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.”
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343-3330
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74% of UO
students
drink 1 or
fewer days
a week... .
or don't
drink at all. *