What causes college students to abuse alcohol? The answers are probably many, but the simplest answer is this: Because they can.

Abusing Alcohol is Easy

When there are so few immediate consequences for excessive drinking, when repeat offenders are not disciplined, when parents are not notified about their children’s drinking activities, when students get mixed messages from the college administration about alcohol, when students have seen their parents drinking alcohol in an irresponsible manner, when students are not informed about the long-tern negative consequences of alcohol abuse, when there are few alcohol-free social and recreational activities that are attractive to students, when minors or intoxicated students are served alcoholic beverages by the local drinking establishments, and when the drinking activities in the sororities and fraternities are not monitored—drinking and excessive drinking become so very easy.

What Draws Students to Abuse Alcohol?

When peer pressure or influence is added to the equation, when it is disregarded that drinking alcohol temporarily removes a person from his or her problems, when ignoring the belief or perception that drinking alcohol makes it easier to socialize with potential dating or sexual partners, when it is so acceptable to engage in activities that emphasize the drinking of alcohol, when the “good feelings” or the “fun” of getting an alcohol high or buzz are not considered, and when the party atmosphere at college is expected by students–it becomes more clear regarding what causes college students to abuse alcohol.

More Than Education is Needed

While I am 100% pro-education, especially when it comes to drug and alcohol abuse prevention, I don’t think that education is the only solution or the only weapon that can be successfully used in the battle against college drug and alcohol abuse. Let me explain.

Proactive and Reactive Measures

With respect to alcohol abuse in higher education, many reactive AND proactive measures have been initiated at some colleges and universities that have reduced the availability, acceptability, and irresponsibility of alcohol use on and off campus. The result: a noticeable, if not a significant reduction in alcohol-related problems manifested by students.

What are some of these measures? Establishing immediate consequences for excessive drinking, disciplining repeat alcohol abuse offenders, notifying parents about their children’s drinking activities, eliminating mixed messages by college administrators about alcohol (for instance, removing alcohol advertisements from stadiums and from sports brochures), informing students about the long-tern negative consequences of alcohol abuse, increasing alcohol-free social and recreational activities that are attractive to students, having college administrators talk to the owners of local drinking establishments so that minors and/or intoxicated students are not served alcohol, and monitoring the drinking activities in the sororities and fraternities.

Medical Research and Treatment Are Not Enough

I assert, however, that the above proactive and reactive measures, most of which are NOT education-based, are needed to compliment educational approaches. Why? I am enough of a realist to believe that even if medical research eventually discovers viable ways to escape addiction and if the medical community is able to offer effective treatment to all who need it, there will always be those who, for whatever reason, will choose to disregard medical warnings, ignore their health, and who will discount common sense as they involve themselves in alcohol and/or drug abuse.

Copyright 2007 - Denny Soinski. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, and give the author credit.

Allison

Hair drug testing has been around longer than hair alcohol testing. Because drugs are easier to detect longer after they have been consumed verses the rapid dissipation of alcohol consumption, EtG alcohol testing is an exciting advancement in alcohol testing.

EtG Alcohol Testing Through Hair Testing

The reason it is so difficult to accurately screen potential employees or perform accurate random testing is because the rate that alcohol leaves the body in just hours and minutes makes it extremely difficult to judge how much a person has consumed and how long ago it was that the person consumed it. What else is difficult to uncover is the history someone has of alcohol abuse. With as much as an inch and a half of hair cut from the scalp of a person, a hair alcohol testing laboratory can find out what a person’s approximated consumption of alcohol has been up to a 30 day history and if the hair sample is longer, as much as a year of alcohol consumption can be tested. A series of assessments called FAEE, fatty acid ethyl esters and EtG alcohol testing are done to measure the amount of FAEE and EtG markers that are revealed in the tests. The more alcohol a person has consumed, the more markers will be present on a test. Here are three other reasons EtG alcohol testing is helping to create a more sober society.

Employee Screening for Dangerous or Highly Skilled Jobs

Every day a person with a drug or alcohol problem goes to work and operates dangerous equipment, gets behind a wheel or even operates on a patient in the medical field. The reason so many drug and alcohol abusers continue to work in highly skilled or dangerous jobs is partly due to inadequate testing of these individuals. Using hair alcohol testing with EtG alcohol testing and EtG drug testing technology, employees can be accurately screened for recent and long term drug and alcohol abuse before they are hired.

Alcohol and Drug Treatment Settings

EtG alcohol testing technology is used for tracking the progress of drug and alcohol abusers while in treatment. A hair sample taken after a person has been in treatment can show the progress of sobriety in hair markers, as well as reveal patients who have fallen off the wagon and may need alternative care.

Great Tool for Testing Students For Drug and Alcohol Abuse

High school students and junior high students begin experimenting with drugs and alcohol at an early age and parents, teachers and counselors need better tools in which to test students for drugs and alcohol abuse. Using EtG alcohol testing via hair alcohol and drug testing provides a cost effective and non-intrusive testing alternative to urine alcohol testing or saliva alcohol testing.

EtG Testing Also Helps

Social workers or lawyers trying to prove the lack of alcohol abuse of a parent trying to gain custody of their child.

Hospitals looking to hire a surgeon or an airline hiring a pilot will likely be interested in knowing the alcohol abuse history of a surgeon or pilot before they’re hired.

When it comes to advances in drug and alcohol testing technologies, there is a growing need for this its uses. And just as importantly, the need for hair alcohol testing to prove a history of alcohol abuse is just as necessary to disprove any abuse.