#SPRINGBREAK SPI ranks in top 10 Spring Break drinking culture

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — Spring breakers have been found falling face first into the sand.

Others have been seen over someone’s shoulder being carried to their hotel.

Some have been found passed out on the sidewalk from a day and night of never-ending drinking.

Now with social media, it’s all being caught on camera and spread around the world.

The spring breakers on SPI are into posting about their escapades.

“Project Know” wanted to know just how prevalent drug and alcohol use is during Spring Break activities by studying 2016 Instagram photos with the Spring Break hashtag, and the results were staggering.

More than 250,000 Instagram posts with the hashtag Spring Break were examined to find out which beach ranked the highest in terms of a Spring Break drinking culture.

South Padre Island ranked second in the percentage of drugs and alcohol in photos based on Instagram posts that mentioned #springbreak.

The Island ranked 10th on the list of Spring Break destinations in the nation.

And the debauchery is not slowing down.

One SPI spring breaker posted on his Instagram profile that South Padre Island was 100 percent out of control. And he enjoyed every minute of it with his friends.

He’s seen in group photos with friends on the beach and at concerts with friends holding drinking cups.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism indicates that more than half of all male college students and a third of females will binge drink at some point during their college career and more than 1,800 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol–related unintentional injuries.

“It was a challenging Spring Break,” said Dennis Stahl, SPI mayor pro-tem.

Today, college students and college-bound students are still walking through the beach access points daily with their case of beer in hand, on their shoulder or working in pairs carrying large ice chests as they walk to the never-ending Spring Break beach party.

“Hotels are still above 80 percent occupancy,” Stahl said.