— Quintez Brown

Do not let one week ruin your whole life.

Spring break is a little over a month away. This vacation period may be one of the most anticipated weeks of the year. No classes, extravagant trips and the beach. For many college students, this also means a lot of alcohol.

According to the Spend Matters Network, “College students alone spend more than $1 billion every year on spring break.”

The culture and mindset that comes with spring break, mixed with alcohol and other party drugs, can have dangerous and long term consequences.

According to Wallin & Klarich A Law Corporation, the most common spring break crimes include drug possession, alcohol possession by a minor, theft, indecent exposure, sexual battery and rape.

These offenses are no joke. To spend over $1,000 on a week-long vacation just to party and end up with a permanent charge is ludicrous. Maybe you have the time and money to take that risk. Maybe we should have a conversation about the classist disparities with spring breakers. It’s a trip that not everyone can afford to go on or somewhere they can afford to get in legal trouble.

However, we live in an age where anything you do can be recorded and uploaded in an instant. Some people even voluntarily upload reckless videos.

Also, leave wildlife out of your alcoholic party stunts!

In 2015, a blog about college life called Total Frat Move uploaded videos of spring breakers using animals to drink alcohol. They shotgunned a beer with a shark, they drank alcohol out of both a starfish and jellyfish and also carried around a seagull. Wild.

Spring break culture can be toxic. Do not allow the hype and peer pressure to put you in a situation that will have long term consequences on your life. Party hard, but think smarter.

Graphic by Shayla Kerr / The Louisville Cardinal