To all people that generally miss the obvious . . .

[James]

This is so obvious I hesitate to write about it but . . .

I see people talking about how to prevent death by alcohol poisoning and how to educate their chapters to decrease the risk of death through alcohol poisoning. Usually through some new silly pointless programming.

Which is nice I suppose.

So whats the answer? Only have wine or beer at events.

Its hard alcohol that will generally raise blood alcohol levels to a lethal level.

Good look killing yourself with beer or wine, you would most likely literally drown first.

So anyway, impress that upon your chapters and alcohol poisoing becomes a non-issue.

This is not rocket science.

[honeychile]

Some people just refuse to recognize the obvious!

Another example is the sad - terribly sad - number of posts I've seen here concerning members of XYZ & ABC who were killed in a car accident, and didn't have their seat belts on. Let's get serious! We're talking about generations of people whose parents had to strap them into seat apparatus to even bring them home from the hospital! So, exactly when does that Darwin Award gene of "Gee, everybody else may need one, but I don't need to wear a seat belt!" kick in?

It takes less than a minute, and may save your life. PLEASE buckle up! It's not rocket science!

[moe.ron]

Originally posted by honeychile
It takes less than a minute, and may save your life. PLEASE buckle up! It's not rocket science!

YES!!!

It should be second nature by now.

[sugar and spice]

Seriously, James, I was struck by this at a party I went to last night. The freshmen were all falling-down drunk and slurring, and the older kids were all just chilling and having a good time. At first I wrote this off to freshmen not knowing their tolerance levels, trying to drink more to keep up with the big kids -- and then I helped my friend behind the bar for a while and realized that it was because the older kids were all sticking to beer, whereas the freshmen were mixing all their beer-drinking with shots of tequila and whiskey. I chatted with a bunch of people there who were my age and they were all like, "I don't do shots anymore -- somewhere around sophomore year I stopped doing them."

Of course, sometimes this is difficult to limit -- sorority parties often take place at bars, so I'm not sure that you could officially limit people to wine and beer. And it doesn't eliminate the more-common problem of people having too much to drink and falling down stairs or out windows. In fact, most alcohol-poisoning stories occur during hazing, not parties, right? But it's still something to keep in mind.

[Tom Earp]

Much of the problems to me stem from the Legislation By The Federal Govt. and holding up the States to raise leagal drinking laws.

Now, forcing Young people to not drink low Alc. beer to socialize has turned each new generation into Binge drinkers.

Saying We are giving Alc. Training is just lip service and costs money.

In reading sugar and spices post I too was struck with "The Olders Chilling and the Frosh" getting totally drunk. Where was the Brotherhood there? Stupid at best and waiting for a problem to arise.

We had an Alum at our last Founders Day get rally drunk and made a total ass of Himself starting a fight with several Older Alums. He was escorted out and held until He got it together. He had done a lot of good work as an Active and as an Alum and now guys want Him banned from any partys.

No one really knew what His mental stage was and why He flipped out.

But to get back to the above, If you act like a slop as an Active, so will those that follow in Your Shadow. What Legacy do You want to leave?

Levels of types of Alc. do make a difference to be sure.

Beer More filling and less alc. Wine is casual. Hard Liquor, swilling to be a big dude is off the chart and can kill or make you really stupid along with sweet drinks as will get into Your system that much faster!

Not saying dont drink, but think.

[James]

Sugar & Spice, I think you are right about a lot of the alcohol poisoning deaths being involved with events considered "hazing", I just don't like to call some of those events hazing because I think its a little misleading.

I think what happens is that a lot of times you have a bid party or some other type of event and you get people going into macho shot-drinking mode.

Like have a shot with every active brother. Or like when people turn 21 and they are supposed to do a shot for every year they have been alive. . .

I think in these cases no one is actually trying to haze or hurt per se, they are not thinking about the possibilities of extreme consequences. Because they do it every year and no one ever dies . . . until one does.

So if you planned events that you know usually have REALLY heavy drinking not to have hard alcohol it might help. I have even known groups to do that for Formals . . have a wine and beer bar only.

Usually people don't drink themselves into fatal alcohol poisoning in a normal bar setting . .. except on 21st birthdays.

Of course guys love to buy girls shots . .

Originally posted by sugar and spice


Of course, sometimes this is difficult to limit -- sorority parties often take place at bars, so I'm not sure that you could officially limit people to wine and beer. And it doesn't eliminate the more-common problem of people having too much to drink and falling down stairs or out windows. In fact, most alcohol-poisoning stories occur during hazing, not parties, right? But it's still something to keep in mind.(emphasis added)

[33girl]

Originally posted by James
Sugar & Spice, I think you are right about a lot of the alcohol poisoning deaths being involved with events considered "hazing", I just don't like to call some of those events hazing because I think its a little misleading.

I think what happens is that a lot of times you have a bid party or some other type of event and you get people going into macho shot-drinking mode.

