The official Mothers Against Drunk Driving website lists a number of statistics regarding the frequency of alcohol consumption on college campuses. For example, it cites a 2002 study in the Journal of American College Health by Henry Weschler, et al. that says that 48 percent of alcohol consumed by students attending four-year colleges is consumed by underage drinkers. Weschler also surveyed college students and found that 44 percent report binge drinking.
Another component of Weschler's et al. "Trends in College Binge Drinking During a Period of Increased Prevention Efforts" was to study the impact that the school's environment has on the students' drinking behaviors. The study concluded that students who attend schools that have high rates of drinking are at a greater risk of facing consequences such as problems with sleep or schoolwork, property damage and verbal, physical or sexual abuse.
Many students drink so frequently because they can easily obtain alcohol. Some students use fake IDs or have older friends purchase alcohol for them. Bars near or on college campuses often feature promotions and drink specials. In 2003, a Harvard University study entitled "The Marketing of Alcohol to College Students: The Role of Low Prices and Special Promotions" concluded that "The availability of large volumes of alcohol (24- and 30-can cases of beer, kegs, party balls), low sale prices, and frequent promotions and advertisements at both on- and off-premise establishments were associated with higher binge drinking rates on the college campuses."
Many other serious implications exist, according to 2007 statistics posted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism on CollegeDrinkingPrevention.gov. Due to drinking, 599,000 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 are unintentionally injured, 400,000 have unprotected sex, more than 696,000 are assaulted and 2.1 million drive under the influence every year.
In his "Preventing Alcohol-Related Problems on College Campuses--Summary of the Final Report of the NIAAA Task Force on College Drinking," Robert F. Saltz, Ph.D., a senior research scientist at the Prevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Berkeley, California, proposes several methods for preventing alcohol problems. He suggests interventions challenging the expectancies of alcohol, higher prices and taxes on alcohol, coalition of the campus and community to enforce anti-alcohol policies and regulations of happy hour promotions amongst others.