This is a writing that I put together and would like some personal
comments, not necessarily on the list serve. I have learned from many of
you that debt, particularly credit card debt, is a great impediment to
being able to become a doctor. I suspect that alcohol is another major
impediment. If you have examples, no names, please notify me. If you have
successful prevention programs that are active at your campus, please share
with me.
College More Dangerous Than Vietnam
Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death... I was
reflecting on these words in Psalms 23 and recalled a recent statistic
about college alcohol use. Each year alcohol alone kills more than 1700
students a year age 18 - 24 who are in college.
I also totaled up some similar numbers, but in a different category. Over
50,000 died in Vietnam but divided by the number of years of the conflict,
about the same number per year comes up. Some 16000 died in the first 3 years.
Points to Ponder:
Why don't college students protest the deaths of their own on college
campuses as much or more when compared to generations past college students
protesting a war that was far away and unlikely to involved them directly?
Where is our Kent State event or perhaps better yet is why don't we use
each of these deaths as mini-Kent States?
Have our college campuses become so separated from the rest of the country
that we do nothing or that they do nothing to help each other?
Why do we allow our students of all ages free access to "entertainment"
that promotes such behavior through commercials, spring break specials, and
regular TV shows? Does our right to entertainment supercede the right of
our children to live or to live relatively unimpaired for longer periods of
time?
Are our journalists so tied to the entertainment and marketing industries
that they do not see such deadly trends?
Those who are injured are even more numerous and their stories are often
far more tragic. Their situation is also a great concern for a nation
spending increasing billions on health and long term care.
We have invested much in these children in terms of love, teaching, time,
and money. These are our future leaders. They are dying and taking others
with them.
These are our children. Why don't we care for them?
Robert C. Bowman, M.D. Family Physician
OK, I'm curious. Can you tell me where the figure of 1700 deaths from alcohol
comes from? I presume you are including traffic fatalities?
--
Ken Revis-Wagner, Chief Health Professions Advisor and
Caretaker of the Paranoid
Associate Professor of Biology Instruction
330 Long Hall, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0325
Office: 150 Long Hall - Phone: 864 656 3835 - Email:
rc@clemson.edu
Office Hours: M & W 4 - 6pm, Tu 12:30 - 2:30pm, Th 12:30 - 5:30pm,
Fri by appointment
Sometimes you're the Windshield, sometimes you're the Bug!
Hello:
I wonder sometimes about risk taking behavior ... I think the alcohol and drugs
are in some instances part of that ... part of a search to test limits and also
seek excitement. Lots of questions ... just asking as a way of thinking here.
Abuse of alcohol and drugs has tragic results, but I not sure we end such by
making it off limits ... perhaps we ought not to make it so much of a risk to
use? Also, what kinds of risk taking behavior might be acceptable or do we want
to eliminate it? And, if it doesn't have an element of danger it also then isn't
risky.
Intent sometimes also makes all the difference in the world ... in war the
intent is to kill.
You raised some interesting points for discussion.
Until later,
Karen de Olivares
Southern Methodist University
kdeolivares@mail.smu.edu
1400 or 1700, the number is still seriously too high.
I presume many of these deaths are traffic related. Does the whole report have a
breakdown of types of fatalities?
I wonder how many college students die from non-alcohol related fatalities???
--
Ken Revis-Wagner, Chief Health Professions Advisor and
Caretaker of the Paranoid
Associate Professor of Biology Instruction
330 Long Hall, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0325
Office: 150 Long Hall - Phone: 864 656 3835 - Email: rc@clemson.edu
Office Hours: M & W 4 - 6pm, Tu 12:30 - 2:30pm, Th 12:30 - 5:30pm,
Fri by appointment
Hopefully will be brief and final on this as it is a bit off the beaten
path. One researcher was a bit more brave than I as he compared the deaths
to 911 deaths. One organization has successfully led a media blitz.
Questions by other advisors encouraged me to review their facts and they do
make sense, as well as the proposed solutions. Their main point is that you
have to engage the college and the community together to make an impact.
The results agree that simple measures do not work.
Apologies. How come when I repeat a study by memory rather than by
copying, the numbers are often a bit higher.
