Teenage Wasteland: New Report Shows Gravity Of Underage Drinking At Lollapalooza

By Jim Bochnowski in News on Apr 27, 2015 9:30PM

There's a lot of things to hate about Lollapalooza: the crowds, the smell, the ticket prices, the disappointing lineups. And now, like Chingy warned us, Lurie Children's Hospital has confirmed that teen drinking during the annual weekend has become quite the problem.

In a new report, the hospital compared the number of emergency room visits during Lollapalooza weekend in 2014 to the two weekends before it began and the two weekends after it wrapped. They found that during the festival weekend, emergency room visits spiked. Specifically during that time period, the hospital admitted 84 patients, compared to an average of 69 the other four weekends, and found that 31 of these patients had attended Lollapalooza. Of those admitted, 22 patients were female, and 26 had a blood alcohol content above .08 percent.

According to researchers at the hospital, this study was not meant to be a "revelation" to anyone who is even mildly familiar with the infamous music festival. Rather, the doctors hope that their study will raise awareness of this issue for parents and health care providers in the city. According to Dr. Sarah McAndrew, the chief resident at Lurie's, "Late at night, there was room after room of kids that came after Lollapalooza, that were brought by their friends and paramedics...A lot of tears going on when we tell them we have to call their parents."

The study also mentions "stories of teenagers 'planting' the alcohol in Grant Park before the festival and recovering it when they get there." We're sure the folks at C3 Presents are already working to squash that from happening this year.