Like have a shot with every active brother. Or like when people turn 21 and they are supposed to do a shot for every year they have been alive. . .

I think in these cases no one is actually trying to haze or hurt per se, they are not thinking about the possibilities of extreme consequences. Because they do it every year and no one ever dies . . . until one does.

I agree that a lot of the drinking things that are called "hazing" are no more hazing than the man in the moon. The pledges want to drink, but if an active gave them the shot or didn't tell them to stop, it gets called hazing.

Believe me...I NEVER saw a pledge drink who didn't want to. We were poor...we sure as hell weren't going to give alcohol to people who didn't want it. I'm not saying it never happens, but some of these kids are deified and made into these naive drinking virgins when in actuality they've probably been drinking heavily since they were 14 or so.

[utealum]

I think it's really naive to assume one can't get alcohol poisoning from beer, especially at the college level where beer's more likely to be chugged or drunk from a beer bong.

It's one step away from "I'm okay to drive. I only drank beer!" or "I can't have a drinking problem- I just drink wine (though it's two bottles a night)."

Booze is booze, and collegians should be taught to drink ALL of it responsibly or not at all.

[33girl]

Originally posted by utealum
I think it's really naive to assume one can't get alcohol poisoning from beer, especially at the college level where beer's more likely to be chugged or drunk from a beer bong.

It's one step away from "I'm okay to drive. I only drank beer!" or "I can't have a drinking problem- I just drink wine (though it's two bottles a night)."

Booze is booze, and collegians should be taught to drink ALL of it responsibly or not at all.

I don't think anyone is saying that you CAN'T...it's just being stated that it is a lot harder. Even if you are chugging - because at least if you are a bad chugger, you'll probably ralph it right back up. If you do shots, especially the sweet girly shots that knock you over half an hour later, they usually stay down.

Like Tom touched on, you used to be able to drink 3.2 beer at a younger age and get used to that first taste of alcohol - now it's everything at once.

[utealum]

True, but talking about it like that makes it seem that the only negative side effect of excessive drinking to be worried about is alcohol poisoning.

As a former advisors and alum, I am just as concerned about chapter members facing legal repercussions from drinking underage, driving under the influence, blacking out, increasing their risk of being sexually assaulted as I am about their potential for alcohol poisoning. And a lot of those other consequences are more common.

[adpiucf]

Talking about it can only do so much.... One of my friends in DC told me about a time when her chapter was on probation for multiple alcohol policy violations. Their sorority sent a national officer in to talk to them about responsible drinking and part of the workshop were the "don'ts" of mixing... including what gets you drunk the fastest.

What did the girls do? They scribbled down "DO's" over all the don'ts and went about their way, binge drinking happily through town.

Yes, that chapter is still at their university. And yes, my friend is absolute lush. I don't think I would have fit in very well at their sorority and their school-- two glasses and wine and I'm out for the night!

[AlphaPhiBubbles]

I just wanted to add, now that I am in my 5th year of college I too noticed the difference between the way freshman and seniors drink. To me it's because as I get older, my hangovers get WORSE. Anybody else notice this?

[madmax]

Originally posted by James
This is so obvious I hesitate to write about it but . . .

I see people talking about how to prevent death by alcohol poisoning and how to educate their chapters to decrease the risk of death through alcohol poisoning. Usually through some new silly pointless programming.

Which is nice I suppose.

So whats the answer? Only have wine or beer at events.

Its hard alcohol that will generally raise blood alcohol levels to a lethal level.

Good look killing yourself with beer or wine, you would most likely literally drown first.

So anyway, impress that upon your chapters and alcohol poisoing becomes a non-issue.

This is not rocket science.

You are missing the single most important issue that exists on a college campus. How are freshman guys going to get laid without booz to loosen these girls up?

[sugar and spice]

Originally posted by madmax
You are missing the single most important issue that exists on a college campus. How are freshman guys going to get laid without booz to loosen these girls up?

Roofies!

[LXAAlum]

I also posted something similar in the CU thread, but....

There was a talk show I listened to yesterday, and they were talking about the difference in drinking games then & now...the goals are different these days - getting puking drunk is the "in" thing. Seriously.

The drinking games I participated in during college were not to see who could consume the most alcohol (and it was usually beer anyways) in the shortest amount of time, but they were more geared as a way to loosen up a bit to talk with the fairer sex...

Nowadays it seems to get as drunk...dangerously drunk as possible. It's almost a status symbol to get admitted to the hospital or to pass out. (Rule #1 of my college days...never...I mean NEVER...be the first to pass out! Unless you like interested pictures of you being posted all over campus....).

I don't get it either - beer was always the way to go - you couldn't get dangerously drunk - you'd be too full or running to the bathroom constantly.

Hard alcohol these days is more popular then when I was in college because of the flavors of the drinks - they don't burn like they used to - is that part of the problem?