Drinking Games, Alcohol Abuse and Overdose

Gr 7 Up—Medical professionals, police, parents, and youth discuss drinking games and the consequences—alcohol poisoning, overdose, and death. A young woman talks about her experience with drinking games and the regrets she has for participating. An emergency room physician defines binge drinking and explains that there is no way to distinguish between whether a person is sleeping off excessive alcohol consumption or is comatose. She advises it is best to call 911 immediately. The police chief of Panama City, Florida, describes the dangers of alcohol consumption to young people who descend on the city for dpring break. The worst consequences of teen alcohol abuse, alcohol poisoning and death, is remembered by a mother and father of a young teen whose first and last experience with alcohol was a drinking game at a friend's home. The program concludes on a positive note, describing a new policy at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, that bans drinking games on campus. Several of the students describe the fun they have participating in activities that do not include alcohol. Supplemental materials include a complete curriculum, pre- and post-tests, student activities, and a list of supplemental resources. The program is nicely balanced with statements from young people and adult experts and succeeds in presenting information to discourage drinking games in a convincing manner.—Ann Weber, Bellarmine College Prep., San Jose, CA