Binge Drinking Binge Drinking Recent deaths of college students prove that the kind of fun enjoyed by a lot of young people can be deadly. Parties with lots of alcohol and wild behavior are part of the popular image of college life, but that image is a dangerous one. The legal drinking age in almost all states is 21, but the American Medical Association estimates that about 10 million Americans younger than that drink. Half of these young people drink to excess, regularly getting drunk.
Children start their experimentation with alcohol during the pre-teen years.
Boys tend to begin drinking as young as 11 years of age, and girls start at about 13, according to recent studies. This can be a serious public health concern. About half of all car accidents involving teenagers are related to intoxication. Nearly two-thirds of all sexual assaults on school campuses involve alcohol. The binge drinking popular on college campuses, in which students chug five or more drinks in a row, is particularly dangerous and can even be fatal.