By Mike Coleman
A Canadian organization says that the recent Addiction Research Foundation study on student drinking habits may be taken out of context.
“The results of the (ARF) study are nothing new,” said Carmi Cimicatta, executive director of BACCHUS, a national clearing house on alcohol education and responsible drinking. “There isn’t that much change from their last study four years ago. It is a reminder that there’s still a lot to be done.”
Cimicatta has been disappointed with the media coverage of the ARF study. She said too much emphasis has been placed on the negative aspects of the report.
“The media likes to portray university students as big binge drinkers,” she said. “But the reality is that the majority of university students are drinking at responsible levels. They (the media) have been concentrating on the 0.5 per cent increase in LSD use while ignoring the fact that 98.5 per cent of university students don’t use it.” Cimicatta was encouraged, however, by the number of people who said that the drinking of others has affected them. She feels that this is an important realization for students.
“Students would have never attributed (their problems) to alcohol a few years ago.
The study also said those people living in residences tended to drink more than those who do not. Living in residence has often been associated with high consumption of alcohol. Peter Osborne, a residence assistant at Ryerson’s Pitman Hall, doesn’t see drinking as a problem there.
“People drink in excess, but that’s to be expected of a student,” he said. “In residence there is just a lot more opportunity to drink.”
Sarah Beamson, female don at O’Keefe House, feels that although drinking is not a major problem, it has created some conflicts.
“I’ve seen alcohol cause fights, affect people’s studies and encourage sexual things that might not have happened if they were sober,” she said.
Cimicatta feels that alcohol awareness in residences and on campuses needs to be improved. Currently, nearly all alcohol awareness programs come from student union budgets.
“We need more government funding to educate students about alcohol,” she said. “You can’t educate 10,000 people at Ryerson with $1,000.”
Last year, according to BACCHUS, Ryerson had the best campaign of any school, featuring milk chugging competitions and a non-alcoholic “mocktail contest.” These events are back again this year.
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