The Noughties, Students and Booze (mag)
2010 started off with a bang: The clubs and bars had us Portsmouth students partying into the New Year. However, it may have also involved embarrassing drunken memories, hangovers from hell, and a few drunken accidents. In 2009 New Years Eve cost the NHS 23 million pounds: but why?
Binge drinking, drugs, and rock & roll; the Noughties bought with it a rave culture consisting of wild parties, drugs, music, and plenty of alcohol; a culture which rubbed off onto the majority of students in the UK. The main attributes associated with the university experience include an amazing nightlife, hangovers, student houses, and living off the pennies. But it’s a memory which many fail to recollect, because they got too carried away into this culture.
Last December Portsmouth PhD student Joanna Taylor drew up a plan to conduct a data analysis of the British Crime survey, analysing the ‘perceptions of anti-social behaviour caused by drugs and alcohol’ in various neighbourhoods. Anti-social behaviour is apparent in Portsmouth (like many other university towns and cities) because for some, student lifestyles are built around the idea of getting drunk and having fun. But what are the effects of this lifestyle? Portsmouth’s promoters provide student orientated nights almost every week (if not every night) which encourages rowdy behaviour when all the clubs start to close. A recently opened city centre bar is the typical example, where alcohol-related violence was the reason behind several police investigated fights that broke out within the first month of opening.
From personal experience almost every house party sees at least two people throwing up in the toilets, with a couple more passing out after severe over-consumption of alcohol. Club drinking games on student nights include the danger of car accidents, drink spiking and various other death related injuries. In fact, drinking games are estimated to cause over 30,000 deaths a year. Nicola Harden, the University’s head of counselling department, states:
“Being drunk is such fun you don’t always realise how obnoxious, unattractive and boring you are being to other people who are not in the same state as you. While it might seem (in the warm glow of an alcoholic haze) that everybody is just loving what you are doing, it probably isn’t quite as amusing as you think it is. You can also put yourself at risk without realising it – picking fights with people much bigger than you, or perhaps deciding it’s a great idea to walk home alone without your shoes on. Throwing up doesn’t mean you are an alcoholic – but if drinking becomes the centre of your night, makes you do things you really regret later, or gives you more problems than pleasure, then maybe it’s time to talk about it.”
The University aims to tackle this culture through not only counselling, but various campus services which work alongside the city to deal with binge drinking, including the University Chaplains, who provide ‘street pastors.’ Their aim is to help students in unhealthy states as the clubs close. The city in itself provides 24-hour added security to make the streets of Portsmouth safer. However, at the end of the day it’s up to us to control ourselves and our behaviour, in other words, don’t make your university experience a forgotten one, make it a memorable one.
For more advice on seeking extra help from the University visit www.port.ac.uk/counselling.
Photo by Matt Anderson.
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