US plan reduces student drinking

Prof Barry Jackson, of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, in the United States, and Dr Kim Ma...
Prof Barry Jackson, of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, in the United States, and Dr Kim Ma'ia'i, the clinical director of Student Health Services at the University of Otago, reflect on moves to counter hazardous drinking. Photo by Linda Robertson.
Alcohol is only rarely served at official functions at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania in the United States these days, after wide-ranging measures were taken to reduce hazardous drinking by students.

Prof Barry Jackson, who is director of the Drug, Alcohol and Wellness Network at the university in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, has been in Dunedin this week.

He has outlined how a comprehensive set of alcohol-related harm reduction measures, known as the Dawn programme, had been adopted by both town and gown at Bloomsburg over the past 15 years, and had reduced alcohol abuse problems.

Prof Jackson, who is a professor of graduate studies in counselling services, has also recently been visiting the University of Otago's Wellington campus as an honorary senior research fellow.

He has discussed the Bloomsburg approach at a joint meeting of Otago University and Dunedin City Council officials, including District Licensing Authority staff, and met counsellors, nurses and doctors at Otago University Student Health.

His visit to Dunedin was supported by the Alcohol Liquor Advisory Council (Alac) and Otago University.

The multi-agency Dawn programme, which included interventions for high-risk and dependent drinkers, had reduced the percentage of Bloomsburg students drinking from 84% to 61% over a ten-year period, Prof Jackson said.

Average alcohol consumption had also fallen from 14.6 weekly alcohol drinks to 5.15, he said.

In an interview, Prof Jackson acknowledged that concerns had been raised in Dunedin this year about misbehaviour at a student toga parade in the central city, and further alcohol-fuelled misbehaviour linked to the Undie 500 event.

Prof Jackson noted that five students at Bloomsburg University had died after a sofa caught fire at a fraternity house in 1994, in an alcohol-related incident.

Bloomsburg University and local authorities had since taken many steps to counter serious alcohol-related problems.

Alcohol had been removed from official university functions, and alcohol sponsorship and advertising was banned on campus.

Otago University this year has also banned alcohol sponsorship and advertising on campus, and previously established a Campus Watch system and strengthened student disciplinary regulations.

Dr Kim Ma'ia'i, the clinical director of Otago University Student Health Services, and a national council member of Alac, said excellent work was being done to counter drinking concerns in Dunedin.

Co-ordinating the agencies and resources involved was one of the keys to addressing hazardous drinking problems, he said.

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