St. Patrick’s Day: Leprechauns, Shamrocks, and… Binge Drinking?
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St. Patrick’s Day, once a religious holiday that celebrated the patron saint of Ireland, has become a day for revelry and partying. In fact, it has become one of the biggest drinking days of the year.
Binge drinking—sucking down 4 or 5 drinks within about 2 hours—seems to be encouraged, with many bars hosting day-long parties and serving green beer and Irish whiskey.
Binge Drinking: What’s the Harm?
While downing pints of green beer may be a St. Patrick’s Day tradition for some, it’s really not a good one for your brain. Research shows that binge drinking damages the brain, even if you do it only once in a while. Young people are at special risk, since their brains are still developing—growing and making new connections until their mid-20s.
Binge drinking can lead to alcohol poisoning and also affects the frontal cortex, an area involved with judgment, thinking, memory, and feeling.
Drinking and Driving Is Never Okay
Binge drinking also can have serious consequences after the party’s over. If you’re driving under the influence, or riding with someone who’s drunk, you’ll need a ton of “Irish luck” to get home safely.
St. Patrick’s Day is one of the deadliest on the road. More than 1 in 3 drivers involved in fatal crashes have a blood alcohol concentration over the legal limit—and of course, no amount of alcohol is legal for those under age 21.
In 2011, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration started a program with the slogan, “Kiss Me, I’m Sober,” to keep “buzzed” drivers off the road on St. Patrick’s Day. The first and most important step is to choose a designated driver who will not drink alcohol during the festivities.
Be Green!
St. Patrick’s Day is meant for light-hearted fun, and you don’t have to drink alcohol to enjoy it. What are some ideas for celebrating the greenest holiday without drinking?
Super Bowl Commercials: Which Do You Remember?
Each year, the TV commercials during the Super Bowl are particularly memorable. They ought to be! Did you know that 30 seconds of ad time during the 2012 Super Bowl cost approximately $3.5 million? Most of us will never see that amount of money in a lifetime—let alone in half of 1 minute!
The Drug Free Action Alliance surveyed approximately 40,000 6th–12th grade students in 42 states to find out which commercials shown during the game between the New York Giants and New England Patriots were their favorites, as well as which commercials they could best remember.
Cheesy Chips and Dancing M&Ms
Commercials advertising snack foods fared well in the “favorites” category. Both middle and high school students ranked M&Ms and Doritos ads as their top three picks.
More concerning than processed cheese and sugar-coated chocolate: Both groups also ranked a Bud Light commercial as their next favorite.
Not surprisingly, high school students ranked Bud Light commercials in second place as those they could remember the best. For middle school students, Bud Light ranked third for being remembered the best.
Stay Media Savvy
What does this survey tell us? It indicates that teens remember advertising about snacks and alcohol, and that these ads are clearly appealing to the teen audience. They often feature humor and animals, as one of the year’s Bud Light commercials did—depicting a rescue dog fetching beers for his owner and other partygoers.
As SBB reminded you after the 2011 Super Bowl, every commercial is trying to sell you something, whether an actual product or an idea. As viewers, we need to stay alert to media messages so we don’t get hijacked by a media blitz.
Whenever you see a commercial, ask yourself these questions:
- What’s the purpose of the ad—who created the message and why?
- What words, images, or sounds are used to make the message appealing?
- How does the message make me feel?
Now you tell us: What Super Bowl commercials do you remember most, and what do you think their intended messages were?
Amy Winehouse: Death by Misadventure
In October 2011, the coroner who conducted Amy Winehouse’s autopsy declared that the Grammy-winning singer “died by misadventure.” Translation: Amy died of accidental alcohol poisoning.
Amy famously battled an addiction to drugs and alcohol, and had returned to rehab only months before her death. She gave up drugs after receiving treatment in 2008 but had trouble staying away from alcohol—in fact, Amy had just resumed drinking a few days before her death after 3 weeks of abstinence from it. Sadly, she drank a lethal amount of alcohol—nearly five times the British drunk-driving limit.
What Is Alcohol Poisoning?
Alcohol poisoning is when a person has extremely high levels of toxic alcohol in his or her system.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the liver converts toxic alcohol—from beer, wine, or hard liquor—to nontoxic energy at a rate of approximately one drink per hour, depending on factors like gender, size, age, medical conditions (e.g., heart disease), and whether other drugs were used in addition to alcohol.
Rapid consumption of a lot of alcohol can overload the liver’s ability to keep up, causing the blood alcohol concentration to rise rapidly. High blood alcohol concentration can lead to slurred speech and lack of muscle coordination. It also “numbs” the part of the brain that controls the heart and lungs, which can lead to coma or death.
How Many People Die From Accidental Alcohol Poisoning?
