This is a staff editorial from the Daily Barometer, Oregon State University’s award-winning student newspaper. It argues that underage drinking is not a problem. Underage drinking is not a problem. The problematic situation is over-consumption. This is a result of our society’s unhealthy relationship with alcohol. Overconsumption is everywhere in today’s America. Drinking is but …
Newspaper editor Fil Gravatte explains here how to go about to reducing underage alcohol abuse. Resources on the topic follow his piece. I suppose we can argue that it’s ignorance or just plain human nature. When people are held within boundaries, they always seem to cross the lines. They explore the forbidden and break …
Giving alcohol to a minor can seem harmless, especially when the quantity is small. However the negative consequences to the person who supplies it can be both serious and permanent. Students preparing for some careers may be blocked if they are found guilty of unlawfully dealing with a minor or similar charge. Such a conviction …
Public policy in the U.S. calls for complete alcohol abstinence by all people under age 21. However, it’s highly unsuccessful. Indeed, the policy has actually been counterproductive. That is, causing more problems than it prevents. We absolutely must replace failed programs with effective alcohol education. Alcohol education programs are virtually mandated by law to present …
As a teenager, writer Courtney Love Gavin suggested the value of a learner’s permit for drinking safely. She argued that we issue learner permits to help people drive safely. Here is her opinion piece. The transformation of going from a child to an adult does not happen overnight. It is a metamorphosis that happens …
Journalist Jeff Frantz reports that Europeans learn responsible drinking. Thus young Europeans are more responsible about drinking than those in the U.S. Here’s his piece. The 21st-birthday bar tour — it’s a staple of American life. You blow out the candles, go to a bar, drink, vomit, pass out. You laugh the next day when …
College men don’t find excessive drinking by women to be appealing. That’s contrary to what most college women falsely think. In short, intoxicated women aren’t attractive or appealing to college men. That’s the finding of research among 3,616 college students. Seven of ten women (71%) overestimated the amount of alcohol that the typical college man …
Most alcohol abuse education is ineffective and occasionally even counter-productive. Often young people begin drinking to defy authority. It’s important that we effectively teach young people about the dangers of alcohol abuse. We must also prepare them to drink safely, if they choose to drink, when they’re of legal drinking age. Harm reduction approaches don’t …
Are early puberty and early drinking age related? Researchers wanted to know the answer. To do so, they studied 1,117 young people. They found that early onset of puberty predicts early consumption of alcohol and intoxication. And it does so among both males and females. It also predicts smoking, drug use, and both sex and …
Here journalist Bob Curley explains that brief intervention for alcohol abuse can effectively help young prople. The process can be simple, easy, and inexpensive. Brief interventions can be effective in cutting alcohol use by college students. The methods used to deliver these interventions — including e-mail and the Internet – can help other populations. …
