Students shouldn't overlook alcohol's dangers, consequences

In a world where alcohol seems to be a part of everyday life, it’s no wonder that almost every day a newspaper features an article about a car accident where alcohol was a factor. Articles that focus on injuries and death as a result of alcohol are even more prominent in publications such as The State News that are run on college campuses by college students.

I find myself skimming over articles where alcohol is mentioned, hardly even noticing when alcohol is the cause of injury or even death; simply because articles such as these show up on most Mondays where many of the articles are detailing the past weekend’s activities. Inevitably, those articles focus on “some college student” who drank too much and made a poor decision, either injuring themselves or someone else.

However, this Monday, one of the articles featured hit too close to home.

Jeremy Sobczak-Obetts, a close friend of my brother, and also a student at MSU, was killed in a car accident; a car accident where the person driving had too much to drink.

Yes, alcohol is all in good fun. It helps you loosen up and have more fun, but at what cost? It’s unrealistic to tell a group of college kids to not drink or go out and party.

Haven’t we been told since we were in high school not to drink and drive? Remember those horrible videos we all had to sit through in driver’s education?

True, those videos were long, the acting hardly resembled us and the situations were a far cry from how our lives actually were, but the consequences were real. People can die, people do die, every day from drunk driving or alcohol poisoning or simply from making one stupid decision while intoxicated that can affect the rest of your life.

Today, Jeremy is dead, and the driver of his car is sitting in a jail cell. I wonder if he thinks that last sip of alcohol was worth it.

Elizabeth Oliver

communication senior