TO THE EDITOR:
The letter “Personal decisions should guide Four Loko debate” (Nov. 17) advocates the freedom of personal choice, yet ignores important research.
When college students drink, they often drink excessively. Based on Center for Disease Control data, the proportion of users who binge drink (consuming five or more drinks in two hours), is the highest among 18- to 20-year-olds. A UMD-SPH study showed that college youth who mix energy drinks with alcohol are three times more likely to binge drink than those who don’t mix.
The caffeine in Four Loko prevents the body from passing out as a defense mechanism against alcohol poisoning, enabling consumers to drink more alcohol. The decision to binge drink is more than a matter of independent choice — it is a leading public health disaster for college students.
Wednesday’s letter noted the experiential value of a mom letting her child put his/her hand on the burner. But would any caring mom allow her child to try heroin to “learn a lesson”?
We are talking about substances that have irreversible long-term consequences on the user’s cognitive development. Alcohol permanently damages the maturing pre-frontal cortex (involved in decision making and judgment, and not fully developed until age 24). Should we simply stand back and allow students to fry their brains?
Seemingly asinine or not, preventing excessive underage drinking is beneficial to the health of future decision makers and our country as a whole.
When Benjamin Franklin said “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” he sure knew what he was talking about.
Rachel Holtzman
Freshman
Undecided
