Is Spring Break Drinking Out of Control?

C A N C U N, Mexico, March 21 -- Thousands of American students have descended on the beaches of Cancun this week, where the legal drinking age is 18, and the good times seem to flow as readily as the alcohol.

One Texas A&M student offered this succinct description: "Basically, you come down, hang out for a week, get wasted for a week."

Most of the students filling the streets and beaches wear wristbands provided to them by tour companies or purchased in nightclubs. The wristbands provide unlimited access to alcohol at different establishments — all you can drink for a set fee.

Some patrons virtually collect the wristbands. "Just wake up, come to the beach, drink, eat lunch, and drink again," said 21-year-old Shawn Hakib of the University of Connecticut.

"I stop with the shots, go to mixed drinks," said Trevor Gill from Tunxis Community College in Hartford, Conn. "You know, just slow down a little bit when you feel good."

'We Just Party'

The American Medical Association says the wristbands and other such promotions glamorize alcohol and place students' lives in jeopardy.

Excess drinking also fuels riskier sexual behavior. Carrying a full bottle of tequila, Iowa State sophomore Sheena Shreck climbed on top of a bar to perform a suggestive dance routine with three other girls. At one point, she took the bottle and poured the tequila directly down her throat. "We just party," said Shreck. "Whatever happens happens."

All too often, the students who come looking for good times and parties often party to the extreme. A journal of college health found that during spring break, 50 percent of men and more than 40 percent of women drank so much that they got sick or passed out.

When American students get in trouble, they turn to the U.S. officials for help.

"It's really a nonstop merry go round of calls, visits to jails, visits to hospitals," said Glen Keiser, principal officer at the U.S. Consulate in Cancun. "You can drink and you can drink responsibly. But that's the operative word, responsible drinking. And what we've seen here is really an invitation to excess."