Binge on This.!..

The Binge Drinking Myth — by Walter F. Wouk

In a recent story, Some sobering numbers on college drinking, Times-Union Staff Writer, Scott Waldman reports that:

Nationally, seven out of 10 college students, or 1.4 million, under age 21 consumed alcohol in the past month, according to Karen Carpenter-Palumbo, commissioner of the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. A million of them met the criteria for binge drinking, generally defined as consuming four or five drinks in a two-hour period.

That would mean 28,000 Capital District college students under age 21 drank in the past month, and 20,000 of them have been binge drinkers, Carpenter-Palumbo said.

These folks bandy about the term "binge drinking" as if it were "written in stone" and that is not the case.

A recent Swedish study, for example, defines a binge as the consumption of half a bottle of spirits or two bottles of wine on the same occasion. Similarly, a study in Italy found that consuming an average of eight drinks a day was considered normal drinking — clearly not bingeing. In the United kingdom, bingeing is commonly defined as consuming 11 or more drinks on an occasion.

But in the United States, some researchers have defined bingeing as consuming five or more drinks on an occasion (an "occasion" can refer to an entire day). And now some have even expanded the definition to include consuming four or more drinks on an occasion by a woman — despite that fact that many so-called binge drinkers remain legally sober.

Ms. Carpenter-Palumbo has personal issues with addiction, so it's somewhat understandable that she clings to the unrealistic definition of binge drinking.

However, Scott Waldman is, allegedly, a professional journalist, and given that role he has a responsibility to present his readers with an objective report instead of the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Service's talking points. A fact underscored by his inclusion of the state's toll-free snitch line, so people can "rat out" adults under age of 21 who quaff a few beers.

Get more facts — and no fiction — about binge drinking from Professor David J. Hanson, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Sociology of the State University of New York at Potsdam.