than pretending underage drinking won’t exist until the magic number 21 rolls around — because it will, and ignorance isn’t bliss. Ignorance is hospital visits, stomach pumping, sexual assault allegations and a boatload of regret. And the hangover might pass, but the trauma of those events doesn’t, not even with a good night’s sleep and the best over-the-counter pain relievers money can buy.
Julia O’Reilly is a sophomore majoring in biology.