Brittany Robinson
Staff Reporter
“That party last night was awfully crazy/ I wish we taped it/ I danced my ass off and had this one girl completely naked/ Drink my beer and smoke my weed/ But my good friends is all I need/ Pass out at three wake up at ten/ Go out to eat then do it again.” Those words are the chorus to a popular song by Asher Roth called “I Love College.” I am not going to sit here and say that these kind of nights never occur on a college campus but I will say that the lyrics in this song can give people the wrong impression about what having fun in college is about. I was talking with a group of friends one night and Cori Bohn (McDaniel ’12) said, “I worked at a camp this summer. There was a boy who was eight and he was always walking around singing that song.” I barely remember being eight years old but I don’t think that I was walking around singing about drinking and smoking weed.
Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and smoking weed are terrible for one’s health. According to SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) young adults that are enrolled in college full-time vs. peers not enrolled full time are more likely to binge drink and drink heavily. Binge drinking is when someone consumes a lot of alcohol over a short period of time. When people are out at a party playing drinking games they are not thinking about the negative affects of drinking like alcohol poisoning. Alcohol poisoning is a life threatening condition because it affects the body’s involuntary actions like breathing and the gag reflex. If the gag reflex isn’t working correctly it will cause someone to choke on their own vomit (which could cause death). Signs of alcohol poisoning are extreme confusion, vomiting, seizures, low body temperature, bluish or pale skin, irregular breathing, and hard to wake up.
Smoking marijuana (also known as weed) does not have a positive affect on one’s health either. Smoking marijuana impairs certain skills that you need to succeed in college. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, smoking marijuana impairs thinking, reading and comprehension, verbal skills and computation abilities. Their research also proved that students do not remember what they learned while they are “high”. The main goal of going to college should be to learn something in an effort to gain a diploma.
The conditions caused by drinking and smoking does not sound in the least bit favorable. So, if this is what the media makes college look like, what do you do if smoking and drinking really is unattractive to you? I think the answer to that question is to make your own fun. My friends and I meet to do homework together sometimes during the week. On the weekend, we find an empty classroom somewhere on campus to play games, watch movies, listen to music and eat food. We don’t have to drink or smoke to feel like we had a great time. Rufael Seyum (McDaniel ’11) says, “For fun I usually like to go off campus. I like to go out to eat and go the movies.” Getting involved on campus is another great way to keep away from drugs and drinking. It may seem like everyone is doing it but really everyone isn’t.
Find your own fun in or around campus. If there’s something you love to do chances are there’s someone else who likes the same thing too. If you find something you love to do and want to share it with everyone e-mail me at blr001@mcdaniel.edu and maybe your story could be chosen to be in the next issue of the Free Press.
