College Drinking

The Department of Education (ED)'s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools is offering grants for effective university-based initiatives that prevent alcohol and other drug use on college campuses. Grants are available under the "Models of Exemplary, Effective and Promising Alcohol or Other Drug Abuse Prevention Programs on College Campuses" program.

College athletes who use performance-enhancing substances may be at greater risk of abusing alcohol and using other drugs as well, according to new research in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
The study, of 234 male athletes at one university, found that those who used performance enhancers – ranking from steroids to stimulants to weight-loss supplements – were more likely to admit to heavy drinking and using drugs like marijuana and cocaine. They also had elevated rates of alcohol- and drug-related problems, such as missing classes, failing tests or getting into fights.

The Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools is accepting applications for grants to prevent high-risk drinking or violent behavior among college students. The grants provide awards to develop or enhance, implement, and evaluate campus- and community-based strategies to prevent high-risk drinking or violent behavior among college students.

The Department of Education Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools is now accepting grant applications for its Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Models on College Campuses program. The program aims to identify models of effective campus-based alcohol and other drug prevention programs and disseminate information about these programs to other colleges and universities where similar efforts may be adopted.

A new Swedish study indicates that students who engage in high-risk alcohol consumption benefit the most from a skills-training program. Results are published in the March issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Forty-nine percent (3.8 million) of full time college students binge drink and/or abuse prescription and illegal drugs, according to Wasting the Best and the Brightest: Substance Abuse at America´s Colleges and Universities,, a new report by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

Research shows that more than 40 percent of youth are nondrinkers when they begin their college education, but by the time they´ve settled into college life, that number decreases dramatically. Experts blame it on the "college effect," a term used to describe the sharp rise in alcohol use documented among college students after completing their first semester of school. Colorado-based coalition TEAM Fort Collins hopes to change that through a new initiative with Colorado State University (CSU).

Increases in young women´s drinking during the transition from high school through the first year of college can have dangerous physical, sexual and psychological implications, according to a report out of the University at Buffalo´s Research Institute on Addictions.

A new study highlighted in a recent issue of the New York Times found that a dangerous drinking ritual, commonly known as the "power hour," where a young person drinks 21 shots of alcohol in a short period of time to celebrate their 21st birthday, is on the rise among young people.

After feeling the pressure from CADCA and drug and alcohol prevention advocates across the country, JV Games announced that they changed the name of its WiiWare Beer Pong game to "Pong Toss" and removed all alcohol references. Prevention advocates say that while the move is a start, ultimately the game should be removed from store shelves.

Binge drinking among U.S. college students is linked to conditions in the college environment, such as a strong drinking culture and few alcohol control policies. That´s one of the key findings from the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS), a landmark study that surveyed more than 50,000 students at 120 colleges from 1993 to 2001.

In a community that is home to the nation´s number one party school, it´s a constant struggle to keep alcohol away from young people. Not only is it widely available, it´s also widely accepted as a right of passage. However, the Butte Youth Now coalition is striving to change through youth mobilization, community education, social norms campaigns, policy changes and enforcement efforts.

A new six-year study conducted at the University of Virginia has found that exposing college students to information that corrected misperceptions about campus drinking patterns resulted in dramatic reductions in alcohol-related negative consequences.

The U.S. Department of Education´s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools recently announced that they are accepting applications for the Grants to Prevent High-Risk Drinking and Violent Behavior Among College Students competition (CFDA # 84.184H).

Does your coalition include the local college or university in its action plan? Too often campus and community issues are viewed and dealt with separately. A recent article in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs found that a campus-community partnership in one area reduced the binge drinking and neighborhood disruption caused by off-campus college parties.