Binge drinking is the ingesting of large quanities of alcohol in a relatively short period of time with the main purpose of getting drunk

It can start when a youth is in elementary school, and parents need to keep a watch on the alcohol they have in their house.

But binge drinking, often beginning around the age of 13, tends to increase during adolescence, peak in young adulthood at ages 18 to 22, then gradually decreases.

About 10.4 million adolescents ages 12 to 20 reported alcohol use. Of those, 5.1 million were binge drinkers.

In colleges with high binge drinking rates, 34 percent of non-binge drinkers reported being insulted or humiliated by binge drinkers; 13 percent reported being pushed, hit or assaulted; 54 percent reported having to take care of a drunken student; 68 percent were interrupted while studying; and 26 percent of women experienced an unwanted sexual advance.

School officials and employees need to be aware of students who may come to school under the influence of alcohol and take immediate steps to help them.

Frequent binge drinkers were eight times more likely than non-binge drinkers to miss a class, fall behind in schoolwork, get hurt or injured and damage property.

Nearly one out of every five teenagers or 16 percent has experienced "blackout" spells where they could not remember what happened the previous evening because of heavy or binge drinking.

More than 60 percent of college men and almost 50 percent of college women who are frequent binge drinkers report that they drink and drive.

Binge drinking during high school, especially among males, is strongly predictive of binge drinking in college.

Binge drinking during college may be associated with mental health disorders such as compulsiveness, depression or anxiety, or early deviant behavior.

In a national study, 91 percent of women and 78 percent of the men who were frequent binge drinkers considered themselves to be moderate or light drinkers.

In the most recent nation household survey, more than 7 million underage youths reported binge drinking at least once in the past 30 days.

In 2003, the alcohol beverage industry spent more than $1.6 billion on advertising, including $394 million on ads in magazines.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, 2.6 million young people do not know that a person can die of an overdose of alcohol. Alcohol poisoning occurs when a person drinks a large quantity of alcohol in a short time.

Nearly 9 percent of boys and 7 percent of girls ages 12 to 17 reported binge drinking in a month.

Binge drinking can include drinking large quanities of cough syrup.

According to three federal surveys, girls are binge drinking more, while boys are bingeing less or increasing their bingeing at a slower rate than girls.

<B>ALCOHOL POISONING</B>, a severe and potentially fatal physical reaction to an alcohol overdose, is the most serious consequence of binge drinking.When excessive amounts of alcohol are consumed, the brain is deprived of oxygen. The struggle to deal with an overdose of alcohol and lack of oxygen will eventually cause the brain to shut down the voluntary functions that regulate breathing and heart rate.If a person is known to have consumed large quantities of alcohol in a short period of time, symptoms of alcohol poisoning include:• <B>VOMITING• UNCONSCIOUSNESS• COLD, CLAMMY, PALE OR BLUISH SKIN• SLOW OR IRREGULAR BREATHING</B>If this occurs, you should call the 911 emergency center immediately.