Amherst, MA isn’t a very big place but there are a lot of colleges there. Local authorities undoubtedly keep a very close eye on such numbers.

Anaridis Rodriguez of WWLP News reports.

Number of drunk college students increase

The number of cases of drunk college students requiring medical attention is up in Amherst. The town’s fire chief told 22News that the numbers are in line with the national trend.

Amherst officials say an increase in the number of students and more of them abusing hard alcohol is contributing to this trend.

Amherst Fire Chief Tim Nelson told 22News their ambulances picked up more students this fall semester than the last. Chief Nelson says the schools in the area are working to make students more accountable.

Under recent changes to UMass’ code of conduct, students can be reprimanded for their behavior off-campus. His department handled 84 calls compared to 67 last year; most of the calls come from the UMass campus.

“This is my fourth fall. And each fall there’s been a steady increase each fall. It’s more a case of they are doing the hard alcohol. The flavored rums and vodkas,” said Chief Nelson.

Last spring, UMass entered into a partnership with the town of Amherst to address the increased demand. The school agreed to pay for extra ambulances and added staff during the weekend.