This week’s selections of articles from the AE reader were both interesting and thought provoking. The first article “Drinking to get Drunk,” details the growing concern of binge drinking on college campuses across the country. I thought it was very interesting that 23% of students are “frequent binge drinkers” whereby frequent binge drinking is operationally defined as those who consumed at least five drinks in a row at one point during any two week period. This is startling number when thinking of my own drinking habits or even the social norms of drinking on this campus. I would be confident in claiming that at Providence College, the percentage of frequent binge drinkers is likely higher than the national percentage. With the social culture of this campus being focused on gatherings that include alcohol, it is hard to remove oneself from a drinking climate. As a student leader on this campus, we are required to program so many alcohol free activities to promote a “dry” campus. These efforts go unnoticed and very often are unattended by students because of the competition of the off campus bar scene. Perhaps if the surrounding community (ie: local bar establishments/package stores, law enforcement officials, attorney generals office) becomes more stringent in enforcing underage drinking regulations, it will become more difficult for underage students on this campus to drink. Or on the flipside, the result could be just as devastating with a shift in drinking off campus to on campus, causing more on campus disciplinary actions. This could be worth it however if it means that students will be drinking in their dorms and in a fairly safe environment unlike our neighboring community. Further examination on this campus is necessary and continues through student congress and Fr. McPhail’s office. Personally, I don’t think the drinking climate will change until the allure of drinking and being drunk is discouraged and students develop a mature sense of what is “cool.”

The second article “The Drug that Pretends it Isn’t” is also an article related to alcohol and the nasty consequences of drinking on our society. The article opens with the giggle of Jamaica, the trendy spring break hot spot that many college students flock to. A policy research group called Drug Strategies produced a report that calls alcohol “America’s most pervasive drug problem,” which is sadly true. What shocked me was the claim that alcohol-related deaths outnumber deaths related to drugs four to one; alcohol is a factor in more than half of all domestic-violence and sexual assault cases. More interesting to me was the actual cost alcohol abuse has on the economy: $167 billion a year---that’s ridiculous. I guess this article also opened my eyes up to the political influence of alcohol on party contributions. With brewing and alcohol companies channeling chunks of money into campaign contributions, there is limited weight in supporting government actions/prohibitions. These would be ineffective political moves based purely economics. It’s interesting how everything comes down to money in this society.

The last and final article for review was unrelated to alcohol but still something of extreme importance in this country—cocaine use and abuse. The article “Resisting Cocaine’s Tragic Lure” is a first hand account of a young boys experience with the drug. Being someone who has been caught in the craze of the coke scene on this campus, I can identify with this article. Popular among many college students on this campus, cocaine is not something to be using recreationally. While I absolutely loved the euphoric feeling of being “high” on cocaine, I lost a sense of control in my life and as result, my checkbook suffered—suffered about $4500 in three months. (In addition to all of the people I let down and the walls I built) While I don’t really have any regrets of what I’ve done in my life and the substances I’ve experimented with, I warn everyone to stay the hell away from coke. I didn’t realize how cocaine can be so psychologically addictive, creating “learned” emotional memories that essentially lure drug (cocaine) users to seek out cocaine; seeking out cocaine on this campus is an easy phone call and then a short walk. With little challenges to acquire coke, someone can buy a gram for $50 and an eightball for about $375.

What can be done to reduce the frequency of binge drinking on our campus? Is harm reduction a safe model to use and implement on this campus? Are their any task forces in the Providence Community to deter underage drinking? Does our administration know how severe this problem is or do they just choose to ignore it like many other controversial and heated issues?