My figure of 1700 deaths a year is wrong. 1400 deaths a year is actual
total The authors do note that they suspect the figures are conservative,
since alcohol is underreported. Here was my original reference on the
family practice list serve:
1. SURVEY SHOWS RESULTS OF COLLEGE STUDENT DRINKING
Drinking by college students ages 18-24 contributes to about 1,400 student
deaths, 500,000 injuries, and 70,000 cases of sexual assault or date rape
each year, according to a study supported by the National Institute on
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Study results were released April 9. Visit (
http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/Media/ ) for materials including
a news release on the study and information on National Alcohol Screening
Day on April 11. An AAFP patient education handout on alcohol abuse is
available at ( http://familydoctor.org/healthfacts/006/ ).
The comprehensive report and recommendations to college and community
leaders are at
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/cas/Documents/trends/Trends.pdf
Including some answers to my question. Hingson et al., have an article
published in 2002 in the Journal of Studies of Alcohol that is referenced
for the actual figures for death and violence. Don't have access to this.
The dramatic stuff included the deaths of drunk students, other students,
university professors, and problems in the community.
There is a JAMA reference that notes incredible improvements when
interventions are applied in a community-wide intervention in 3 communities
of 100,000 in Northern and Southern California and South Carolina
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v284n18/rfull/joc90970.html Traffic data
revealed that, in the intervention vs comparison communities, nighttime
injury crashes declined by 10% and crashes in which the driver had been
drinking declined by 6%. Assault injuries observed in emergency departments
declined by 43% in the intervention communities vs the comparison
communities, and all hospitalized assault injuries declined by 2%.
rcbowman@atsu.edu
>Points to Ponder:
>
>Why don't college students protest the deaths of their own on college
>campuses as much or more when compared to generations past college students
>protesting a war that was far away and unlikely to involved them directly?
Probably for the same reason that the college students of the 60's & 70's
who were protesting the war didn't protest the numbers of college students
dying or otherwise harmed by alcohol or drug use at that time. Alcohol
consumption is a personal choice, getting drafted was not. Also, the
Vietnam war certainly DID involve us directly - after graduation you often
got to go to Vietnam "on your senior trip".
>Where is our Kent State event or perhaps better yet is why don't we use
>each of these deaths as mini-Kent States?
Same as above.
>Have our college campuses become so separated from the rest of the country
>that we do nothing or that they do nothing to help each other?
You can try but you meet with vigorous resistance - by the students who
feel it is their "right to get totally wasted". We have an annual social
event shortly after classes begin in the fall that is held at a local state
park. It used to be heavily alcoholic and resulted in several deaths -
mostly car accidents. When the University teamed with the park officials to
make the park alcohol free for that event, the students protested loudly
and threatened to boycott the festivities. We were denying them their rights!
>Why do we allow our students of all ages free access to "entertainment"
>that promotes such behavior through commercials, spring break specials, and
>regular TV shows? Does our right to entertainment supercede the right of
>our children to live or to live relatively unimpaired for longer periods of
>time?
Sorry to say it but check the First Amendment.
>Are our journalists so tied to the entertainment and marketing industries
>that they do not see such deadly trends?
Yep! - or at least that they dont care.
Lest it sound like I am defending drinking on campus: I am not! I find it
tragic that these deaths happen but they happen in the adult population
too. We promote alcohol consumption as an appropriate activity for adults -
you need go no further than the faculty clubs at many universities which
almost always have a bar. There are cash bars at most university social
events for faculty. It's been a while since I've been to an NAAHP meeting
but I seem to recall cash bars at the banquets and some other socials. Are
adults more responsible? Some yes, but many are not. Adults make the movies
you speak of.
I live in the far north where we get lots of snow and draw snowmobilers
from several surrounding states who pump a great deal of money into the
local economy. The snowmobile trails are peppered with bars along their
length, sometimes right on the trail, sometimes down a side trail with well
marked signs. Alcohol is a leading cause - probably the leading cause - of
snowmobile injuries and fatalities. When the state of Michigan decided to
get tough on drunk snowmobilers, the local motels, restaurants and bars
protested loudly that this would drive away their customers. Who cares if
they get killed, as long as they leave their money here!
In other words, college students only mirror what we see in the rest of
society. Alcohol consumption is a way of life for many and a sure sign of
adulthood - should you live that long. You cant expect students to change
unless the rest of society does so too.
Time for me to get off my soapbox!
Ron Gratz
Michigan Tech
Algebra, The Half Life of Alcohol
Education - the entire pipeline