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Heres to Your Health As the only freshman on his schools varsity wrestling team, Tod was anxious to fit in with his older teammates. One night after a match, he was offered a whisky bottle on the ride home. Tod felt he had to accept, or he would seem like a sissy. He took a swallow, and every time the bottle was passed back to him, he took another swallow. After seven swallows, he passed out. His terrified teammates carried him into his home, and his mother then rushed to the hospital. After his stomach was pumped, Tod learned that his blood alcohol level had been so high that he was lucky not to be in a coma or dead. Although alcohol sometimes causes rapid poisoning, frequently leads to long-term addiction, and always threatens self-control, our society encourages drinking. Many parents, by their example, give children the impression that alcohol is an essential ingredient of social gatherings. Peer pressure turns bachelor parties, fraternity initiations , and spring-semester beach vacations into competitions in getting trashed. In soap operas, charming characters pour Scotch whiskey from crystal bottle as readily as most people turn on the faucet for tap water. In films and rock videos, trend-setters party in nightclubs and bars. And who can recall a televised baseball or basketball game without a beer commercial? By the age of 21, the average American has been drinking on TV about 75, 000 times. Alcohol ads appear with pounding frequency in magazines, on billboards, in college newspapers contributing to a harmful myth about drinking. | 
