2008 Woodie Awards
New laws may reduce drinking rates
Keaton Shuttlesworth ; Daily Texan (U. Texas-Austin)
Issue date: 3/2/05 Section: News
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AUSTIN, Texas - Tougher state alcohol laws correspond to lower college drinking rates according to a study released earlier this week.
The study, released Tuesday by the Harvard University School of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, came up with a magic number, four, for the amount of laws required to drop the drinking rate.
Researchers found that in seven states with particularly strict alcohol statutes, such as the mandated registration of beer kegs and restrictions on happy hours, the rate of binge, or high-risk, drinking was 31 percent lower than the national average.
Defined as having five or more drinks in one sitting for a man, or four or more drinks for a woman, binge drinking has long been a problem across college campuses, according to the study.
"Binge-drinking behavior is entrenched in the college culture and is supported both by social activities and by the geographic availability of alcohol from retail stores and from bars," said Henry Wechsler, director of the College Alcohol Studies program at the Harvard School of Public Health, in a written statement.
The University of Texas was ranked No. 7 in the Princeton Review's annual list of the top party schools in the nation. The ranking takes into account not only alcohol consumption by the student population, but also drug use.
According to Chuck Roper of the University Health Services Center, the University is statistically around average according to a series of surveys by UHS of 119 colleges nationwide.
According to the student-reported statistics published by UHSC, 45 percent of UT students reported binge drinking and 87 percent reported having had a drink in the weeks prior to completing the survey.
Roper was quick to explain that these numbers don't necessarily reflect alcoholism as much as "periods of heavy drinking that sometimes get our students in trouble."
Drew Hunter, director of the Bacchus & Gamma Peer Education Network, an association of college and university peer-education programs, said that students tend to drink more heavily and make more irresponsible decisions early on in their academic career and that as they progress, behaviors such as blacking out and drunken driving tend to decrease.
To combat these problems, the UHSC has many programs dedicated to the reduction of high-risk and underage drinking. These programs include group and individual counseling, designated driver programs, the E-Bus system and E-Chug, an online self-evaluation.
The state is also considering legislation aimed at curbing high-risk drinking. A bill filed by state Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, would require the registration of all kegs.
"Just like you usually find less alcohol in dry counties, it's going to be harder to drink if legislation makes the procurement of alcohol more difficult," said Hunter.
Students, however, were skeptical. Joanna Dunn, an English sophomore, said, "If people really want to drink, they will find ways to get around it."