Journnal#5

Wechsler’s article entitled “Getting Serious about Eradicating Binge Drinking” states why it is important to stop this sort of behavior and how colleges can do so. Some of the suggestions he gave make sense, while the others are not likely to be able to work well. In the article he mentions that”colleges also need to focus more attention a block or two away from the campus” because the problem is “the availability of a large volume of alcohol at a low price” rather than “alcohol itself”. This is a good point. If a student drinks, but not to excess, what would happen if he could get bottles of alcohol anytime he wants? He would probably be a binge drinker as the easy access to alcohol allows him to drink more and more. This method cannot stop binge drinkers, for they can always figure out a way to get alcohol, but it can prevent moderate drinkers from being addicted, or even help them to abstain alcohol. Another effective way is to enforce a “three strike and you are out” policy to tell everyone on the campus that the school is taking binge drinking as a serious problem, and whoever breaks the rule should pay. According to the article, Wechsler also mentions,”Doing research into…can help to reduce the behavior”. This is not likely to work well, considering that more than half students are getting drunk on purpose instead of imitating their peers. There is no doubt that this kind of behavior needs to be stopped, otherwise those alcohol-related violation as well as death will never stop, or even get worse. Colleges should seriously cope with this problem, and the whole society should be fully supportive to them.