When questioned about illegal, mood-altering substance use, 15,743 high school students surveyed in the last three years with the "Independent School Health Check" said alcohol is most commonly used. For the 30 days prior to filling out the survey, 33.9 percent of the students reported drinking, and 24.2 percent reported binge drinking (five or more drinks in a three-hour period). Although the majority who binged did so one to two times, 5.2 percent reported binging three or more times in the month. Being drunk comes with its own obvious health and safety risks, but binging and risk taking are often closely related: (1) 42 percent of bingers report cheating on tests and quizzes, 2.5 times greater than non-bingers; (2) 68 percent of bingers report oral-sex experience; (3) 53 percent report sexual intercourse; (4) 46.5 percent report marijuana use; (5) 20.1 percent report intercourse under influence; and (6) 17.0 percent report driving under the influence. Parties, particularly unchaperoned parties, represent the primary venue for binge drinking. When asked how often the student had attended parties in the month and how often the parties had been chaperoned by an adult, on average, binge drinkers reported attending unchaperoned parties 53.7 percent of the time, although the heaviest drinkers attended unchaperoned parties 63.5 percent of the time. Some drinking occurred after school--on average, 29.9 percent of the bingers drank with friends after school and 10.7 percent drank alone after school--although for the heaviest drinkers, the rate more than doubled. Adults have an important role to play in adolescent drinking and binging, particularly since adult permission is highly correlated to excess. For schools, these data suggest the benefits of adding the following aspects to school prevention programs: (1) Show students the data that demonstrates the association between binging and high-risk behaviors; (2) Encourage parents to be responsible chaperones at parties; (3) Alert parents to the illegality of and the dangers of allowing underage drinking; and (4) Help parents understand that they can make a difference in preventing the untold consequences of binge drinking for their children and their children's peers.