All Posts Tagged With: "drinking"
Scientists develop date-rape drug detector
Have campus parties just gotten a little safer?
It’s a rule of thumb at any campus party: never leave your drink unattended. But two Israeli scientists say they have developed a new sensor that is 100 percent accurate at detecting date-rape drugs in drinks, potentially rendering the rule somewhat less compulsory.
According to AFP, Professor Fernando Patolsky and Doctor Michael Ioffe of Tel Aviv University’s school of chemistry have created a sensor that, when inserted into a drink, indicates the presence of GHB (gamma-hydrobuxybutyric acid) and ketamine, two of the most common date-rape drugs. The device has been tested on a variety of popular cocktails and soft drinks and has been able to detect the drugs in spiked drinks every time. The scientists are working to expand the sensor’s capabilities to include to detection of Rohypnol, another common date-rape drug.
The pair expects the final production of the device to akin to the size of a stir stick, potentially available for sale in the next year and a half.
Queen’s to ban alcohol during Frosh Week
Most first-year students can’t legally drink
Queen’s University, the site of at least two alcohol-related deaths last year, will ban alcohol entirely from residences during Frosh Week — even for those who have reached the legal drinking age, reports the Queen’s Journal.
University officials told the Journal that 92 per cent of first-year students in residence are under the legal drinking age anyway.
The Alcohol Working Group came up with the idea, stating the ban would “clearly signal Queen’s commitment to reducing alcohol-related harm, particularly at a critical transitional time when the risk of alcohol misuse among 1st year students has been known to be high (with a tragic alcohol-related accidental death of one resident during Orientation week in 2010).”
Coroner Roger Skinner recommended a review of campus alcohol policies after determining that the 2010 deaths of Cameron Bruce, who fell out of a window on the sixth-floor of a residence, and Habib Khan, who died after falling through a skylight, were alcohol-related.
Students caught with alcohol during Frosh Week will will be given “educational assignments” and watch their alcohol be poured out.
The normal rules that allow drinking among those of legal age will return Sept. 11.
Graduate student residences will not face the new rule.
Want to get paid to drink?
It’s all in the name of research
Photo courtesy of Kirti Poddar on Flickr
Students at Arizona State University are getting paid to drink — $60 per night.
Will Corbin, an Arizona State University professor researches the effects of alcohol by getting students drunk. “‘The biggest thing I get is, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me,” he told azcentral.com. “You have a bar, and you give people alcohol as part of your research.’
That’s right. He has a bar in the psychology building where carefully screened students are plied with cocktails by research assistants each night at 5 p.m. They’re given three drinks in the first half hour. Then they’re put through a battery of tests related to memory or potentially risky behviour.
After they’ve sobered up, they’re allowed to leave. That typically happens around 9 p.m. — early enough to make it to a real bar.
Police crack down on drinking at UBC beaches
Students and prof want RCMP to leave them alone
Photo courtesy of ST33VO on Flickr
Students — and at least one professor — are disappointed that the usually laissez faire campus hangout Wreck Beach is being targeted by the University of British Columbia’s RCMP officers.
“Invariably, the people who cause trouble on the beach are drunk people,” Corporal Robert Ploughman told the Ubyssey, explaining the recent crackdown. “When the weather’s good, we’re giving out ten to fifteen, twenty tickets a day,” he said, referring to $230 open alcohol fines. He says the tickets are justified because alcohol causes fights, plus falls up the steep stairs to campus.
Carellin Brooks, a UBC professor and author of the book Wreck Beach wishes the police wouldn’t ticket drinkers. “Last night I had a bottle of wine on Wreck Beach and I did not drive drunk, set fire to any cars, or have to be hospitalized,” she told the Ubyssey, pointing out that Europeans often enjoy alcohol in public places without police interference. ”Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could take the same approach at places like Wreck Beach, rather than be punitive with everyone?”
Others feel the same way. Corporal Ploughman said he sometimes gets a standing ovation when he exits the beach.
Blackout drunk? Watch out!
Students get drunk, hurt themselves and forget what happened
More than half of students got blackout drunk — in other words, they couldn’t remember what happened — at least once in the past 12 months. Seven per cent reported six or more blackouts. That’s according to a new study of 800 undergraduates and 150 postgraduates at North American schools that’s published in the journal Injury Prevention.
What’s worse, the researchers found that more blackouts mean more injuries — a lot more. Overall, 25 per cent of drinkers reported injuries while drunk. That figure increased by 57 per cent when that person had blacked out at least once in the past year and by 300 per cent when they had blacked out more than six times. So, either watch those drinks — or watch out for hazards!
