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	A new drinking craze among third-levels students requiring them to down a naggin of spirits has been condemned by the Union of Students in Ireland.</p>
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	The &lsquo;Sneaky Naggin&rsquo; game involves surprising a fellow student with a 200-millilitre&nbsp; bottle of cheap spirits, usually vodka or gin, during class and forcing them to drink it whole when they are next out.</p>
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	USI Welfare officer Greg O&rsquo; Donoghue branded the game as &ldquo;irresponsible&rdquo;, saying that &ldquo;no friend should encourage someone to drink that amount alone.&rdquo;</p>
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	&ldquo;Consuming that level of alcohol is dangerous and it isn&rsquo;t something that people should be encouraging their friends to do.&rdquo;</p>
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	&ldquo;Our message on this is simple, don&rsquo;t give into peer pressure. Don&rsquo;t be afraid to be your own person,&rdquo; he added.</p>
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	Hitting out at student sites posting &ldquo;how to&quot; guides on sneaking naggins into pubs and clubs, Mr O&rsquo; Donoghue said such articles &ldquo;weren&rsquo;t helpful in encouraging people to develop healthy drinking habits.&rdquo;</p>
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	&ldquo;Quite frankly, we don&rsquo;t support this kind of advice,&rdquo; he said.</p>
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	The &lsquo;Sneaky Naggin&rsquo; game comes on the back of a report last month which showed that two-thirds of third level students were drinking &ldquo;hazardous amounts&rdquo; of alcohol every week.</p>
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	Researchers at University College Cork questioned students on their drinking habits &ndash; with 66pc admitting they engaged in unsafe drinking.</p>
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	&ldquo;Binge drinking does real damage to the body and people need to realise that,&rdquo; said Mr O&rsquo; Donoghue in response to the report.</p>
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	&ldquo;In December we rolled out our &lsquo;Mental Drinking&rsquo; campaign to highlight the dangers of drinking too much. We&rsquo;ve been really pleased by how well it&rsquo;s gone down and next month we&rsquo;ll be visiting over 30 campuses to drive home the message.&rdquo;</p>
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	<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/new-sneaky-naggin-drinking-fad-pressures-students-to-drink-spirit-bottle-down-in-one-30987555.html">http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/new-sneaky-naggin-drinking-fad-pressures-students-to-drink-spirit-bottle-down-in-one-30987555.html</a></p>
