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  • Watch your drink: Don’t accept drinks from strangers or leave yours unattended.
  • Plan your ride: Decide how you’ll get home (rideshare, Lyft/Uber, designated driver) before you go—and stick to it.
  • Look out for friends: If someone is intoxicated, make sure they safely get inside before you leave.
  • Pace yourself: Set a limit. Alternate alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and stay hydrated.
  • Know warning signs: Watch for vomiting, slow breathing, pale skin, or unconsciousness. Call 911 immediately if you notice these. Good Samaritan protections apply if you seek help.

Alcohol and Substance Use Awareness

St. Cloud State University is a supportive community that prioritizes a safe and drug-free campus. We provide information, strategies, and a community of support for students to make safe and healthy choices.

If you suspect someone has overdosed on alcohol or a drug, call 911 immediately. The Minnesota’s Medical Amnesty Law limits consequences for minors who call for emergency assistance where alcohol or drugs are involved, so that those experiencing an overdose receive prompt medical attention.

Signs of alcohol poisoning

  • Confusion, stupor
  • Vomiting
  • Seizures
  • Slow breathing (less than eight breaths a minute)
  • Irregular breathing
  • Blue-tinged skin or pale skin
  • Low body temperature (hypothermia)
  • Unconsciousness

It is not necessary for all of these symptoms to be present before you seek help. A person who is unconscious or can't be roused is at risk of dying.

If you suspect someone has alcohol poisoning

Even if you don't see the classic signs and symptoms, seek immediate medical care. 

  • If the  person is unconscious, breathing less than eight times a minute or has repeated, uncontrolled vomiting, call 911 or Public Safety 320-308-3333 immediately. Keep in mind even when someone is unconscious or has stopped drinking, alcohol continues to be released into the bloodstream and the level of alcohol in the body continues to rise. Never assume that a person will sleep off alcohol poisoning.
  • If the person is conscious, call Public Safety for officer assistance. All calls to Public Safety are confidential.
  • Be prepared to provide  information.  If you know, be sure to tell the Public Safety officers the kind and amount of alcohol the person ingested, and when.
  • Don't leave an unconscious person alone. While waiting for help, don't try to make the person vomit. People who have alcohol  poisoning have an impaired gag reflex and may choke on their own vomit or accidentally inhale (aspirate) vomit into their lungs, which could cause a fatal lung injury.

See the Mayo Clinic's alcohol poisoning website.

Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse

Alcoholism is a chronic disease that makes your body dependent on alcohol. You may be obsessed with alcohol and unable to control how much you drink, even though your drinking is causing serious problems with your relationships, health, work and finances.

It's  possible to have a problem with alcohol, but not display all the  characteristics of alcoholism. This is known as alcohol abuse, which means you engage in excessive drinking that causes health or social problems, but you aren't dependent on alcohol and haven't fully lost control over the use of alcohol.

Signs of Alcoholism/Abuse

  • Drinking alone or in secret
  • Being unable to limit the amount of alcohol you drink
  • Not remembering conversations or commitments, sometimes referred to as blacking out
  • Making a ritual of having drinks before, with or after dinner and becoming annoyed when this ritual is disturbed or questioned
  • Losing interest in activities and hobbies that used to bring pleasure
  • Feeling the need or compulsion to drink
  • Irritability when your usual drinking time nears, especially if alcohol isn't available
  • Keeping alcohol in unlikely places at home, at work or in the car
  • Gulping drinks, ordering doubles, becoming intoxicated intentionally to feel good or drinking to feel normal
  • Having legal problems or problems with relationships, employment or finances
  • Building a tolerance to alcohol so that you need an increasing number of drinks to feel alcohol's effects
  • Experiencing physical withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating and shaking

Campus Resources