Two new things you should know about drinking
Study shows brain damage, but that’s not all
Another study suggests that binge drinking damages the brain. But this time, there’s reason to be hopeful too.
Tim McQueeny, a psychology doctoral candidate at the University of Cincinnati (UC), looked at 29 high-resolution brain scans from students aged 18 to 25. Those who reported regularly consuming more than four to five drinks at a time had more thinning of the pre-frontal cortex, which is the area where executive decisions are made. Executive decisions include paying attention and keeping control of emotions — things that become difficult when intoxicated.
“Alcohol might be neurotoxic to the neuron cells, or, since the brain is developing in one’s 20s, it could be interacting with developmental factors and possibly altering the ways in which the brain is still growing,” warns McQueeny.
However, his adviser and co-author Krista Lisdahl Medina also had some hopeful news. Their preliminary data also show that grey matter appears to be fine in those who were once binge drinkers, but who have since abstained. That, she says, warrants further study.
The prevalence of binge drinking on North American campuses is undeniable. In the most recent National College Health Assessment, which surveyed 30,000 students, nearly one in three reported that they consumed at least five standard drinks the last time they went to a party or socialized. Five per cent of them reported having more than 11 drinks the last time they socialized.
University students with early classes sleep more, not less
The reason? Late risers are big drinkers
Photo courtesy of Mark Sebastian on Flickr
University sudents who start classes earlier in the morning sleep more — not less — than those who start classes later in the day, says a new study of 253 American students. The reason is that those without morning classes are more likely to stay out drinking on school nights, which leads to a lower quantity of sleep overall, according to study co-author Pamela Thacher, a psychologist from St. Lawrence University in New York State. Night owls also reported lower grade averages than their early rising peers. The study also found that the average amount of sleep students report getting each day is 8.0 hours — exactly what experts recommend.
University returns to all-male and all-female dorms
President says single-sex residences will reduce binge drinking and sex
Photo courtesy of adpowers on Flickr
The president of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. says his school will return to all-male and all-female dormitories in September. Here’s his reasoning. “The two most serious ethical challenges college students face are binge drinking and the culture of hooking up,” wrote John Garvey in The Wall Street Journal Monday. “Here is one simple step colleges can take to reduce both binge drinking and hooking up: Go back to single-sex residences,” he writes.
His only evidence appears to be a study by Christopher Kaczor of Loyola Marymount University that shows students in co-ed dorms report binge drinking more than twice as often as students in single-sex housing, and that students in co-ed housing are significantly more likely to have had a sexual partner in the past year. What the article doesn’t mention is whether Kaczor’s study controlled for the fact that many students who live in single-sex dorms have chosen to live there precisely because they wish to avoid alcohol and sex.
Guelph court hears of assault by 265-pound football player
Student suffered brain damage from Frosh Week fight
A Guelph court heard Monday about the morning when 265-pound University of Guelph football player and strongman Karl Hjelholt allegedly tossed a fellow student over a rail and onto the hard ground, causing him a severe brain injury. Christopher Freutel, a now-21-year-old environmental sciences student, was celebrating Frosh Week in downtown Guelph on September 8, 2009 when he — according to Hjelholt — called someone a pedophile. Freutel told the court he can’t remember much about the night, other than the fact that he attended a concert at the university, drank some vodka in a parking lot and then stopped off at a friend’s house before heading downtown. He also told the court how his “brain was jostled and deformed,” how it took a month in hospital and three months of therapy to recover, and how he continues to have trouble concentrating, is more impulsive, is easily fatigued and has lost his sense of smell. Geordon Avery-Cooper, 24, testified that he witnessed Hjelholt grab Freutel by the thighs, pick him up and dump him over the rail. A police officer also testified about the night when he and partner found the victim, who vomited as he regained consciousness. Hjelholt was suspended from the football team pending the trial, but has taken up the sport of Olympic Lifting instead.
Price of beer may rise at Memorial University
Judge rules campus pub must start paying taxes
The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador has decided that the Breezeway, a Memorial University student pub, must start paying its municipal taxes, according to CBC News. The Memorial University Student Union had long argued that the bar and other money-generating businesses were exempt because of the union’s special status as a non-profit. The judge disagreed. The copy centre they own must start paying taxes too.
