Every year, she sees East High School's Project Success (an East based organization targeting drug and alcohol abuse) put up posters containing ominous warnings about the driving while under the influence. Every year, before prom, the announcements warn students to “stay safe.” And every afternoon, her eighth-hour teacher wishes her and peers a nice weekend, reminds them about the project due Monday (despite the fact that he knows the majority of them will put off until Sunday night), advises them to make “smart decisions,” and tells his students to stay safe. She smiles back at him politely and says that she will, but she has already made made other recklessly dangerous plans, contrary to her word. Tonight the room lurches. For her, there have been many nights, many parties, even nearly two years of “safe” drinking. Tonight she sways between sticky beer pong tables and burning swigs from vodka bottles and stumbles outside to make curfew. Clutching her car door handle, she pauses briefly, to consider her options. She knows it would be smart to not drive; if only her friend – the designated driver had maintained sobriety, but he failed to follow through. Therefore, she makes the decision to get behind the wheel of the car. She knows the dangers, but does she actually have any other choices? If she does not come home, her parents will be worried. She does not want to concern them. Furthermore, they might even go searching for her, and she is inherently terrified of that happening. She cannot call her parents – they would "kill her." For the most part, East’s methods of preventing underage drinking and driving have worked. Fortunately, no student in the past four years has died from a car accident involving alcohol consumption. Tragically, at a national level, many communities have not been as lucky as the East High School Angels have been, and even then, the alcohol drinking problem within the Angel community is rampant. In this tragic scenario, drinking is not the problem. The problem is binge drinking and the culture that leads teenagers to go on rampages of consumption of excessive amounts of booze. (Ms. Connelly: In order to keep teenagers safe, the drinking age must be lowered; instead of being left to their own devices, parents must take a proactive role in teaching the progeny to drink alcohol in a safe manner. In order to accomplish this, laws must be changed so that parents cannot be charged in court if a minor consumes alcohol. This change would enable parents to teach their children about alcohol consumption. Secondly, the parental mindset needs to shift from stopping drinking, to encouraging safe drinking and teaching the next generation to avoid binge drinking at all costs.) If a female consumes four drinks or a male consumes five drinks in a time of two hours, it is considered binge drinking. This is using the standard definition of a single drink being twelve ounces of beer containing 5%alcohol, or one and half ounces of eighty-proof liquor containing 40% alcohol (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism). Different levels of drunkenness exist. The scale with which drunkenness is measured ranges from slight euphoria (generally a safe level of drunkenness) all the way to the dangerous and potentially lethal stupor phase. To legally drive, a person must not have more than .08 % blood alcohol concentration, which equals “euphoria” or extreme happiness. In order to reach this level, usually the average woman consumes one drink and the average man consumes two (Moderation Management). Of course, when deciding how much is safe to drink, more than just legal limits may determine an appropriate amount of alcohol, including factors such as liver function and personal tolerance when deciding how much is safe to drink. When engaging in binge drinking, high school students are not doing this. They are not drinking in moderation - consuming an appropriate, safe amount of alcohol based on individual tolerance, weight, and sex; it is important to note that blood alcohol concentration varies significantly weight and gender. Even more concerning are the risks of drinking so much. More alcohol equals a higher blood concentration. Just in consuming the minimum amount for teenagers’ behavior to qualify as binge drinking leads to blood alcohol concentration between .12 - .20% (BRAD). This is enough to induce a heavier male into stage two - a lethargic state, and most of his female and/or lighter peers into stage three, which leads to confusion, dizziness and nausea, or possibly even one stage higher - stupor. In stupor, there is a high risk of going comatose (Pakhare). The number of drinks adolescents are having is alarmingly and disproportionately high. Not does alcohol consumption wreak havoc on the liver, which can only process one ounce per hour on average (American University), high blood alcohol concentrations in people who have such little experience w