Texan students warned about binge-drinking

Categories

Addiction Treatment
Alcohol
Drugs
Gambling
In the papers
On TV

News Archive

Home » News » Alcohol » Texan students warned about binge-drinking

by Change | 30 Oct 2008

Bookmark

E-mail

Youngsters at a high-school in Kilgore have received a first-hand account of alcohol addiction and how it can take over your life.

The co-author of a book on binge-drinking has spoken to high-school students in Texas about how alcohol addiction threatened to take over his life, it has been reported.

Toren Volkmann spoke of how his dependence on drink began in high school and it was not until he graduated he realised his problem and went into alcohol rehab, according to News-Journal.com.

Elements of his life ranging from his family to school performance had suffered as a result of his alcohol abuse, he said.

He related how he kept his addiction hidden, becoming a "functioning alcoholic", but still managing to achieve good grades for a while, until he entered his senior year.

"I got kicked out of four different sports because of our alcohol testing policy at school. Sometimes I would blackout," Mr Volkmann told the news provider.

The source says he has now been sober for three years.

Another co-writer of his book, From Binge to Blackout, is his mother Chris Volkmann, who reminded people binge-drinking at an early age can be particularly damaging as their brains have not yet fully developed.

She pointed out the effects can take between five to 15 months of binge-drinking before manifesting themselves.

In other news, the Daily Mail recently reported three-quarters of patients taking part in a survey run by a sexual health clinic admitted they had had unprotected sex after drinking.

Bookmark this: