It’s Friday night. You’re getting ready to go out. A 
friend’s parents are out of town for the weekend. We 
all know what that means... PARTY TIME!!
As you walk in to the house you see a lot of familiar 
faces. The music is on and everyone is drinking. Some 
are having way too much fun dancing, laughing really 
loud and acting like never before. 
The table is full of bottles of tequila, beer and hard 
liquor. All of a sudden you hear all your friends 
yelling, “CHUG CHUG CHUG!” 
The next thing you know they give you a bottle of 
tequila and everyone is surrounding you. You don’t 
want to chug, but you do it anyway. In your mind 
you’re asking yourself, why? But everyone else is 
drinking so you might as well do it. 
As you chug, your throat burns like hell. You drink 
almost half the bottle. A couple of minutes later you 
start feeling dizzy. In a way it feels good, but in a 
way it doesn't. 
Nothing looks so clear anymore. You trip on the carpet 
of the living room. It looks wavy, it seems like a 
dream, but it’s not. But it doesn’t matter because 
you’re “having fun.” 
Risky Business
Have you thought about the risks and consequences 
behind the liquor labels? You think its cool to drink, 
but have you thought about how much it can affect you? 
It doesn’t matter if you drink every month, every week 
or every day. It is going to affect you eventually. 
There are risks and consequences that probably you 
haven’t even thought about and might completely change 
your life. 
While you are under the influence you might end up 
having unprotected sex. Now, that’s some RISKY 
business right there. You could end up getting STDs or 
becoming pregnant. Worse, you could be raped.
Or, on your way home from the party you might get into 
an accident. Teens driving drunk cause thousands of 
deaths and injuries every year. 
If that’s not enough to think about, there’s always a 
chance that you will become addicted to alcohol. That 
creates family and girlfriend/boyfriend problems, and 
over time can lead to death.
A Cautionary Tale
Teens often experiment with alcohol at some point, but 
trying it once doesn’t mean you have to drink again. 
Take it from Adam, a 17 year-old student from Soquel, 
who attended a party similar to the one described 
above. “I had a bad experience not so long ago. I went 
to a party and drank a lot. I remember I just closed 
my eyes. I got taken to the hospital immediately 
because I had passed out. I just remember waking up in 
the hospital and seeing my parents disappointed in me. 
I decided not to drink because I learned my lesson.
“Not until you’re drunk and something happens to you, 
will you learn your lesson,” he says. “So watch out 
because you might be the next one with the lesson 
learned.”