Alcohol was a factor in two student deaths at Queen’s
The university should address “culture of drinking,” says coroner
A coroner in Kingston, Ont. has ruled that alcohol was a factor in two recent student deaths at Queen’s University — and he’s calling on the school to address the “culture of drinking” on campus. Chief coroner Roger Skinner looked at both the safety of buildings on campus and the level of drinking by students when deciding what caused two young men to plunge to their deaths. Cameron Bruce, 18, died on Sept. 14, 2010 after falling out of a university residence window. Habib Khan, 19, of Saudi Arabia, died on Dec. 2, 2010 when he crashed through a library skylight. Among the coroner’s recommendations are that student safety be removed from the jurisdiction of the student judiciary, which is part of the student government. Queen’s Principal Daniel Wolf wrote a blog post today in which he said he takes the coroner’s recommendations seriously, but did not say whether the jurisdiction for safety would change. Here’s an excerpt from the post:
“Like other universities across North America, we are wrestling with the societal issue of alcohol consumption and excessive drinking in the student-aged population. Queen’s, like other universities, encourages safe and responsible decision-making and good citizenship, and discourages under-age drinking. We expect students to adhere to our Code of Conduct and community standards in residence.”
Photo courtesy of angelocesare on Flickr.
Quebec students challenge “discriminatory” law
FECQ disagrees with alcohol ban for drivers under 21
A student group in Quebec will take the government to court over a law that will ban people under the age of 22 from having any alcohol in their blood when driving. La Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ) says it supports zero tolerance policies for inexperienced drivers, but wants them to be aimed at all new drivers, instead of just people under the age of 22. In fact, they say Bill 71, which goes into effect in June 2012, violates Article 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which says governments must not discriminate against a group of individuals on the basis of their age. Léo Bureau-Blouin, president of the FECQ told Metro News that “laws such as Bill 71 perpetuate prejudice.” Julien Boucher, a 21-year-old student from the University of Montreal has already expressed interest in being the plaintiff. Kevin Wiener, a then-20-year-old University of Western Ontario student, unsuccessfully filed an application to challenge a similar law in Ontario Superior Court last August.
Binge drinking hurts brain
Hippocampus may be damaged by alcohol
Binge drinking students have more trouble remembering new information than their teetotaller peers, according to a new study by Spanish researchers. The scientists from the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela gave 122 university students tests that measured their ability to remember spoken instructions. The 60 participants who don’t binge drink fared much better than the 62 who regularly imbibe to excess. The researchers controlled for other variables such as intellect, history of metal disorders and other drug use. They concluded that damaged hippocampi among the drunkard group make it harder for them learn. The hippocampus, which is responsible for learning and memory, has been shown to be sensitive to the toxicity of alcohol in mice. The researchers are calling on universities to educate students about the damage they cause their brains by over-drinking.
Energy drinks may double alcohol consumption
Study suggests cause may be social or physiological factors
According to several Dalhousie researchers, combining caffeinated energy drinks and alcohol could be a major health hazard. The study, which was published in Drug and Alcohol Review, showed that energy drink consumption leads to twice the amount of alcohol consumption.
Dr. Sean Barrett, associate professor of psychology and psychiatry at Dalhousie and one of the researchers involved in the study, says that further research must be conducted to determine exactly why energy drinks increase alcohol consumption. He suggests that caffeine or an amino acid called taurine might be culprits.
“But what we do know that when alcohol is used together with these energy drinks, people say they feel more sober but they still tend to perform poorly on various neurocognitive tasks. They’re still physically intoxicated, they just feel like they aren’t,” said Dr. Barrett in an interview with Dal News.
Whether the cause is social behavior or dopamine release from the brain, the article points out that the increased alcohol intake raises the risk of alcohol poisoning and risk-taking behaviours.
-Photo courtesy of Tambako the Jaguar
Study abroad, double up on booze
Students who study overseas drink more
Students who go abroad while in college are likely to increase or even double their alcohol intake while they’re away, a new study has found. Drinking increased most dramatically in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the study by researchers at the University of Washington found. Students reported drinking more when they perceived their travel companions were drinking more heavily, and those who planned to make drinking part of their cultural immersion did so.
The study published in the current issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviours looked only at drinking habits of students who went abroad from the University of Washington, but UW graduate student Eric Pedersen said he would expect to get similar results at other universities. “I don’t think this is just a UW problem,” said the psychology student, who noted, however, that his study sample included more women than the national average for studying abroad and the students he looked at were more diverse ethnically than the national average.
His research did not pinpoint why students drink more while they study abroad, but the results don’t necessarily indicate binge drinking. Pedersen says a drink or so each night with dinner could add up to the 10 drinks a week European visitors reported on average. “In general drinking is an issue on college campuses. When you take that and put it in a foreign country there’s potential for more consequences,” Pedersen said. He noted, however, that most students who study overseas, including those who drink, do not get in trouble while they’re abroad.
