It’s Friday night, and everyone in the dorm is getting ready to go out. Your roommates are pregaming before heading out to the bar. They hand the liquor bottle to you. As the night goes on, you keep getting more and more drinks.
The next thing you remember you are waking up in the dorm hallway. This is the fourth time you blacked out this month. At brunch, your friends joke about you being a “lightweight,” and nobody seems bothered by your binge drinking. However, you know something is not right. Young adults are at particularly high risk of using substances in dangerous ways.
More than one-third of college students have engaged in binge drinking (five or more drinks on one occasion) just in the past month. Also, nearly 1 in 7 U.S. young adults qualifies as having a substance use disorder. Drinking may be viewed as a natural phase of their lives. But, the choices made today can have a considerable impact on the future.
