Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Thousands of High School and College Kids Converge on Hotspots for Spring Break

Aired March 01, 2002 - 08:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It happens every spring. Thousands of high school and college kids converge on a variety of hotspots for the ritual that is spring break. Their fun in the sun includes binge drinking and plenty of other outrageous behavior. No curfew, no parents, and ultimately no rules. But the good times can turn deadly.

Last year, there were four alcohol-related deaths during spring break. Author Hank Nuwer has written about alcohol abuse among young people, and the so-called wrongs of passage. He joins us now from Indianapolis.

Thanks very much for being with us.

You know, a lot of parents out there are trying to decide if it's OK to let their kids go on spring break this year. What should they know?

HANK NUWER, AUTHOR: Well, overall, the probability of dying in a Florida or Mexico or Texas spring break is low, but you can educate yourself ahead of time to know that binge drinking can be a problem. I think of the word "binge" in terms of beliefs. What does your son or daughter believe about alcohol? The "in" being influences. Who's the person going with? And the "in" being intentions. What does he or she want to do when they get there? The "g" being the good habit that you installed since the young person was young. And the "e," the education, knowing exactly what your son or daughter plans to do when they're there going often a Web site with them and looking -- if they tell you that there for beer, bungee jumping and bikinis, you know you've got some problems.

COOPER: Well, exactly, how do you define binge drink drinking? I mean, how much alcohol, and how short a time, and how big a problem is it?

NUWER: Well, the experts will say, in the last three or four weeks, if you're a male and you've had five drinks in one consecutive sitting, or if you're a female and you've had four drinks, but the problematic reality is that a lot of people are having nine, 10, 11 drinks, or are basically not drinking during the week, and will do something crazy like have 21 drinks on their 21st birthday which will take the blood alcohol level way up to lethal levels.

COOPER: Alcohol consumption has become sort of a right of passage in a lot of these spring breaks, and in fact, a lot of tour companies profit from it. I mean, they are actually promoting this kind of stuff, aren't they?

NUWER: Sure, they are giving out free passes. There are places where people are going to be called party central or tequila rock that, you know, all these activities center around alcohol. Basically, we try to reach with social norms programs, and so on, try to reach the uncommitted student, the student who's going there to have a good time, but not necessarily to vomit and pass out, and to educate that person to kind of be in control of their peers, to go toward that middle group, to have them use common sense.

COOPER: Two young high school girls died in 1999 in Cancun, Mexico, alcohol-related deaths. How accelerated is the problem, how worse is the problem when the students are going overseas, when the students are going to another country?

NUWER: Well, I think one of the big problems is after something goes wrong, getting the person back to the United States and getting proper treatment in a hospital that may not have air conditioning or proper facilities is a problem. A student from Utah, for example, decided to go swimming in a lagoon near Cancun at 4:00 in the morning, and was attacked by a crocodile, and suffered severe bites, and fortunately was able to get his arms around the mouth of the crocodile. Getting that person back to Utah for treatment, this Weber State student, was very, very problematic.

Also, with all the balcony falls that we're seeing in Mexico with the lower balconies, which are there for the view, not for safety, a father has tracked 49 fatalities from falls since 1978. That's a problem as well.

COOPER: All right, Hank Nuwer, thank you very much for joining us this morning. We appreciate your comments -- Jack.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com