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Brian J. Bohlmann, MD
Madison, Wis

JAMA. 1995;273(24):1903.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—Dr Wechsler and colleagues¹ provide an excellent assessment of the effects of binge drinking among college students, including "secondary binge effects" on nonbinging or nondrinking students. I propose that similar secondary effects occur among nondrinking students in medical school.

When I started medical school in 1983, out of my class of 169, there were no more than five other nondrinkers. As one of the nondrinking students, I came under regular and frequent pressure from many members of the freshman class to drink alcohol when I attended class events. This pressure left me feeling alienated and added unnecessary stress during my freshman year. I regarded this pressure to drink alcohol as significant because I had never experienced similar pressure during high school or college.

Even the medical school administration seemed to regard alcohol as an essential part of social interaction within our profession. I have already recounted . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Footnotes
Edited by Drummond Rennie, MD, Deputy Editor (West), and Margaret A. Winker, MD, Senior Editor.

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