Tragedy on the Hilltop

[PonyLove]

If you are smart enough to get into SMU, you should be smart (or aware) enough to know that if you abuse alcohol or drugs, you might die.

Having said that, it is very sad and I feel sorry for their families.

[OC Mustang]

Hopefully, these deaths will send a bit of a signal to the student body that wreckless abuse of drugs and/or booze will get you dead. Unfortunately, many kids are showing up to college already dependent on booze and drugs. When that happens, more deaths occur.

SMU students typically have three things going against them vis-a-vis boozing it up and going past the obligatory collegiate doobage.

1) ages 18-23 feel invincible; hardwired that way
2) SMU students are, by and large, privileged, if not by their roots, definitely by their existence in Camp Wonderland; they have the means and the opportunity to party
3) SMU parents are, by and large, either completely ignorant of the largesse among student life or are complicit in it; easy to miss something that you don't want to see or are knee deep in yourself

Reality is a b1tch sometimes. Really is. Might help a little if, despite a dowry, a kid could simply stay inside the buoys. And despite the legacy system, 99.9% of SMU students know where the buoys are.

[Water Pony]

Ouch, truth hurts.

As an alum and parent of a recent grad, the above items are very close to reality. SMU is an outstanding university and opportunity for anyone. The silver spoon syndrome is a small, but near to the truth for some, who view campus as real life, instead of a bridge, where they don't pay a toll, but actually collect tools and tokens to pay forward.

All we can do as parents, friends, mentors and coaches, is listen and provide honest feedback and guidance. What we can't be are friends, especially ones that enable poor or stupid behavior.

[EastStang]

I remember I was a bit shocked by the number of nights my dorm-mates came back drunk every night my freshman year. I didn't drink because it was illegal (I was such a goody-goody). Then the drinking age went down, but interestingly enough, the drinking slowed down after that. Perhaps there is a bit of the forbidden fruit aspect to things. Coke was not around much at that point. Pot was the drug of choice and for the most part was not used much since in those days a pot arrest for one joint could land you in Huntsville for 20 years. Penal laws do not have some chilling effect on behavior. Hopefully whoever served that kid with liquor will be charged with manslaughter. That might get someone's attention.

[The XtC]

There was a post from JTstang yesterday that has apparently been removed that mentioned the victim not taking his insulin, and since most people probably associate that with diabetes I thought I should mention this:

Unlike other forms of diabetes, Diabetes Insipidus has nothing to do with insulin or glucose. DI is the inability to produce or respond to Vasopressin, also known as ADH (anti-diuretic hormone). The primary symptoms are extreme thirst and excessive urination, in other words, your water goes straight through you.

We all know that alcohol is actually a dehydrating agent, thats why people are advised not to drink beer too heavily when it's really hot out. Further, 4% blood alcohol should be almost impossible to reach. Depending on their tolerance, a person should pass out before they reach half that level. This scenario is just speculation on my part, but it's the only way I can see someone getting that much alcohol in their blood.

The victim probably had a couple of drinks, and the combination of the alcohol and his disease caused him to become dehydrated and he began drinking rapidly. The alcohol makes his dehydration worse and he accelerates his intake rate, drinking VERY rapidly. When he does pass out there is still a great deal of alcohol in his stomach that hasnt been absorbed into his blood stream, yet. As he sleeps that alcholol diffuses into his blood, and gradually poisons him.

This is speculation on my part, but chances are his DI was a contributing factor to his death, but not the direct cause.

[PK]

Latest story on this subject:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... c0a37.html

[EastStang]

Wow. A guy who is a parole violator is running a gambling joint and drug emporium right off campus rather openly from what the paper said, and the cops don't nab him until someone is dead. He party's so hard that he passes out at a student's place and is taken to the hospital. I guess he was the dealer to the rich and pampered and left alone. Ain't this country great or what?