Dozens of UMA students hospitalized after drinking “borgs”

Dozens of students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst were hospitalized over the weekend after participating in a dangerous “borg” competition that became popular on TikTok, officials said.

A total of 46 students were hospitalized, but all were eventually evaluated and discharged back to campus or home with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, Amherst City Manager Paul Bockelman told CBS News.

Twenty-eight ambulances were used to transport students to the hospital. Because of the large number of students in need of medical care, Amherst needed the help of ambulances from neighboring cities and the Regional Emergency Medical Services Task Force, Bockelman said.

Borgsor “blackout gallons of anger,” are one-gallon containers of water that are emptied a bit and then filled with alcohol and some flavoring, such as water-enhancing drops or powdered drink mixes.

The trend of making and consuming bargs on college campuses has become popular TikTok. The #borg hashtag has garnered over 82.5 million views on social media.

“UMass officials said this is the first time the university has seen significant use of debt,” Joint statement from the university and the city said. “They will assess this weekend’s events and consider steps to improve alcohol education and intervention, as well as engage with students and families.”

While there is some logic to the idea of ​​adding water and electrolytes to slow down the effects of alcohol or ease a hangover, experts worry that the gallon size promotes binge drinking. One borg can contain 16 servings of alcohol or more.

“Drinking that much alcohol would be fatal for the vast majority of people, even if spread over an entire day,” said Dr. George F. Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at the National Institutes of Health. CBS News.

The school said all incoming students must complete an alcohol education program. The program includes a discussion of “standard drink sizes, physiological and medical risks of drinking.”

According to an Associated Press report, the students involved in the debt incident over the weekend were celebrating the annual “Blarney Blast,” an “unsanctioned event tied to the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day.”

Amherst police also arrested two students for consuming alcohol during the incident, Bockelman said.