College Students and Binge Drinking

Imagine the pain, the feeling of resentment, the sickness that overdraws you, when you attend funerals for loved ones. Imagine attending a funeral for a good friend of yours, pretend his name is Josh. Josh in high school was a star athlete, kept an ok grade point average, around a 2.7. He was considered an alright guy by the sounds of it right? First couple weeks of college you guys are tight as the threads on a tapestry, because you're new to this college thing, trying to take it all in and still be the cool freshman is what you're all about. Now imagine Josh throwing his future and his good judgement out of the window by trying to fit into peer pressure, and binge drinking at a college party. Before you know it Josh keeps taking more and more shots of Tequila or even bonging 3 beers in under a minute. Then his last words to you before he enters a comotose state of drunkeness, "Dude I'm F***ing WASTED!" Josh ends up dieing that night from alcohol poisioning.   Everyone thought that he would be okay, he just needed to sleep it off. He died as a result of no one rushing him to the hospital to save his life by pumping his stomach of the alcohol and direct injecting fluids into his body so as not to dehydrate. Now a week later, at Josh's funeral, you burst into tears because you have just lost your best friend, he was always there for you, and always looking out for you. Now he's gone. Events exactly like this happen EVERY year. Each year some 1,700 students die from drunken driving or other alcohol-related incidents (Mantel, Drinking on campus paragraph 1). Frankly, this is 1,700 more students than there should be.
My study seemed to focus closely on a subject very similar to the fictional character of Josh. Phanta "Jack" Phoummarath, was 18 when he died at a fraternity party at the University of Texas. His parents sued the fraternity, Lambda Phi Epsilon, alledging Jack had been forced to drink in a heavy hazing ritual. Jacks family won the suit, stating their main... [continues]

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