It’s actually pretty rare to die from alcohol poisoning alone—about one in a million people. What’s more common is for people to die from combining alcohol and other drugs, which can lead to dangerous medical issues, suicide or self-injury, accidental drowning, or car accidents.
Usually when we say someone is “one in a million,” it means that they’re special and talented in a way most people dream of. Amy Winehouse was certainly special and talented for writing and performing her music. Unfortunately, at age 27, Amy Winehouse was also an unlucky “one in a million.” Rest in peace, Amy.
How Many Teens Actually Smoke, Drink, or Do Drugs?
How Many Teens Actually Smoke, Drink, or Do Drugs?
It’s natural to be curious about your peers—especially when it comes to things that we know can be dangerous, like alcohol and drug use. You’ve probably heard rumors of kids drinking beer at a party or may have a friend who smokes cigarettes.
You may wonder how many teens actually smoke, drink, or do drugs. It’s a question we hear frequently from teens. During NIDA’s 2011 Drug Facts Chat Day, students from the around the country asked NIDA scientists questions such as:
- “How many teens smoke every year?”
- “Has the number of people who abuse drugs increased or decreased in the past 5 years? And why?”
- “What percent of teens has tried drugs?”
- “How many kids are doing drugs?”
Nora D. Volkow, M.D., Director of NIDA, announcing the release of the 2011 Monitoring the Future survey results.
In December 2011, NIDA released the 2011 Monitoring the Future Study, and it seems that more teens are making better decisions when it comes to smoking and alcohol use, but not so much when it comes to using marijuana and abusing prescription drugs.
Here’s a glimpse at the most recent trends in teen drug and alcohol use.
Cigarette and Alcohol Use at Historic Low
Teen smoking has declined in all three grades included in the study—grades 8, 10, and 12. Still, almost 19 percent of 12th graders reported current (past-month) cigarette use.
This decline shows that more teens realize the harm smoking does to your body and are making the decision not to start. Also, teens’ attitudes about smoking have changed. They increasingly prefer to date nonsmokers and believe smoking to be a dirty habit.
Likewise, among nearly all grades, trends over the past 5 years showed significant decreases in alcohol use—including first-time use, occasional use, daily use, and binge drinking. As with smoking, this decline may be the result of more teens understanding the risk of drinking alcohol and disapproving of this behavior.
Marijuana Use Continues To Rise
Unlike cigarettes and alcohol, marijuana use is increasing. Among 12th graders, 36.4 percent reported using marijuana at least once in the past year, up from 31.5 percent 5 years ago. This accompanies a decrease in the number of 12th graders who perceive that smoking marijuana is harmful. For example, only 22.7 percent of high school seniors saw great risk in smoking marijuana occasionally, compared to 25.9 percent 5 years ago.
Of course, we know the risks: marijuana can affect memory, judgment, and perception, and it can harm a teen’s developing brain.
Prescription Drug Abuse Remains Steady
Prescription drug abuse hasn’t changed much since 2010. Abuse of the opioid painkiller Vicodin and the nonmedical use of Adderall and Ritalin, stimulants meant to treat ADHD, remained about the same as last year. Also, the abuse of the opioid painkiller OxyContin remained steady for the past 5 years across all 3 grades surveyed.
To drive this trend downward, NIDA recently launched PEERx, a prescription drug abuse awareness campaign that gives teens science-based information about the harmful effects of prescription drug abuse on the brain and body.
When teens understand the health risks of abusing drugs, they do it less. So, tell us, how would you convince your peers that marijuana use and prescription drug abuse are harmful?
These estimates come from the Monitoring the Future Study’s national surveys of approximately 47,000 students in about 400 secondary schools each year. The survey was conducted in classrooms earlier this year. View all of the 2011 data.
Teen Brain, a Work in Progress
Have you ever wondered why you have to be 16 to get your driver’s license or 18 to vote or 21 to legally drink alcohol?
It’s partly because your brain is not ready to take on these responsibilities, since your brain is not fully developed when you’re a teen.
During the teen years, essential parts of the brain are still forming—like the prefrontal cortex, which allows people to weigh the pros and cons of situations instead of acting on impulse. This is one reason why teens are generally more likely to take risks than adults.
For example, with alcohol, teens may be less able to judge when to stop drinking. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tells us that each year, more than 4,600 alcohol-related deaths occur among those less than 21 years old—that is way too many.
Research shows that alcohol and other drugs change the brain’s structure and how it works in the short and long term. In the short term, drugs affect your brain’s judgment and decision-making abilities, while long-term use causes brain changes that can set people up for addiction and other problems. The brains of people who become addicted get altered so that drugs are now their top priority—and they will compulsively seek and use drugs even though doing so brings devastating consequences for their lives and for those who care about them.
Do yourself a favor and use your brain to make smart choices, reach your goals, and achieve your full potential in life.
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National Institute on Drug Abuse | National Institutes of Health | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
