BINGE DRINKING FACTS

Did you know that:

• having five or more alcoholic drinks in one sitting is binge drinking.

• a 12-oz. beer (five per cent alc./vol.), a five-oz. glass of wine (12 per cent alc./vol.) and one mixed drink with 1.5 oz. of spirits (40 per cent alc./vol.) – standard serving sizes – all contain the same amount of alcohol.

• In a 2009 survey of Ontario students in Grades seven to 12, 25 per cent of underage youth reported that they binge drink. (Source: The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health's 2007 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey)

• you should never let someone who passes out while intoxicated sleep it off. They may have alcohol poisoning and should be rolled onto their side, their head on its side too, in the recovery position. Stay with them and get someone to call 911 for help.

• too much alcohol in a short time can not only permanently damage your organs, but can also lead to alcohol poisoning, which can kill.

• alcohol can ruin your looks, cause weight gain, make you fall behind in school, and hurt your sports performance. And binge drinking can do serious damage to your stomach, liver and brain – for the long term.

• binge drinking when you’re a teenager can decrease the part of the brain that controls learning and memory. It can also cause damage to the section of the brain that plays an important role in judgement, decision-making, and impulse control.

• heavy drinking increases your risk of injury. It can lead to violence, unwanted and/or unprotected sex and accidents. Because drinking impairs your judgement, it also makes you more likely to take part in dangerous activities.

• heavy drinking often leads to the breakdown of relationships with family and friends, trouble with the law and possibly hurting someone else or causing you to lose your driver's licence – sometimes permanently.

• if you start drinking heavily at an early age, the more likely you are to experience alcohol-related problems in life.

For more information on alcohol and drugs, call the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s toll-free line at 1-800-463-6273, or 416 595-6111 in Toronto, or visit their website at www.camh.net.