Government Programs to Curb Binge Drinking Come Up Short

The culture of heavy drinking on many college campuses is so entrenched that it has become extraordinarily difficult to break. Each year college drinking contributes to an estimated 1,400 student deaths, 500,000 injuries, 70,000 cases of sexual assault or date rape, and an estimated 1,400 student deaths, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

This semester alone, alcohol-related deaths have occurred at the University of Oklahoma, New Mexico State University and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. At least four college students in Colorado alone have died -- one just last weekend.

The effect student deaths have on other students, however, seems questionable.

According to the Department of Education and other sources, the government has spent at least $60 million on college drinking prevention programs since 1991, but the number of students who binge-drink -- defined as having consumed at least five drinks in one sitting in the previous two weeks -- has not changed. A Harvard University study of the percentage of college students deemed binge drinkers was 44 percent of those surveyed in 1993 and remained at the same level eight years later.

Cheryl Presley, executive director of the Core Institute at Southern Illinois University, says she may know why -- despite all the money and attention devoted to the problem -- nothing seems to have worked.

High-Risk Group Identified

In a soon-to-be-published study, Presley identifies a high-risk group of hard-core drinkers that has never before been focused upon. Called "heavy and frequent" drinkers, they consume on average 20 alcoholic drinks a week. In addition to a session of "binge" drinking, "they also report three or more separate instances of drinking."