Back to School Time

All across the nation young adults are getting ready to head back to college (if they haven't already). If they are like I was at that time in my life, they're dreading the long days of studying but looking forward to hooking back up with their friends and hitting the party or bar scene depending on their age, or whether or not they have a decent fake ID.
While the amount of alcohol consumed by college age people can cause problems, studies have also shown that the attitudes that students have when drinking can be an even bigger source of trouble. We all know that drinking causes us to relax a bit and lose some of our inhibitions in social situations, and for college age people social anxiety can be especially high (especially between males and females). So lubricating oneself when study time is over is quite common.
There are risks, however, that go along with reduced inhibitions, and sometimes the results can be tragic. In fact, each year 1,700 college students die from alcohol related injuries (including motor vehicle accidents) and 599,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are injured while under the influence of alcohol.
Considering that college is a time of new found freedom and experiementation for many students, risk reducing strategies would be a good tool for most students to be made aware of. Some of these include picking friends wisely, being aware of what you are drinking, and keeping a lower risk attitude (don't be an obnoxious drunk).
For a website dedicated to college age drinking go to http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/

For more on this subject, check out the following articles: http://alcoholism.about.com/od/college/a/blks060514.htm?nl=1, http://alcoholism.about.com/b/2008/05/29/even-social-drinking-increases-risky-behavior.htm, http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/AA67/AA67.htm