Of the several thousand University of Washington students who study abroad each year, 177 answered a questionnaire before they went away and when they returned. On average, those students doubled their drinking while abroad, but most cut back to an average of three to five drinks a week when they returned to Seattle. A subset of students who travelled to the Middle East and other places where drinking is not as prevalent reported their intake decreased while abroad.
Students who were less than the legal drinking age in the United States increased their drinking while abroad by about 170 per cent, the study found. The overall increase was about 105 per cent.
Henry Wechsler, a lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health, who was not involved in Pedersen’s research, said the finding that location is an important element in shaping drinking behaviour is consistent with his department’s research. “We found that college students in the United States tend to drink at the levels of young people in the states where the colleges are located. What seems to be added here is that being away from the home environment of the college may create a ‘spring break’ atmosphere,” he said.
Since an increase in college student deaths related to drinking in the late 1990s, more research has focused on student drinking. This study points to more areas that need to be examined, said Bob Saltz, senior scientist of the Berkeley, California-based Prevention Research Center. He was not associated with this research. Saltz said the next step is to use this information to find ways to prevent students from getting in trouble with drinking while studying abroad. He said several recent studies have found success at decreasing student drinking while in the United States.
He would like to hear more about these students and their drinking: Were they having a beer with lunch or a glass of wine with dinner, or was it something more?
The Canadian Press
Second-year students more likely to binge drink
U of A study to help tackle student drinking
A University of Alberta survey challenges the assumption that it is first-year students who are most unable to control their drinking. In fact, according to Deborah Eerkes, who runs the U of As disciplinary office, it is second-year students who are more likely to find themselves in trouble over their drinking habits. “When they get more comfortable, into their second year, that’s when things kind of go off the rails, or it’s a little more likely,” she told the Edmonton Journal.
The online project, launched last year, saw 520 students answer questions about their drinking. Of the participating students, 195 said they had skipped class as a result of their alcochol use, 20 reported non-consensual sex after drinking, 66 regretted an alcohol fueled sexual experience, and 11 found themselves in the hospital as a result of their drinking. After answering the questionnaire students were given a printout comparing their habits to their peers.
Although the sample size was small, other findings were consistent with previous research on student drinking. In particular, students were likely to assume that their peers drink more than they do. For example, while students were on-average consuming three drinks at home before going to a bar, they assumed the average student had four drinks.
The results of the survey will help the university to develop orientation seminars for new students, as well as inform approaches to student discipline.
Zero-alcohol limit a good idea for young drivers
Restrictions for drivers under 22 is strategic, not discriminatory
Is that a pig soaring over the Ontario Ministry of Transportation head office? Maybe so, because I’m about to applaud Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal government.
Let’s just put that sex-ed flip-flopping, secret G20 imaginary lawmaking, eco-fee botching aside, and focus on the provincial government’s latest initiative.
Starting August 1, drivers aged 21 and younger in Ontario caught with any alcohol in their system will have their license automatically suspended for 24 hours. Offending drivers also risk a $500 fine and an extended 30-day suspension. Three violations will result in a cancelled license.
Now, perhaps I’m speaking with gloat of my recent 22nd birthday behind me, but this sounds like an all-around solid idea. There’s no reason why young drivers need to have a drink before driving, and let’s face it—most 19- to 21-year-olds aren’t pouring a glass to explore their taste in Argentinean Shiraz. Drinking and driving are not rights—exclusively or otherwise—so drivers under 22 can put their violins aside and decide between the keys and the bottle.
Easier said than done for some, however, especially the injustice-hunters who have been quick to inform the Twitterverse that the new regulations are “ageist.” Call it “ageism” if you want, but based on statistics that show drivers aged 19-21 are almost one and a half times more likely to be involved in fatal drinking and driving collisions than other drivers, it’s probably more appropriate to call it “strategic planning.”
Granted, a more infallible way to propose the new regulations would have been to extend the 20-month, zero-alcohol limit under the current graduated licensing system to up to five years for all new drivers, not just those under 22. That way, novice drivers, regardless of age, wouldn’t pair inexperience with alcohol.
But calling the new rules “discriminatory” is to ignore a plethora of information showing that young drivers, as a group, are not as safe on the road as older drivers. They simply don’t compare. And though it may be a group of bad eggs spoiling it for the rest, the differential treatment on the whole is justifiable. So put down the pint and find something else to do before you get behind the wheel. There’s always pig-watching.
-Photo by DOliphant
Liquor board reviews controversial distillery scholarship
“Spirit of Education” contest awards $3,000 for essay on responsible drinking
A scholarship that Canada’s distilleries hand out to the sons and daughters of workers at Ontario’s liquor agency has come under scrutiny as a possible breach of ethics.
