Forty-Nine Percent of U.S. Students Binge Drink

One would ask, “Why a new blog when there are so many out there?” There’s only one reason for this new blog: to galvanize a movement for empowering youth for a better life. I had been thinking about this blog for a while but sort of put it on the back-burner until I read the following report from Columbia University:

“Forty-nine percent of U.S. college students indulge each month in binge drinking or drug use, abusing them at rates far higher than in the general population, according to a report. About 1.8 million students met the medical criteria for substance abuse or dependence in 2005, 2 1/2 times the national level, as they sought to relieve stress, improve mood or enhance performance, said the report, released today by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

The risky behavior results in overdose deaths, academic failure, assaults, date rape and property damage on U.S. campuses, it said. The study blames university presidents, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, parents and high schools, and recommends that the NCAA bar alcohol advertising at its sporting events.

“We’re playing Russian roulette with the future leaders of our country,” the center’s president, Joseph Califano Jr., said in a phone interview yesterday. “In a time of fierce global competition, do we want to put our best and brightest students at risk?”

Source: BLOOMBERG March 15, 2007

These kind of statitics are alarming. More voices are needed to highlight what is happening and bring society’s eyes to a point of focus on the crisis. This is not only at the college level but also in High Schools. This blog will be highlighting these issues and pointing out what is being done and what can be done to empower our youth.