College can be the time of your life. It can also take your life.There have been so many injuries and health issues caused from alcohol, that there needs to be a change. College is all about having fun. We are making memories, using our resources and meeting new people every day. But college can also be dangerous. Since there are so many different avenues for partying and such easy access to large amounts of alcohol, people need to know how to limit themselves. Just because everyone else is partying, does not mean you have to. Peer pressure is subtle in college. If you’re expected to always rage without complaint, how can you say no?
Nine freshmen girls from CU were brought into the Boulder Addiction and Detox Clinic last weekend. The police and EMTs said that the girls needed to go to the correctional facility for a night until they were sober. These girls missed their classes on Friday, waking up on a urine-stained cot wearing nothing but orange scrubs. These girls had to call their parents and ask for their help to pay the $300 fee for their over-night stay.
Alcohol poisoning happens often. We might not see it going on around us, but it's there and it can kill. Alcoholism usually begins in college for males and for women, typically, a few years after college. In fraternities, brothers are constantly surrounded by the party scene. The bass will beat most nights, even if some brothers just want to go to sleep or get some work done. The party life is always happening, but people need to know that they should not feel left out if they stay in one weekend. There will always be another party, another date dash or another mixer.
A 21-year-old University of Colorado student died after a night of partying during the first week of classes of his senior year, marking what is believed to be the first alcohol-related death of a CU student since fraternity pledge Gordie Bailey died of alcohol poisoning in 2004. Michael Alexander Hoffman was found unconscious on the doorstep of a house on 10th St. around 1:40 a.m. on Aug. 26, 2011, according to a Boulder police report.
These two young men passed away because they could not control their alcohol intake, whether it was their own doing or during a pledge’s “hell week”. Alcohol can give you a buzz and it can be a relief after a long week, taking the edge off and helping you be careless and free. But it can also take your life.  
Take a break every now and then. Go home for a weekend. Get some homework done; get some extra beauty sleep. Working out at the CU Rec Center can help take the edge off after a long week much better than alcohol ever could and it’s a great way to stay in shape. There will always be another party to go to, but just remember to limit yourself. You have nothing to prove to anyone, so only take in what you can handle, and that doesn’t mean chugging a whole handle. 

We are only given one body and we decide what we do to it and what we put inside of it. Decide to better yourself so that you do not find yourself waking up in a correctional facility wearing nothing but scratchy orange scrubs, laying on a urine-stained cot. Be happy, be healthy and, most of all, be alive.