Dying to Drink: Confronting Binge Drinking on College Campuses

By Bernice Wuethrich and Henry Wechsler

Book Overview

College binge drinking is more of an issue than ever. In recent years the alcohol industry has stepped up its efforts to convince students, school administrators, and health officials that the problem... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1579545831
• ISBN13: 9781579545833
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Rodale Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.3" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

The truth about underage drinking

Few people realize that alcohol is involved in the deaths of six times more Americans under the age of 21 than all the other illicit drugs combined. Underage drinking is the #1 youth drug problem in our country, but far too many parents, teachers and administrators look the other way and view it as a rite of passage. "Dying to Drink" does an outstanding job laying out the true scope of underage drinking and its consequences. As a long-time advocate against drunk & drugged driving and underage drinking and as a state lawmaker, I believe this book is a great resource to students, schools, parents and communities. Many thanks to the authors for telling the truth about underage drinking and for giving concerned citizens guidance on how to take action.

Seeing the forest for the trees...

We are so immersed in a national cult of alcohol that we can't, or won't, see the forces at work. This book peels back the façade so that we can make our own decisions about were we want to go as a society. The myth that the personal choice to abuse alcohol is a sacred right that harms only the user, is exploded. The authors put a human face on a steady stream of well-researched statistics that run throughout the book. I was afraid that this was going to be yet another preachy tome but found myself intrigued, angered, disgusted, yet often uplifted and enlightened by the vignettes presented in this lively-written narrative. Personally, I abhor cynicism and knee-jerk accusations that use conspiracy to explain away every societal ill - but the authors' indictment of the alcohol industry and its accomplices is so compelling, and upon reflection, so obvious, that the word "conspiracy" is too weak in this case. Sadly, they show that even the purity of "good science" is being prostituted by certain social-pschology academics; as a scientist I find this shocking. The ultimate obscenity is that, more than ever before, our children are being systematically used as "societal gateways" to infuse violence, tragedy, and irresponsible behavior into the bedrock of our culture. And we are willing and compliant.