Tough college alcohol policies work: When enforced, they lower rates of underage and heavy drinking

“National surveys consistently document the problems caused by heavy alcohol use among college students, ranging from motor vehicle crashes to life-threatening alcohol poisoning. A study from Children's Hospital Boston finds that tough campus alcohol policies, if aggressively and consistently enforced, can reduce underage drinking and heavy episodic drinking on campus - without a "compensatory" rise in marijuana use.”

“ ‘Policies can only work if they are sufficiently enforced,’ says Sion Kim Harris, PhD, CPH, of the Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research (CeASAR) at Children's, and the study's first author. ‘Our study adds to a growing body of evidence that alcohol control policies and strong policy enforcement can, over time, reduce underage high-risk drinking behaviors. We found that an aggressive enforcement stance by college leaders is particularly important to the success of these efforts.’ …”

Full text article available at:
http://www.healthcanal.com/substance-abuse/9982-Tough-college-alcohol-po...