College is a place for higher learning and where people go to find direction in their lives. That is what society wants us to believe, at least. However, college students all across America know the real deal. For the most part, it’s a work hard, play hard environment.

Here’s the gist of college: Work your ass off during the week and hang in there until the weekend rolls around. Then have a drink or two – or 12 – then wake up the next morning ready to take on the day. That is, after you pop Advil and attempt to figure out what happened the previous night that caused you to wake up with only Pok?mon cards and three raisins in your pocket.

Anyone who has a semester of college under their belt can most likely say they have had a night like that, but why is this such a common experience?

For many kids, college is the first time they are close to 100 percent independent; and who’s not into participating in prohibited activities when their parents aren’t around? Another factor in the over-indulgence of alcohol among college students is that high schools nowadays are so strict about drinking that a fair amount of students will not have had their first drink until college or the summer before. This means that many kids are still learning their limits and will go a little overboard occasionally until they figure out their tipping level.

What am I talking about all this drinking for? It’s not Thirsty Thursday; it’s only Study and Do Homework Tuesday (and yes, it has a ring to it.) The answer lies in recent news stating that Dane County has cut services at the Dane County Detox Center to put more money back into the pocket of the government. The manager at Dane County Human Services, Todd Campbell, said the $200,000 cut is justified because the majority of that money was to being used to treat chronic alcoholics that repeatedly seek treatment at the detox center instead of going to rehabilitation clinics.

However, even if this is true, not all of the attendees to the Detox Center are alcoholics, and this is exactly what has the police worried. Due to the cuts, police now face the moral decision of bringing belligerently drunk people to the emergency room or leaving them on the street where they can potentially harm themselves and others. Because the university is here, there are many students within the city who make stupid choices to the point of alcohol poisoning. Where do these students go if a cop fails to bring them to an emergency room?

Especially concerning is Wisconsin’s climate. You cannot go swimming in winter months. If the alcohol doesn’t get them, these kids can end up dying from hypothermia, which I think would lay heavily on the conscious of a police officer who made the decision to leave them on the street.  By restoring the funding, people would not have to be turned away from detox due to the lack of services. With an astounding 1,800 people brought to detox by the Madison police alone last year, a pretty good case is made to reinstate these funds.

Being realistic, college kids aren’t going to change anytime soon, and they will continue to drink themselves into oblivion. It would only make sense for detox funding to return to its original value before this year’s cuts, before someone’s life is seriously endangered.

Hayes Cascia ([email protected]) is a freshman with an undecided major.