Spring Break Trips Emphasize Drinking January 7, 2003
News Summary
Tour companies trying to attract college students to Cancun, Mexico, for spring break highlight the fact that the over-18 drinking age is "rarely enforced," USA Today reported Jan. 6.One tour organizer is offering packages to Mexican beach attractions and "50 hours of free drinking" over seven days.
While spring break has always had the reputation for partying, tour firms are no longer subtle in advertising foreign destinations for underage American students to drink or use drugs.
In recent years, interest in Florida beaches has been waning, as more students go for the appeal of Mexico, Europe, and the Caribbean.
Matt Scriven, president of Paradise Parties in Aurora, Colo., said spring-break trips to Mexico are popular because they're "affordable and, of course, being international, you can drink when you're 18."
The all-you-can-drink spring tours have health and U.S. officials concerned that the vacations are providing an opportunity for students to consume dangerous amounts of alcohol.
"Kids are going to Cancun to drink. The promotion of alcohol before they even get there, and then once they are on the beach, is unbelievable," said Andrew McGuire, executive director of the Trauma Foundation at San Francisco General Hospital. He went to Cancun last year to examine spring-break marketing and how excessive drinking leads to injuries.
"It's a situation where you are infusing an ungodly amount of alcohol on young people, many of whom are not legal to drink by U.S. standards," McGuire said.
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