News Magazine of the UW Department of Communication
By Stephanie Birch
Throughout the nation, problems with substance abuse, such as alcoholism and binge drinking, are becoming increasingly prevalent among college students. In a 2007 national college health assessment survey entitled “Wasting the Best and the Brightest: Substance Abuse at America's Colleges and Universities,” Joseph A. Califano, Jr., chairman and president of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, wrote: “Each month, half (49.4 percent) of all full-time college students ages 18-22 binge drink, abuse prescription drugs and/or abuse illegal drugs.”
In the aftermath of this year's two alcohol-related deaths, Chase Anderson and Kevin MacDonald in the spring of 2008, the issue of heavy consumption of alcohol and binge drinking among college students is under greater scrutiny at the University of Washington.
Donald Birch III, who is a senior at the University of Washington majoring in biochemistry and microbiology, explained: “Alcoholism is an actual and physical dependence that is based on the amounts of neurotransmitters-- which results in the aberrant and miss abuse of alcohol. Basically, it's the feeling that there is no psychological equilibrium without the environment of alcohol. In CAT scans on people who use alcohol for a long period of time, you see large areas where brain functioning appears to have ceased. The brain actually has the appearance of a severely aged brain as opposed to a controlled standard groups' for the same age. So, it's very much like you are ageing your brain prematurely.”
Despite the physical effects on the brain after long exposure to alcohol, as well as other effects such as memory loss, hangovers and vomiting, statistics show that over recent years college students are continuing to increase their alcohol consumption.
Califano wrote: “In 2005, almost one in four of these college students (22.9 percent or approximately 1.8 million) met the medical criteria for substance abuse or dependence.”. Furthermore, “Student deaths from unintentional alcohol- related injuries rose by six percent from 1998 to 2001. The proportion of students injured as a result of their own drinking went up 38 percent between 1993 and 2001, and the average number of alcohol-related arrests per campus increased 21 percent between 2001 and 2005.”.
Mark Shaw, the director of health promotion at Hall Health, said, “We have done some health surveys on UW students, and the statistics show what they self-report is about 25 percent of the student body drinks to excess on given occasions, but of course that is not meaning all the time. Sometimes they are just partying on Thanksgiving and the holidays-- New Years is not too far away.”
If 25 percent of the student body drinks to excess on given occasions, it would mean that approximately 10,000 students at the UW binge drink on given occasions. Furthermore, if 49.4 percent of full-time college students have issues with substance abuse, that translates to approximately 19,760 students on the UW campus alone.
Given these statistics, it is only logical to contend that colleges, such as the UW, provide adequate treatment facilities and programs to help students suffering from substance abuse. However, this is not often the case. According to CASA's survey, “68.8 percent of colleges refer students with alcohol related substance abuse issues to off-campus treatment. In contrast, only 41.3 percent of colleges provide on-campus treatment.”
The UW's on-campus medical health facility, Hall Health, does not specialize in the treatment of alcoholism or any other substance abuse problems, so they do not offer any type of treatment programs to students.
Shaw explained, “We have a mental health clinic where a student can come in for an assessment of their problem if they are worried about their drinking or perhaps they have had a DWI or some other problem related to legal action. Once the assessment is made, a referral can be made to an agency in the community. We do not actually treat it [alcoholism] as a primary issue here, but there are programs in the community that we refer out to. The primary diagnosis needs to be something other than substance abuse for our staff to be involved.”
Some colleges treat substance abuse, others do not
Although Hall Health does not, in fact, treat substance abuse problems, it does, however, treat mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, which may contribute to alcoholism or binge drinking.
Shaw said Hall Health does not treat substance abuse problems because Seattle has enough substance-abuse treatment facilities in which to aid students. In essence, instead of allotting valuable monetary resources to the treatment of substance abuse problems on campus, they merely refer students to other facilities off campus.
While the logic of conserving resources by using off-campus treatment facilities seems to work for the financial convenience of Hall Health, other schools that are not in large communities, such as Washington State University in Pullman, require on-campus treatment programs for students dealing with substance abuse. In Pullman, there are only a handful of private facilities that provide substance abuse treatment. In comparison, in Seattle alone, there are at least 50 or more treatment facilities.
According to a WSU Web site , “University and community resources are available to assist students with any problems associated with alcohol and substance abuse.” As such, WSU provides at least two places on campus [WSU Counseling Services and WSU Health and Wellness Services] where students can receive information, assessments, treatments and referrals for substance abuse problems.
Lack of treatment programs: Student perspective
As a student who has yielded to binge drinking, Birch said, “Hall Health doesn't really have any program to deal with that. I've looked into it. I've called them, emailed them and gone to their Web site. They don't, despite the fact that they are on a college campus where binge drinking does occur and there's a Greek system. Hall Health doesn't actually have the resources to deal with it-- specifically counselors and psychologists.”
In addition, according to CASA's survey: “ Students in the Greek system are more likely to use substances than their non-Greek peers. CASA's analysis of data from the survey indicates that fraternity or sorority members are likelier than nonmembers to be current drinkers (88.5 percent vs. 67.1 percent), binge drinkers (63.8 percent vs. 37.4 percent),” (56).
Moreover, CASA's survey claims that referring students to substance abuse treatment providers within the community can potentially be problematic. Since community-based programs are not often designed to specifically cater to college-age clientele, students feel less engaged and are likely to drop out of treatment. “Such programs typically treat alcohol-dependent clients and tend to be geared to an older population that is experiencing multiple problems related to their substance use.”
Furthermore, given the stressful environment of college campuses and intense course loads, students are less willing and less able to go out of their way to travel off their campuses to seek treatment for substance abuse. However, college students who seek the ease and convenience of treatment programs on their campuses are largely out of luck and, thus, less likely to get the treatment that they need.
Governmental and administrative perspectives
“ According to the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act Amendments of 1989 (Part 86), in order to receive federal funding, institutions of higher education must implement policies and programs to prevent students' and employees' unlawful possession, use or distribution of alcohol and illicit drugs,”
It is critical to notice that the act only mandates the “prevention” and not the treatment of alcoholism and substance abuse. While prevention programs may slightly decrease student alcohol consumption, it does not serve to aid students already suffering from alcoholism or other substance abuse issues. By not mandating that state-funded colleges implement programs to treat substance abuse problems and not allotting money to fund such programs, this act is, in essence, neglecting a large portion of students in need of treatment.
It is clearly evident that financial constraints are the key-determining factor as to why colleges lack sufficient substance abuse treatment programs. “More than one-third (34.3 percent) of respondents to CASA's administrator survey said that limited financial resources is the most prominent barrier to implementing more effective policies, programs and strategies. Most (66.6 percent) directors of college counseling centers feel that there has been a growing demand for psychological counseling services without an appropriate increase in resources,” (96). With the economy in its current state of recession, it is unlikely that colleges will receive the essential funding needed to treat the growing number of college students suffering from substance abuse problems any time soon.
