Twenty-one seems to be a rather artificial milestone. At 18 you’re old enough to join the army and die for your country, or to exercise your civic responsibilities and vote. You’ve long been able to drive a motor vehicle or get married and produce children. You can even gamble in some places! It’s even highly unlikely that your 21st birthday is the first time you’ve consumed alcohol: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that more than 80 percent of Americans drink before they can legally do so. So the only real difference is that now you can buy it yourself, rather than mooching off your friends or sweating while the bouncer examines your fake ID.
But the very artificiality of the milestone seems to have created a dangerous rite of passage for many students. While nothing really changes, it becomes more and more important that the day be celebrated. It’s pretty much a guarantee that you’re going to over-drink, throw up and pass out, probably even several times throughout the night. It helps that oftentimes you don’t have to even bother opening your wallet; friends and strangers are ready and willing to help pay for your alcohol. But the availability of drinks and the pressure to get raging drunk on your 21st birthday can lead to unfortunate trends.
Namely 21 for 21.
Sometimes occurring during the hour after midnight on your 21st birthday, it makes sense: Give the birthday boy the same number of drinks as years he’s been alive. It even makes a good chant. But the reality of drinking 21 drinks in such a short period of time is a frightening one.
Just look at David Thorton. A UC Davis senior who died a number of years ago, Thorton managed to accumulate a blood alcohol content of 0.54 in under two hours. Keep in mind that 0.40 is generally considered lethal, and that the legal limit for driving while intoxicated is 0.08 in California.
In typical political fashion, legislatures across the country are trying to make it more difficult for people to drink on their 21st birthday in order to reduce the amount of binge drinking that occurs. Minnesota, Texas, North Dakota and several other states have tried to enact laws that would make it illegal to buy alcohol until 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. on the day you turn 21. Of course, many are skeptical of the plan’s effectiveness.
“”I can’t imagine that it would make one bit of difference,”” said Charles Roper, coordinator of alcohol and drug education at University Health Services at the University of Texas. He pointed out that if people can’t celebrate at midnight on their birthday, they’ll simply celebrate the next evening.
So you don’t want to avoid having a 21st birthday, but you don’t want to end up dead either: What do you do? Go out with people you trust, and make sure that all of you know what the signs of alcohol poisoning are. And make a pact that if someone is showing those signs (namely the inability to wake the person up, slow respiration of eight or fewer breaths a minute or lapses between breaths of more than eight seconds and cold, clammy, pale or bluish skin) that you won’t just leave the person to “”sleep it off,”” but will rather get him or her to a place that can help. It makes it easy if you are 21, as no one is going to call the cops unless you were disorderly in public or driving a vehicle, but these rules should hold true no matter the potential consequences.
“”Any person who’s having trouble breathing or can’t be roused, no matter if it’s a drug overdose or an alcohol overdose or somebody hit him with a crowbar, call 911 and get an ambulance,”” said pharmacist John Lamb.
And of course, if you’re ever unsure of what do in a situation where you suspect alcohol poisoning, you can always call the California Poison Control System at (800) 8 POISON.
In the end, I’m not suggesting that alcohol is bad or that people shouldn’t party on their 21st birthdays, especially as that would be rather hypocritical of me. Rather, I’m simply suggesting that you take care of yourself and your friends. After all, what’s the point of a 21st birthday if you’re not alive to remember it later?