The $3,000 prize has been awarded 12 times since its founding in 1998, including once to Roslyn Peter, daughter of Bob Peter, president of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. The most recent winner was announced in May.
The award, restricted to post-secondary students whose parents work at the LCBO, may violate tough conflict-of-interest guidelines imposed on the agency last August by the Ontario government.
The guidelines have dried up the flow of hundreds of free tickets the big distilleries and breweries had been giving to LCBO staff, for hockey games, concerts, curling matches and stage shows. Business meals worth less than $50 are still allowed.
The tighter rules are intended to ensure government workers don’t use their employment for personal enrichment by suppliers and clients.
But the so-called Spirit of Education scholarship was allowed to continue this year, despite the new restrictions outlined in the amended Public Service of Ontario Act.
Asked about ethical issues surrounding the scholarship, a spokeswoman for the LCBO said the agency is “reviewing our practices to ensure they are compliance with this legislation.”
“The Spirit of Education scholarship program has been scheduled as part of this review, and as a result, LCBO’s participation in this scholarship program may change,” Linda Hapak said in an email response.
“The review will include a legal perspective on this matter.”
The scholarship was created by the Association of Canadian Distillers, representing Canada’s major liquor producers, also known as Spirits Canada. The organization includes Corby Distilleries Ltd. and Diageo Canada Ltd.
Jan Westcott, president of Spirits Canada, said the award is intended to “encourage young people to consider careers in the hospitality industry.”
Eight Things I Miss About College
That’s right, I said it. I actually miss learning stuff. Go figure.
♫ Joel Plaskett - True Patriot Love
- My dorm roommate. She’s not going to be living on campus next year but she plans to live close by. Good. ‘Cause I have a feeling my new roommate isn’t going to just make me chocolate chip brownies whenever I’m feeling blue. Like Roomie did for me this year. (I know, right? Aww.)
- Classes. That’s right, I said it. I actually miss learning stuff. Go figure.
- My instructors. I saw those guys – the Teddy Bear and the Cactus, as I call them – every day for nearly eight months. I miss the former’s sensitive encouragement and the latter’s sarcastic humor.
- My classmates. Well, a couple of them. The ones I talked to regularly, anyway.
- My dorm family. This consists of Jenn, Roomie, Caitlin and Canning. You get comfortable with a group of people and then leave them for 4 months. It’s weird.
- Drinking. I know, that sounds horrible. But if anything good would happen at college (the end of exams, Christmas, birthdays, Tuesdays), we’d all got out for cuatros margaritas at our favorite downtown restaurant. I miss the laughter that goes along with drinking, not the liquor itself.
- City X. Gahd, I miss that town. I miss the music scene. I miss the old buildings. I miss the restaurants. I miss the one-way streets. I miss the culture. I miss the unreasonably high ratio of hipster kids to white gangsters. *le sigh*
- Ordering in. As you might guess, Nowhereville doesn’t have an East Side Mario’s. So, I can’t just call them up and have them bring me my favorite meal. Dammit.
(Image by Mel B.)
Alcohol-related deaths among U.S. students on the rise
Rates of binge drinking and drinking-and-driving also up
New research is showing that alcohol-related deaths among U.S. university students have been on the rise over the past decade, according to an article in the July supplement of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
For students between 18 and 24 years old, the number of drinking-related accidental deaths increased from 1,440 in 1998 to 1,825 in 2005. The stats were compiled by researchers at the American National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, using figures from government databases and national surveys on alcohol consumption.
Simultaneously, the proportion of students who reported recent binge drinking rose from 42 to 45 percent, while the proportion who admitted to drinking and driving in the past increased from 26.5 to 29 percent.
“The fact that we’re not making progress is very concerning,” said Ralph Hingson, lead researcher and director of the institute’s epidemiology and prevention research department. “The irony is that during this same time period, our knowledge of what works as far as intervention in this age group has increased.”
In an effort to fight alcohol problems in student populations, between 2004 and 2005, Hingson and his group selected 15 universities with serious student-drinking issues to work with the agency in an effort to develop new program. The resulting strategies ranged from counseling for students with drinking problems to projects involving the local community and law enforcement.
However, Hingson maintains that legislation can also have an impact on student deaths. Although rates of drinking and driving went up between 1998 and 2005, the trend started to reverse during that time period. In 2002, about 31 per cent of students drove under the influence, while in 2005 that number ent down to 29 per cent. Hingson says this can be correlated with the fact that, by 2005, all U.S. states had made it illegal to drive with a blood alcohol level of .08 per cent or higher.
