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EtCetera When to Say When College students often see drinking as a rite of passage to turning 21 by Keita Alston Senior Writer It’s time to celebrate the most important day of your life: your birthday. It’s your time to hang out with your best friends, party and have fun. And, of course, a 21st birthday party cannot be complete without one more thing... beer. Most of the college scene is associated with drinking. Mothers Against Drunk Driving estimates that one in three students goes out to drink just to get drunk. In ad dition, college students spend S5.5 billion on alcohol each year, more than they spend on soft drinks, tea, milk, juice, coffee, or schoolbooks combined. Those statistics show that drinking is popular with college students and that most college students would prefer a glass of beer to anything else. For whatever reason, many college students see their 21st birthday as a time to drink. “I think it’s the simple fact that you can legally go out and do it [drink] in pub lic. You don’t have to hide or sneak around anymore,” political science senior Josh Kimsey said. Kimsey also said tradition plays a part in drinking. “I think tradition definitely does [play a role]. I think getting drunk is overblown. People tell stories that get blown out of proportion.” He also said that people told him he did some crazy things at his 21 st birthday par ty. “I remembered everything that happened, and most of the stories they tell me are just made up.” Another reason it’s a big deal to get drunk at 21 is that it’s the legal age to buy and drink alcohol. Some people think that 21 is too long of a wait to buy beer. They want the drinking age lowered to 18. “They should lower it [the drinking age] to 18 because kids are going to drink regardless,” public relations sophomore Danielle Siau said. “It’s even more of a thrill because it’s illegal. If you lower it, they may not want to drink because half the fun has been taken away.” A drink is equivalent to one 12-oz. beer, one shot of 100 proof liquor, or one 4 5 oz. glass of wine. An average beer is about 5 percent alcohol. Malt liquors are high er in alcohol content than the average beer. In a mixed drink, the amount of alcohol varies. Rum has a wide range of proofs. A proof is an alcoholic strength equal to twice the alcohol present. A beer that’s 5 percent alcohol is 10 proof. Wine and wine coolers vary in alcohol content also, but normally one wine cool er or one 4-5-oz. glass of wine is equal to the amount of alcohol in one 12 oz. beer. A person’s blood alcohol content, or percentage of alcohol in the bloodstream, is dependent on weight and the amount of alcohol consumed over time. The faster ; a person drinks, the higher the MC will be. The liver can handle only about one i drink per hour. Tire rest of the alcohol builds up in your bloodstream. I USC assistant professor Brad H. Smith said when we drink, alcohol’s effects peak i in the brain between 30 and 90 minutes. He also said people can usually drink more alcohol as fast as they can get rid of it. < “Be careful as to how much alcohol you drink because once you drink enough, 1 it tends to slow down the body,” Smith said. Smith said when this happens, the reaction time tends to slow down, and speech and vision become impaired. Smith said factors such as water content, fat content, gender and race contribute to how much alcohol a person can tolerate. Studies have shown that many effects of alcohol are more noticeable while the blood alcohol content is rising than later when it’s falling. Smith believes there is a state dependent learning (also known as dissoci ation) with alcohol in which people can’t transfer information acquired while under the influence of a drug to the nondrug state and vice versa. The Office of Alcohol & Drug Programs offers many prevention and education services for students. The office promotes highly visible and creative prevention pro grams in which the focus is interaction and fun rather than alcohol and other drug use. Rick Gant, director of Student & Parent Involvement Programs at USC, said that the programs are an effective way of teaching first-semester students the dangers and legal consequences of drinking. “The programs are a great way for students to relieve stress in a healthy way,” Gant said. He said they’re a great opportunity for students to come to terms with their alcohol and drug use and find ways to control it. The office has won many regional and national awards for the past three years for their programs. The consequences of drinking alcohol can last longer than a few hours at a par ty. Binge drinking can adversely affect academic performance. The Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study found out that half of binge drinkers missed at least one class, and a third fell behind in school work. They are also most likely to have lower grades than non-bingers. According to political science freshman Precious Brown, drinkers should be com fortable with their drinking environment. “When drinking in an unsafe environment, you open yourself to all types of danger.” She said she believes that an individual is at a higher risk when drinking alcohol than when not drinking. Car accidents or alcohol-related deaths are some of the risks associated with drink ing. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that more than 20 percent of all alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 1998 involved drivers at blood ilcohol concentrations below 0.10. In South Carolina, a person is considered intox cated with a BAC of 0.10. About 2 billion miles were driven at a BAC between 1.08 and 0.099. About 41,000 people were injured and more than 1,000 were killed n crashes at this BAC level. Brown said people should “drink conservatively and maturely” because in the rnd, it is better to be safe and know the facts about drinking than to be sorry and be :ome another statistic. Levels of intoxication The effects of blood alcohol content can vary from person to person, depending on weight and tolerance levels. Here are some examples of what might happen. • 0.02 to 0.04: Mood is intensified, slight memory and judgement impairment • 0.05 to 0.06: Warm, relaxing feeling, emotions and mood become exaggerated, slight balance and speech distur bance • 0.07 to 0.13: Speech noticeably impaired, significant loss of reaction time, feeling of mild depression or nervousness, short-term memory loss, judgement is serious ly impaired • 0.08 to 0.10: Legal intoxication, depending on particular state laws (In South Carolina, 0.10 is considered legally intoxicated.) • 0.14 to 0.17: All physical and mental abilities are impaired, balance disturbance resulting in standing and walking difficulty • 0.18 to 0.30: General confusion and haziness, all cogni tive abilities disrupted • 0.40 and above: Alcohol-induced coma, possible death 'frantmettfo Fitness Center • Computer • Fax and Modem Station Linked to Campus Study Hall • Library • Lounge Area Catering to Students Currently leasing for the Fall Semester jgr use ^ Official Ring Ceremony May 4, 2000 nat 2:00 p.m. in the Rutledge Chapel , Find the Best Price on New and Pre-Owned Hondas www.rickhendrickhonda.com HONDA 791-5660 1650 Airport Boulevard « West Columbia, SC 29171 ^V>-- ^slotC Buslne“ flSwnT T l"e ™ ma'v 5I0,vers s«.APR,i^rrrj°° ^ _ 9 °0 am - 4 oo pm , 9A-i .#*6 i uiicvi a ■ n s ciiikj a &*** v™ r The Official Bookstore of USC 1400 Greene St. • Russell House • (803)777-4160 I _ . _ ^ ^ _ -1 Fri. 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