Pubdate: Tue, 01 Jan 2002
Source: Wilmington Morning Star (NC)
Copyright: 2002 Wilmington Morning Star
Contact:  http://www.wilmingtonstar.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/500
Author: Millard K Ives, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

WOMAN HELPS UNCW STUDENTS KICK THOSE HARMFUL HABITS

One bad relationship college students may want to dump is the combination 
of alcohol and drugs.

This is where UNCW substance abuse counselor Dee Casey tries to break 
things up. She tells students they are in a dysfunctional relationship and 
need to move on.

"I ask them, 'What is so attractive about marijuana? Why do you keep 
hanging on to beer?'|" said Ms. Casey, coordinator of the substance abuse 
counseling program at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

Every school is vulnerable to some alcohol and drug use. By state law, 
colleges must have a program in which they deal with students cited for 
alcohol and marijuana use. Use of any harder drugs results in automatic 
expulsions, Ms. Casey said.

According to its latest reported statistics, UNCW's Police Department 
referred 190 students to the school's counseling centers for alcohol use 
and 60 for drugs in 1998. Ms. Casey has been working in the program since 
1988. She counsels about six students a day, she said, sometimes separately 
and sometimes in groups.

She became interested in becoming a substance abuse counselor after going 
through her own substance abuse problems. "I know of their problems 
first-hand, and I try to be realistic with them and tend to be more 
optimistic," she said.

The American Medical Association reports that many college students who 
abuse alcohol also experience other problems, including missing class, 
physical injury, arguing with  friends and engaging in unprotected sex. "A 
lot of people are in here simply because they are running into a lot of 
trouble behind drugs and alcohol," Ms. Casey said.

Ms. Casey said counseling for substance abuse is imperative. However, she 
does not rule out jail or prison time for convicted users.

"If someone is hurt, or property is damaged due to your substance abuse, 
then I see nothing wrong with you paying for it by going to jail," Ms. 
Casey said. "You shouldn't be let off the hook just because you're an addict."

When she first became a substance abuse counselor, she often became 
frustrated if she didn't think she was getting obvious results fast enough 
from certain students. But now she said one of the most important things is 
to get students on the road to recovery. "Even if I don't see a change, I 
feel good when I know I've planted the seed," Ms. Casey said.

Ms. Casey tells her students it is normal for alcohol and drug abusers to 
feel irritable shortly after severing their relationship with the substance.

"They may feel like they lost their best friend," she said. "But I tell 
them it's OK in this instance."
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