ANTI-ALCOHOL CAMPAIGN SHOULD REDIRECT FOCUS

Is it possible to imagine a university free of alcohol? Whether you prefer
the forties found in dormitories, the jungle juice prevalent at fraternity
parties or the imported beers and wines in more sophisticated apartments,
alcohol appears as a relentless aspect to our existence as college students.

Although drinking is a seeming reality on campuses across the country,
universities continue to pursue campaigns to cut the consumption of alcohol.

Some students do develop unhealthy, harmful relationships with alcohol, but
the majority of students use the drug moderately and responsibly. Indeed,
only a handful of students engage in excessive, extreme drinking, despite
all the clamor in the news about binging. Interestingly, though, studies
continue to find that students over-estimate the drinking of their peers.
Thus, the perception exists that severe use is the norm.

Universities across the country decided that the best way to diminish
drinking was to dispel the myth of severe use. If students knew that their
peers were moderate, responsible users, maybe they too would engage in
moderate, responsible use.

UC Berkeley launched a campaign whose representatives were actual Cal
students, cool-looking and confident in their proclamation: "Don't Tell Me
How to Party." They appeared throughout campus through a variety of media,
and the diversity of the representatives was meant to target the varied
population of our school.

Yet, the poster-youth were united in a message that urged students to be
designated thinkers, a message that stressed that one out of five students
do not drink at all, and, of those that do drink, one out of four only has a
handful of drinks a month.

Berkeley is one of hundreds of universities that received dollars and
resources from the federal government to promote a campaign that attempts to
redefine our perceptions of drinking, in particular the amount we think a
normal student normally drinks. Yet, the universities and their benefactor
must have had a rude awakening upon reading a recent Harvard study that
demonstrates such a campaign is a failure, that it doesn't diminish drinking
any more than the earlier abstinence-based campaigns do.

Indeed, the study suggests that an attempt to redefine norms of drug use
might increase drug use among moderate users.

I imagine universities across the country will start a search for a fresh
tactic that promises an answer to the question drug educators have yet to
answer: "How do we reduce drinking among youth?" As a student and a graduate
of D.A.R.E., I believe that this is altogether the wrong question to ask.

Instead, we ought to wonder, "How do we reduce the harms of drinking and
other drug use?"

Drug use is a reality on our college campus, as it is anywhere in the world.

Students at Cal experiment with marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, and
psychedelics. Others stick to the licit drugs: alcohol and tobacco. Those
who abstain from these substances still use a myriad of drugs. Who hasn't
had a cup of coffee in the morning or during a late night of studying? Who
hasn't turned to the Tang Center for a prescription to treat a bothersome
allergy or a nasty infection? Who hasn't taken a pain-killer to alleviate
suffering?

Who doesn't utilize vitamins or herbs to supplement diet and exercise?

The truth is we are all drug users. The drugs we use are potentially harmful
and unhealthy; yet, through education, we are able to make safe, informed
decisions that allow us to reduce the risks of use and benefit from drugs.

Some students try alcohol out of pressure from peers or spurious conceptions
of their peers' use. A short, superficial campaign cannot eliminate this
form of experimentation. Indeed, the reality is those students who continue
to drink tend to do so because they enjoy the effects of alcohol. Rather
than deny youth the pleasure they derive from drinking, we ought to help
them reduce the harms that an uninformed, irresponsible relationship with
alcohol can cause.

Scarlett Swerdlow co-founded and is a volunteer at the Drug Resource Center,
a safe place where students can access honest information on drugs from
nonjudgmental peer educators. The center is located at 300B Eshleman and is
open every Wednesday from 10 to 5.