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Opinion

People, drinks shouldn’t fly solo

Fabian Sifuentes
Opinion Columnist 

Going out with friends to bars and clubs is a great way to blow off steam after a long week. However, if you pay attention to the national news, you realize how dangerous this past time has become.

Andrew Luster, great-grandson and heir to the Max Factor cosmetics empire, was convicted in absentia on 86 charges of raping three women after drugging them with a date-rape drug known as GHB.

After a night of drinking with her classmates on a senior trip, Natalee Holloway disappeared on May 30, 2005 from an Aruban nightclub.

On Feb. 25, Imette St. Guillen left her girlfriend at 2 a.m. so she could continue drinking at a SoHo nightspot called The Falls. St. Guillen was last seen arguing with a bouncer who escorted her out of the bar at 4 a.m, the bar manager said. Later, her savagely raped body was discovered in a desolate part of Brooklyn.

Sadly, the Holloway and St. Guillen tragedies could have been avoided if victims did not leave their groups behind.

There was a time when people worried about finding cigarette butts in their drinks after leaving them unattended. Now people worry if they are drinking a drink that had been spiked with a date-rape drug. You immediately know if your drink was used to put out a cigarette; unfortunately, you don’t know if your drink has been spiked until it is too late.

The best way to avoid having your drink spiked is to maintain constant control over it by never laying it down. It isn’t that big of a burden to constantly carry a 12-ounce drink. They make good props while you are talking, and constantly waving it around invites your friends to buy you another drink when you need one.

However, you must beware of strangers bearing free drinks. I am a strong advocate of free drinks, but you must be certain the drink is from a reliable source. If a person you have never met before brings you a drink, there might be a drug in it. To be safe, let them order the drink from a server and allow the server to bring you the drink straight from the bar.

If you must place your drink somewhere, resist the urge to quickly finish your drink. Consuming alcohol too quickly is not a responsible way to drink. Just hand it to a friend so they can hold it while you are away.

People go out in groups to have more fun and protect themselves more effectively. Before you go out, everyone in the group should agree where the group is going and what time it intends on returning.

If anyone decides they want to do something outside the group, it is the responsibility of the group to ensure that person is leaving with a person the group knows and trusts. It’s everyone’s desire to have a memorable night, but it should be memorable for all the right reasons. No one should feel guilty because they didn’t take enough precautions to protect their friends.

If you have a friend who never goes along with your group’s wishes, that friend shouldn’t go along anymore. Not because they aren’t welcome but because they won’t allow the group to protect them as well it could. It is not fair for one person’s negligence to haunt an entire group if that person did not adhere to the group’s advice.

I know no one wants to think when going out to relieve some stress, but everyone must do so. Not only will everyone have more fun in the process, they will make sure everyone wakes up safely the next morning.

Sifuentes, an opinion columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at fabian.sifuentes@gmail.com.