Binge Drinking

In 2011, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that 41 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds admitted to binge drinking—drinking excessively in a short amount of time to maximize one’s intoxication level.¹ This age group was also shown by the survey to be at the highest risk for reaching dangerous levels of alcohol consumption. Reaching dangerous levels of intoxication impairs your judgment and puts you and those around you at risk. Consider these rules of thumb when consuming alcoholic beverages:

Drink Water

Spread out your drinks and stay hydrated. Alcoholic beverages dehydrate your body, which can make you feel hung over the next morning. Drinking a cup of water between each drink can help you pace yourself and keep you from falling victim to alcohol poisoning.

It's Not a Race

Drinking is NOT a competition. When you drink large amounts of alcohol in a short period of time, you’re putting yourself at risk of getting sick. Stay away from games that make you chug your drink or take multiple shots in a short amount of time.

Know Your Limit

Don’t learn your drinking limit the hard way. Keep track of the type and amount of alcohol you have consumed.

Cover Your Drinks

Be careful where you set your drink down. Someone can slip a substance into your drink when you’re not looking. You can never be too careful. Cover your drink when you set it down. Either take your drink to the bathroom with you or order a fresh drink when you return to the table. And don’t accept drinks from people you don’t know and trust.

Be Wary of the Punch Bowl

Buckets, coolers, and punch bowls have one thing in common: they’re open and full of who knows what. Stick to drinking from a can or bottle that you opened yourself. Drunken partygoers may decide that they would like to add their own ingredients to the mix. The number one detected drug in victims of drug-facilitated sexual assault is alcohol.

¹ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Rockville, MD, 2012. Available: www.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH/2011SummNatFindDetTables/Index.aspx.