CNN iReport

As a recent college graduate I have all too vivid memories of friends getting alcohol poisoning. It didn't happen often, but there are a few very specific incidents that still frighten me.

My sophomore year, one of my roommates enjoyed a "Saved by the Bell" themed party too much. I had walked back across the street to my dorm from the place where the party was held around 1am. One of my five roommates came back with me, but the others stayed later than us. Fast forward a few hours and I am awoken by one of my friends saying my roommate, K, is really sick. I throw on a sweatshirt and tennis shoes and go back across the street.

I found K in a bathroom unconscious. Our friend L was holding her upright over a trash can. Luckily her body was still reacting as it should, trying to rid itself of all the alcohol in its system. L was one of the guys who lived in the house and was incredibly worried about what would happen not only to her, but to him and his roommates. While continuing to care for K, L and I discussed whether we should take her to the hospital. Two 19 year-olds are not ready to make that kind of decision. Neither of us wanted to get in trouble. We had heard the horror stories that not only did the people who hosted a party and the underage drinker get into trouble, but the people that brought them in were penalized as well. Both of us had been drinking that night too and we didn't want to face "the authorities."

Our final decision was to care for K in the bathroom, and reassess the choice later. As we took turns holding her upright she gradually grew worse. Eventually, her body stopped taking care of itself. She was no longer throwing up and she was not breathing for herself. Whoever was holding her would shake her every 4 or 5 seconds to get her to take a breath. We were incredibly scared, and unfortunately feared getting in trouble for underage drinking more than what was happening to K. Both L and I were lifeguards and knew the consequences well of lack of oxygen. Yet we still resisted taking her to the hospital.

Finally, we said if she didn't improve in the next 10 minutes, we would take her in. There was a hospital a two minute drive away. As the ten minute mark neared we continued to talk to her and try to get a reaction. Finally, she regained consciousness and began breathing on her own again.

This entire scenario only lasted about a half an hour, but seemed to drag on. I look back on it now, four years later, and cannot believe how stupid we were. Our friend's life was in danger, but we had an extreme fear of what might happen to not only K, but all of us if the school, police and our parents were notified that we had been drinking.

K's alcohol poisoning was not only her fault, or the hosts of the party, or our suite when we "pre-gamed" as we got ready, or the hard week of studying that preceded it. It was a combination of all of them and an uninformed bad decision could have seriously affected one of my friends.

K knew about alcohol. She had moved to the U.S. from an Eastern European country during her secondary schooling, and had grown up with alcohol being an acceptable part of life. She is also not the first, nor the last to binge drink to the point to alcohol poisoning. It is an all too common part of college, and even high school, life.

I experienced many students coping with alcohol poisoning, and even had it myself a couple of times, all while I was underage. If the drinking age were lowered to 18, many college students would not fear repercussions for bringing their ill friends to a hospital. Yes, in a perfect world students would face the punishment for underage drinking in order to provide someone with adequate care. But they don't. They don't tell their RAs. They don't call an ambulance or a sober friend to drive them to a hospital. They deal with it themselves and endanger their friends. I understand the fears associated with making the drinking age lower, but I also know that 18 year-olds, and many younger, are going to drink anyway. I fully believe that lowering the age, while probably wouldn't increase responsibility while drinking, may contribute to much safer care of those who go overboard.