Did You Know?

Alcohol is the single biggest factor behind the leading cause of death among teenagers – traffic accidents.

Teenagers who start drinking before age 15 are four times as likely to become alcohol dependent as those who begin drinking at age 21, the legal drinking age.

More than two-fifths of college students indulge in binge drinking, defined as consuming five drinks in one sitting by men or four drinks by women, according to a Harvard study.

Alcohol is involved in 95 percent of violent and property crimes on campuses, including date rape.

Source: New York Times, April 6, 1999

Smoking marijuana increases the risk of getting drunk because the drug suppresses the body’s instinctual need to eliminate harmful substances by vomiting. People who smoke marijuana while binge drinking will not be able to purge until their blood alcohol reaches a dangerous level.

Source: St. Petersburg Times, July 28, 1999

Alcohol is a factor in 40 percent of all academic problems and 28 percent of all dropouts.

Three out of four students who do not binge drink report problems because of bingeing by others.

Source: Pennsylvania State University President Graham Spanier