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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2000)
April awareness targets youths ■ taucaung underage drinkers is a top priority of Alcohol Awareness Month By Sara Lieberth Oregon Daily Emerald The statistics don’t lie. Alcohol related crimes, arrests, injuries and deaths continue to plague the nation’s youth, including the con siderably large demographic of underage college students. In an effort to raise conscious ness on this problem that won’t go away, the National Council on Al coholism and Drug Dependence designates April as Alcohol Awareness Month. Nina Robart, project director for the Oregon Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking, said the best way to combat the problems of al cohol use and abuse is through policy and environmental change. “Our emphasis is on prevention and treatment work statewide,” she said, “but really on decreasing the availability of alcohol to youth, too.” Robart said getting information out to alcohol merchants and to hotel managers who rent rooms during prom season is part ot their year-long campaign to curb youth drinking. “We want to convey, basically, that it’s a problem and you can do something about it,” she said. According to 1999 NCADD re ports, college students spend more on alcohol than on non-alco holic drinks and books combined and their drinking is linked to two-thirds of all sexual assaults on campuses nationwide. Furthermore, nearly half of col lege students who were victims of campus crimes last year said they were drinking or using drugs when they were victimized. And statistically, students with D aver age grade point averages drink three times as much as those who earn A’s. In Oregon specifically, drinking and driving crashes are the No. 1 cause of death among teenagers, and the average age young people start drinking in the state is 10. “The unfortunate truth is that most people start drinking at this early age,” Lane County Preven tion coordinator C.A. Baskerville said. “We need to begin actively role modeling responsible use.” Collegiate alcohol use At both two- and four-year institu tions, the heaviest drinkers of alco hol earn the lowest grades. Each year, sororities and fraternities spend roughly $200 million more on alcohol than all other students com bined. Forty-four percent of college stu dents reported binge drinking in the past two weeks. SOURCE: CA Presley et al., "Alcohol and Drugs on American College Campuses" Baskerville said that in a collab orative effort, the community based prevention groups, private agencies and local government that make up the Lane County Pre vention Coalition have recently agreed to focus on underage drink ing not just for the month of April but throughout 2000. Speaking on behalf of the local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, office manager Charlie Durrant said their projects are by no means limited to April. “Drunk driving and underage drinking do not go away the other 11 months of the year,” she said. Gambling continued from page 1 the NCAA tournament through pools can lead to more serious consequences. “You start out with these inno cent pools, but it gets to be a lot more serious,” said Gary Gray, who is in charge of complying NCAA regulations for the Uni versity athletic department. “The Pac-10 is trying to better educate students about the problems with gambling.” In coordination with the NCAA, Whyte and Behavioral Health Online are creating aware ness about the dangers of gam bling addiction. On Behavioral Health’s Web site — www.gob ho.com — Whyte will moderate a chat room thatAvill discuss ways to cope with the addiction. The discussion will be held today from 5 to 6 p.m. Behavioral Health also pro vides information on gambling problems with advice from doc tors as well as contacts for further help. “Behavioral Health has a lot of good mental health credibility,” Whyte said. Whyte’s organization also sup ports compulsive gamblers through a national hotline. The number is 1-800-522-4700. “We just want to make sure that if people need help, they get it,” Whyte said. “It’s a serious is sue that is very treatable. The most important thing is to take that first step: telling someone.” Little Caesars MEDIUM PEPPERONI OR CHEESE PIZZA 1711 Willamette (next to Blockbuster) 343-3330 Don’t miss out. Work for your college paper. For more information on how to freelance for the Oregon Daily Emerald call 346-5511. 74% of UO students drink 1 or fewer days a week... . or don't drink at all. *
