Pubdate: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 Source: Daily Trojan (CA Edu) Copyright: 2003 Daily Trojan Contact: http://www.dailytrojan.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1162 Author: Lauren Bonifacio, Staff Writer COUNSELING IS AVAILABLE When Addicts Lose Control Of Themselves, USC Has Many Options For Help. For college students, the days of DARE and its elementary school-level Drug Abuse Resistance Education are gone. The straight-edge students of yesteryear have graduated to the big time. The university offers several resources to help students, faculty and staff manage their decisions about alcohol and other drugs. Many involved in the effort are taking a stance of harm reduction rather than endorsing across-the-board abstinence. "People will say that's wrong, but I am not the police department," said Paula Swinford, director of Health Promotion and Prevention Services. "We know humans are going to engage in activities; it's whether they're going to do it in a risky way or a non-risky way." HPPS educates students at the campus-wide level to clear up misconceptions about alcohol and drugs and their use on campus, and assembles data on student behavior and attitudes to help shape university health policy. Campus organizations or groups of friends can request crash courses in drug and alcohol information through health educators at HPPS. Student Counseling Services, in the YWCA building, works with students on a more individual level. Therapists and psychiatrists run support groups and evaluate, counsel and treat students' mental health issues. The Health Center's physicians, nurses and allied health professionals address any physical health issues that students may encounter because of drug use. The divisions operate as a network, referring students to other resources as necessary. Counseling Services tries to avoid mandatory counseling, said director Bradford King. Many students enter the system voluntarily when they, their friends or their roommates realize that drug use is getting in the way of their personal life or academics. In the substance abuse support group called "Solutions and Strategies," for example, psychologist and group leader Mary Andres said many undergraduate seniors enter the group when they feel that "life after college cannot keep up this kind of pace" of frequent drug or alcohol use Typically, substance abuse treatment is only mandated when the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards disciplines under-aged students caught drinking alcohol or using illegal drugs in student housing. The judicial affairs office referred 85 students to HPPS last year for Drug Education Consultations, in which students were coached on the realities of alcohol and drug use, Swinford said. While Student Judicial Affairs does not have a blanket policy on disciplining students, Assistant Director Christine Wozniak said referrals to HPPS are made when appropriate. "Part of what we do is try to speak to the students' needs," Wozniak said. King also uses this individualized approach with students seeking counseling, citing several options for students with different substance abuse problems. In one scenario, King said, a student might realize he has an alcohol problem. Following the harm reduction model, a counselor could suggest the student cut back to three drinks when he parties. King said the most common substance abuse problem he sees among students is excessive binge drinking an activity he said is supported by society and amplified by the college atmosphere. "For college students, the big issue is making friends (and meeting people) both to date and to hook up with," King said. "One of the prime ways to do that is to have a drink or two. It's the social lubricant." According to a 2001 study by the Core Institute at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, students said the main reasons they drink are to have more fun, meet people, "break the ice" and facilitate sexual opportunities. On top of the perceived benefits of alcohol, society supports and encourages drinking, King said. Society might have negative judgments about hard drug use, but the widespread acceptability of alcohol reaches from peers to parents. "You would not steal a book from the bookstore because you think that's a bad thing, but you probably would sit down with your friends and have a drink (even if you were under-aged)," King said. While maintaining that alcohol and drug use is an important health issue that accounts for about a quarter of HPPS efforts, the reach of these substances is misconceived by students because of irresponsible and sensational media reporting, Swinford said. "What makes me angry is when CNN and all these reporters talk about binge drinking," she said. "It's ethically wrong because every college student that goes to USC who hears that report on CNN will start drinking." In a survey conducted by HPPS in 2000-2001, about 53 percent of undergraduates perceived that typical USC students drank at least five alcoholic drinks the last time they partied, while less than 25 percent actually had. More students, 26 percent, had nothing to drink the last time they partied. "This is not exactly chugging down," Swinford said. Misconceptions are dangerous because students will try to alter their behavior to match what they think is normal, she said. HPPS teaches students the reality of substance use so they are not swayed by inaccuracies. As an additional aid, the university annually distributes "USC Drug-Free," a compilation of available drug education and counseling services, created in compliance with federal law. A section of Alcoholics Anonymous, an abstinence-based support group, meets at the University Religious Center every day at noon. As King and Swinford continue their work on campus, future medical practitioners at the Keck School of Medicine are targeting their health education program toward the community. Medical students teach various health curricula to children from a local juvenile hall in the Community Outreach program, among them a drug and alcohol class that replicates Swinford's educational, information-based model. "We try not to pass any judgment, like drugs are bad," said Vannita Simma-Chiang, co-coordinator of Community Outreach and a second-year medical student. "The goal of our program is to educate them ... teen-agers can't be expected to know that alcohol does X, Y and Z unless they're taught it by their parents or by a program," Simma-Chiang added. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk