The True Effects of Underage Drinking

Emily Russo

Essay 2 Final

March 7, 2014

The True Effects of Underage Drinking

In the article “How Bingeing Became the New College Sport” Garrett Seaman expresses the amount of deaths per year from alcohol poisoning in college students and the way they would react to drinking if the age was lowered down to eighteen. He uses statistics of deaths from alcohol poisoning per year but never brings up any other causes of death that go along with underage drinking. The thing is, are his arguments the truth and does everyone else agree to what he is stating?

Seaman’s argument is that there are multiple deaths to alcohol poisoning because students who are underage are “pregaming” in their dorm rooms before going out resulting in them drinking too much too fast. Seaman says, “When students are hospitalized -or worst yet, die from alcohol poisoning, which happens about 300 times each year –college presidents seem to react by declaring their campuses dry or shutting down fraternity houses” (179). According to Barrett there are about 300 deaths per year. Seaman stats these statistics but does not say where he has received this information from in his argument. He not letting us know where the information came from; we cannot just go from what he says if there is no information to let it be proven as correct. When I went and searched on the topic I had found out that, “every year, tens of thousands of college students wind up in emergency rooms suffering from the life-theatening effects of alcohol intoxication. And every year, about a dozen students, … die from acute alcohol pensioning” (Brody).

One thing that Seaman does not use in his argument is the other causes of death dealing with underage drinking that is not alcohol poisoning. Alcohol is a factor in the deaths of about 1,700 college students each year” (Brody). Seaman seems to ignore that fact of the other causes of deaths related with college students and drinking. Yes, alcohol poisoning is a big deal but it is not the most dangerous thing related to alcohol and death that is happening. “In fact, alcohol is linked with an estimated 5,000 deaths in people under age 21 each year--more than all illegal drugs combined” (The Cool Spot). Poisoning from alcohol is dangerous but not the most dangerous thing from underage drinking. “Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in people aged 15 to 20. Deadly crashes involving alcohol are twice as common in teens compared with people 21 and older” (The Cool Spot).