TYLER (KYTX) - 64 percent of college students admit they binge drink, most during the first week of school.
That's the word from a brand new study by a professor at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.
A recovering binge drinker tells CBS 19 about why he started, and how he stopped, and how he's helping others avoid the same pitfall.
"It seems like everyone is doing it to get so intoxicated that they're poisoning their bodies," says Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor Michael Fowler. He now works at Caron Treatment Center in Dallas, but says he fell victim to binge drinking in college, and it took over his life.
"For me personally I felt like I was missing out on a social life. I wanted to fit in and be cool. I also started drinking because I had made the tennis team in college and felt like I deserved a celebration. But for me, a celebration just never stopped," Fowler says.
The recent study shows most college kids binge drink to fit in. Trinity Mother Frances Family Doctor Ryan Mullins says the trend is getting worse.
"There are a lot of social norms that have started occurring especially in some of the so called party schools," he said.
But Mullins and Fowler say it's not just the party schools.
"It happens everywhere," Fowler says, "at every university, on almost every campus."
By definition, binge drinking for women is having four or more drinks in an hour. For men, it's five.
"That's not very much when some people can look at it and say oh man, that's not a very large amount," Mullins says.
However, it's enough to cause some serious damage.
"The most common thing we see in at least emergency rooms is alcohol poisoning which can be quite severe and in some cases lead to death," says Mullins.
Binge drinking can also cause permanent brain damage, since the frontal lobe doesn't fully develop until you're 25.
"Binge drinking is not cool and it's not cool to drink until you're passed out and it could affect your life permanently," says Fowler, who knows from personal experience.
He says he got help to recover, and now he's working professionally as a speaker and counselor to let others know they don't have to have the same downfall.
Both Fowler and Mullins say families need to open the lines of communication. Let your college kid know that it's okay to say no and it's also okay to call for help in a dangerous situation.
For binge drinking statistics from the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/binge-drinking.htm
For more information about Caron Treatment Center in Dallas: http://www.carontexas.org/
