SENTINEL WATCH May 14, 2007 Issue

A PRAYERFUL PERSPECTIVE ON UNDERAGE DRINKING

JILL AARON

THE STATISTICS ARE STAGGERING and call for action—seven million underage drinkers in the United States engage in binge drinking, defined as consuming five or more alcoholic drinks on one occasion (see The Christian Science Monitor, "No winking at underage drinking," March 13, 2007). On college campuses, alcohol consumption is nothing new. But the intensity of excessive drinking among college students has jumped sharply in recent years, according to a report by the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

Many see drinking on campus as a harmless rite of passage, part of the college experience. But statistics tell a different story—thousands of alcohol and binge-drinking related deaths, injuries, sexual and other assaults reported annually.

Recently, I became more aware of how prayer can effectively address this problem. A college freshman called me looking for spiritual answer that would help him withstand peer pressure to start drinking. His question prompted me to ask myself what the allure was behind college drinking—particularly when it involves underage and binge drinking.