In conjunction with Substance Abuse Awareness Week, Scott Swartzwelder, psychiatry and behavioral sciences professor at Duke University Medical Center, presented a lecture in the Special Collections Library last night titled "Dude: Where's My Car? Alcohol, Memory and the Brain." Coordinated by the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Team, Substance Abuse Awareness Week features a number of events organized through the combined effort of student groups to promote awareness about risky drinking behaviors.
ADAPT president Lydia Cuffman said most of the programs focus on "giving people water at every opportunity and encouraging fourth-years not to participate in the fourth-year fifth."
Other student groups involved in awareness week events include student athlete mentors, the Fourth-Year Trustees, the Inter-Fraternity Council and the Inter-Sorority Council. Cuffman explained that the week is planned to coincide with "several events that people use as an excuse to engage in risky behavior," namely Halloween and the fourth-year fifth, an instance in which some fourth-year students attempt to drink a fifth of liquor before the last home game of the season.
Swartzwelder discussed the negative effects alcohol and binge drinking can have on the adolescent brain, which, according to Swartzwelder, is distinguished from the adult brain until about 22 years of age.
"Young adulthood is a critical period in brain development," he said, adding that "some drugs affect the developing brain differently than they affect the adult brain."
Swartzwelder explained that although alcohol has less of a sedative effect on adolescents than it does on adults, it has a greater ability to disrupt learning and memory.
Alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, respectively, are the most commonly used drugs by college students across the country and at the University, according to Susan Bruce, director of the University Center for Alcohol and Substance Education. Bruce added that there has been a "rise in the abuse of prescription drugs," but, overall, there are "low percentages of students using other drugs [than alcohol, tobacco and marijuana]."
Bruce noted, however, that most students drink in moderation, with about 75 percent drinking between zero and five drinks on a Saturday night.
Student Health Executive Director James Turner noted that "substance misuse" has seemingly decreased in the past years.
"We've been most encouraged by the trends that we've seen since 2000-01," he said. "The problem has not gone away -- we don't expect it to go away -- but it has gotten better."
According to Turner, data collected from anonymous surveys and focus groups reveal there has been a 53-percent reduction in students missing class as a result of alcohol since 2001. He also noted that there has been a 52-percent reduction in students who have driven under the influence of alcohol, and a 65-percent decrease in injury as a result of alcohol.
He cites health promotion initiatives such as the Stall Seat Journal and Hoo Knew, designed to eliminate misconceptions about alcohol use, as "things that have contributed to students making safer and better choices."
Despite findings indicating a trend towards more responsible use, the University still ranks higher than the national average in terms of the percentage of binge drinkers, according to Bruce.
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