LIEBERMAN CONDEMNS BINGE DRINKING
AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS
AS SERIOUS PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE
May 15, 2002
WASHINGTON - Governmental Affairs Committee
Chairman Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said Wednesday episodic binge
drinking by college students has become a "serious public health
issue" that requires the attention not just of students, parents
and college administrators, but of entire communities.
"Our message is a simple and serious one:
alcohol abuse on college campuses has reached a point where it
is far more destructive than most people realize and today
threatens too many of our youth," Lieberman said at a hearing on
the subject. "College students need to know that if they party
to excess, they could die. And college administrators need to
know that intervention is the only way to get this
out-of-control behavior under control."
Lieberman’s interest in the issue arose from
circumstances within his home state of Connecticut where at
least six college students have died within the past 12 months
as a result of alcohol- related incidents. Four were students at
Quinnipiac College, one was a student at the University of
Hartford, and one was a student at the University of
Connecticut.
"Connecticut, sadly, is just a part of a
nationwide trend among college students to get as drunk as
possible as quickly as possible, often with devastating
effects."
A study by the National Institute of Alcohol
Abuse and Alcoholism, a division of the National Institutes of
Health, found in a recent study that alcohol leads to 1,400
student deaths each year, 70,000 date rapes and assaults, and
500,000 injuries. The Surgeon General also has identified binge
drinking among college students as a major public health
problem. According to one study, about 40 percent of students
binge drink.
Lieberman cited the University of Connecticut
and the California State University system as two examples of
school systems intervening to solve the problem but he said too
many college administrators are denying a problem even exists.
"More colleges and universities should be
implementing tougher alcohol policies and working with
communities and local law enforcement to enforce minimum
drinking age laws, to increase enforcement at campus events
where excessive drinking is promoted, and to inform incoming
students and their parents about alcohol policies and
penalties," Lieberman said. "We must redouble our efforts to
bring college alcohol consumption under control, to provide
students with the tools to make more informed decisions, and to
save the lives of as many students as we possibly can." |