A national group has expanded in Minnesota to get the warning of drinking and dying—not just drinking and driving to students.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD, reported that 1,700 students die in alcohol related deaths every year.
The recent deaths in Minnesota have MADD opening new chapters on college campuses to try to stop the trend.
In the past four months, 5 Eyewitness News has reported four students died from alcohol-related incidents.
"I think it's appalling. Scary for any parent to send a child off to college, scary for administrators," said MADD spokeswoman Julie Mattson.
While the organization realizes that many college students drink, MADD does not want them to drink and die.
In light of the recent death of Reesa Amen-Reif on the Minnesota State Makato campus, the school has started a new student-run MADD chapter.
Another chapter has also begun at St. Cloud State, a school dealing with Saturday’s death of Brian Threet.
"Too many students are being found dead. They are put in a room to sleep it off and they never wake up," said Mattson.
MADD has been working to get every college campus to open a chapter to better educate students with the facts behind alcohol. More than four drinks for a woman and more than five for a man is considered binge drinking—many students do not think of the consequences.
"If somebody's had too much to drink turn them on their side. Never leave them alone," Mattson said.
Run by a faculty, the college MADD chapters train students to help watch over their friends and prevent tragedies.
"The positive thing about all of this is that it's 100 percent preventable," Mattson said.
MADD has also supported the creation of a new state law called the ‘Socal Host’ law—already in place in Carver County and in Mankato. The law makes the host or bartended responsible if they over-serve their guests.
To view the KSTP video go to http://kstp.com/article/stories/S305867.shtml?cat=1
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