My first reaction when I read this story was "only half?!"

My second reaction was curiosity over what the criteria for a diagnosis of "substance abuse and dependence" were. I looked it up and, surprise, surprise, the bar* is set pretty low.

*Pun intended.

You know, I never did attend a university or college, and I grew up to be a full-fledged alcoholic.

That, I believe, speaks volumes to the over-valuation of post-secondary education.

"we're playing Russian Roulette with the future leaders of our country."  

Yeah, we all know how partying in college can screw up your future.

Come on, this is just another moral panic. Young people party. Big surprise. When you're 18-25 you have fewer responsibilities and your first real taste of freedom. Sure, there are a small minority who develop substance abuse problems, but this is simply behavior that would manifest no matter where they are. When I was in college, all my friends were boozers to a certain extent. Friday and Saturday were party nights, and if there was a compelling reason, a weekday would do just fine as well. When I look back on those times and our epic alcohol consumption, I don't mourn my lost brain cells, or a pattern of behavior that led to my later substance abuse problem. I mourn the amount of money I spent on beer, money I could have been spending on cd, clothes, and

Of all my boozy drunken friends, only two of us developed chemical dependencies, both well after college. Everyone else did pretty much the same thing. They stopped weeknight partying once they had to be at the office at 9 am. They hung up the bar/party scene once   they married. Once they had kids (when you really need a drink), alcohol use was even more radically reduced because they didn't want to set a bad example.

I notice that no one's screaming about alcohol abuse in the military, a group with a large population of people in the same demographic. Surely no one is suggesting that college be like boot camp. Even if someone was, I seem to recall the early sixties are considered the golden age of the college party. At the time, the standard policy of Universities nationwide was in loco parentis, meaning that the college acted as in the space of the parent. In practice, this meant bed checks, curfews, and a note from your parents should you decide to stay overnight someplace else.

This is all just another load of crap designed to sell someone's book and distract us from real problems. Here's a prediction: both candidates for President in 2040 will have embarrassing or incriminating photos and/or videos from their youth (or early middle age) surface. Both will have had blog entries and internet postings from their youth come back to haunt them. I'm even going to go out on a limb and give a one in four chance one of them will be Presidential Nephew Pierce Bush.  

-=Logan
Research, facts, a Republican needs not these things.

How about we do away with America's byzantine alcohol laws which encourage this type of behavior? A typical university student can't go to a restaurant and get a drink with his/her meal, never receives any real parental guidance on what a responsible amount to drink is (since in most states parents can theoretical be jailed just for giving their kid a glass of wine), and is inundated with literature throughout primary / middle / high school about how evil alcohol is. When that student has his/her first drink and it doesn't immediately kill him/her, and in fact makes him/her feel pretty good, is it any surprise that he/she overdoes it a bit? Since drinking is illegal anyway, you might as well drink a lot - it's the same penalty if you've had four beers or twelve, right?

Additionally, the illegality also encourages underage drinkers to go for quantity (and ABV) over quality - you're far more likely to see cases of Milwaukee's Best at your average freshman dorm party than a good micro-brew, and it's far easier to hide a bottle of grain alcohol (or vodka, or rum, or whatever) than a case of beer. I can't speak for everyone, but I and the majority of my friends had our first experiences with cheap vodka, because if you're underage on a college campus that's what you can get most easily. Is there any purpose for cheap vodka other than to get drunk, quick? The same goes for beer If you're drinking decent beer, you can enjoy it for what it is - but if you're drinking Natural Light, the only real purpose is to get drunk. In that case, drinking games are a necessity, not a luxury - if you don't have that motivation to drink, it can be hard to choke the stuff down.

That said, at this point even if we completely repealed our drinking laws it may well be too late. You can't turn back the clock on what a generation has internalized...if you grow up binge drinking, that's probably a habit you'll stick with. America's gonzo culture doesn't hurt either - we value everything in excess, so is it any surprise that we go that way with our drinking as well?