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BINGE-DRINKING FRESHERS WEEKS: A THING OF THE PAST?

By hayley down ⋅ March 12, 2008 ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

You know you’ve had a good freshers week when you can’t remember it, right? Well that may be about to change. Following the Government’s decision to curb binge-drinking, some of the Liverpool universities are said to be thinking of new ideas to help promote responsible drinking in the new term.

Binge drinking has been a prevailing topic in the news over the past few years but with the shocking news last week that children under 8 years old were being taking into casualty for the results of alcohol poisoning, the topic is again under scrutiny. Universities in particular are being urged to pay more attention to the behaviour of their students in freshers week, as this seems to the time of year when they drink the most. The Institute of Alcohol Studies says that the youth of the UK are the worst in the whole of the EU for irresponsible drinking.

But how do we know if we exceeding limits? Well, binge drinking is loosely referred to as the consumption of twice or more units of your daily alcohol limit in one sitting. So for girls, that’s 6 units or more and for guys 8 units. There is no doubt that the majority of the student population has gone past that limit at least once during their university life, making any solution to this an extremely hard one.

Feeling ashamed yet? Probably not. But the issue is largely based on the fact that alcohol does have serious social and medical consequences. Violence, crime, liver disease are obviously amongst the harmful effects; not to mention the complete humiliation most of us feel after our friends have seen us in the most undignified state. Maybe drinking sensibly is not such a bad idea then.

The Government is reportedly looking at what they can do in order to influence universities to promoting alcohol first year students in the early weeks of university. How popular a move this will be is yet to be seen. One, because students almost expect it, and two, because their student unions rely on bar money to operate.

We contacted all three universities in Liverpool, but only Liverpool Hope University replied in time for publication. It says that it has ‘always encouraged responsible drinking among their students’, with its health unit undertaking a campaign aimed at promoting safe drinking. They are also continuing to offer events which are not centred on the bar or club scene and do not involve alcohol.

Maybe freshers’ week next year can be one we’ll never forget.