by Dixie M. Jordan

About the author: Dixie M. Jordan is the publisher of parent-teen.com, an online magazine that focuses on delivering straightforward information to parents and teens.

If you drink—or your friends do—here are things you need to know about alcohol poisoning.

So, what is alcohol poisoning"

It’s not just having a hangover or drinking so much that you vomit. Alcohol poisoning happens when the blood alcohol level (the percentage of alcohol circulating in the bloodstream) rises to a danger point. At very high blood alcohol levels, a person loses consciousness and goes into a coma. In the worst cases, the drinker dies.

When you hear about someone dying from “alcohol poisoning,” it usually means the person died in one of these three ways: &bull...