Schools target underage binge drinking

WALTHAM, Mass., April 9 (UPI) -- U.S. colleges are trying to put a stop to "pre-gaming" -- the pre-party drinking bouts some underage students engage in before official events.

To "pre-game" is to consume as much alcohol as possible as quickly as possible before heading out, students and school officials told the Boston Globe. The goal is to create a buzz that will last though the night, but the practice is particularly dangerous for freshmen who are less likely to know their limits, the newspaper said.

The Globe said college administrators are struggling to identify solutions that will work. Students say the more colleges crack down, the more they are going to drive the drinking underground.

The percentage of college students who binge drink has been steady at about 44 percent since 1993, but Henry Wechsler, director of the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, said some evidence suggests that bingers may be drinking to greater extremes than before.