Alcohol and Drug Policy in Ireland - Essay Example

ALCOHOL UCD has an effective alcohol policy, but college alcohol policies are complicated, so it is important to keep the policy up to and representative of the real world on campus. Policies that are set in stone, so to speak, and are unable to change with changing times and precedent, tend to be less effective than policies that are able to develop and adapt to social realities. With this limitation in mind, it can be said generally that UCD policy has clear and enforceable rules set on the use and abuse of alcohol among students. Drinking remains a problem at UCD, however, along with in society in general. One recent study, “showed that binge drinking is the norm among Irish men; out of every 100 drinking occasions, 58 end up in binge drinking. Among women, 30 occasions out of 100 end up in binge drinking. Binge drinking was conservatively defined in this study as drinking at least one bottle of wine, or 7 measures of spirits, or 4 pints of beer or more, during one drinking occasion” (Strategic, 2004). Binge drinking is also a problem at UCD, despite efforts to stop it.  UCD and many other schools began to take a more serious look at alcohol policy in the past few decades, so that rules and policies at colleges are reflective of what stands today as a national standard and status quo. The current situation is that the UCD and national laws and policies dictate that persons engaging in the purchasing and consumption of alcoholic beverages on school property and within school guidelines is controlled and monitored strictly, so as to ensure the health and safety of students. And health and safety in this context means protecting students from excessive drinking. This is certainly not to say that they don’t anyway, but it is to say that the powers that be have decided that it is best and safest to pursue a plan which puts UCD rules as the status quo standard, and persecutes those who drink against these rules as a method of deterrence. It might be stated in addition to this information and as a way of explaining its function that the base-line statistic contained in this report has nothing to do with drunk driving, but rather has to do with the historically accepted and unfortunate fact that the mayhem level of antic youth is as traditionally high as it has ever been, whether this mayhem involves the consumption of depressants or not. This is the equation. Arguably, the oft-forced and perhaps even spurious correlation between increased drunk driving levels and lowered minimum drinking ages is not reason enough to deprive those in college of their right to drink, as is often the case in the USA. “Students in third level education have been identified as a population at risk of heavy drinking. In line with national alcohol policy strategy Irish colleges were invited to develop their own alcohol policies” (Strategic, 2004). My recommendation for UCD policy is that off campus parties need to be monitored too, especially from a legal perspective. People serving alcohol at a party should be responsible if their guests become too intoxicated and injure themselves and others, but within reason. In other words, the hosts of the party should not have to intuit when a person may become a risk and therefore take steps in this manner. They should be able to see if the individual is clearly intoxicated and has had too much to drink, and then it is the responsible thing to do for them to cut this individual off from further drinking. However, it is often a problematic situation specifically. For example, the case situation mentions that the person who was injured left the party intoxicated and fell down some stairs. But it doesn’t mention if the person was acting intoxicated beforehand so that they host could see, or if the individual perhaps started drinking at a bar earlier in the night, and was already intoxicated when they got to the party. In any case, however, I think the burden of proof is on the host to prove that they did everything reasonably possible to stop the individual or to detect their intoxication so they can take action. There are many changes in society today. The media plays a major role in the way images are disseminated. UCD has to keep up with society, and be a mirror of this society in its policy.              It is one thing to talk about brain chemistry, but one must keep in mind as well that addictive personality and addiction are social problems.  For example, alcoholics increase their risks of injury and having other problems of judgment.  Alcohol is legal and readily available, and has also been proven to be addictive.  It is also a drug.  There is a process in which the individual starts taking the drug and becomes acclimated to it, before they feel as if, physically or psychologically, they do more than just crave it; they need it.  Some drugs only have a psychological addiction, but alcoholism is a very real physical addiction. Overall, to effectively prevent and treat alcohol abuse, one has to be aware of the causes, and monitor and assess the intervention in a way that considers the treatment of the causes. And there are many causes of alcohol abuse and addiction. These causes tend to differ with the individual. While some individuals are at higher risks for dependence on alcohol and other substances because of their environment, researchers have found strong links between genetics and substance abuse. For example one source notes that “sons of alcoholics tend to be twice as likely to become alcoholics themselves, and if two people are twins and one of them is an alcoholic, there is a 60% chance that the other twin will also be an alcoholic” (Ravera and Bertolli, 1995). But still it is also argued that most people whose parents are alcoholic don’t actually move on to become alcoholics themselves, but rather are as the phrase goes driven to drink, by external stressors in their environment. “Children and adolescents develop beliefs and expectations about alcohol use before they ever experiment with alcohol. These beliefs are acquired through a variety of ways such as observation, vicarious learning and cultural stereotypes” (Impact, 2010). It may be that media is a problem in terms of impressionable young minds, but one has to think of the solution in terms of these measures as well. “Much of the research to date has suggested that alcohol advertising has an indirect effect on drinking behaviour, through attitudes, beliefs, and intentions to drink. Alcohol advertising appeals to young people through humour, animation, bright colours and music” (Impact, 2010). If the solution is censorship, however, this raises additional issues. There is also the interesting theory that people with mental problems are more likely to abuse alcohol as a way of self-medicating and trying to take care of the disorder in this manner, but it spirals out of control. Some authors have hypothesized that this cycle of alcohol abuse “is the expression of internal operational models of attachment, composed of a set of conscious and unconscious rules, needed in the organization of relevant information for attachment. To modulate the use of this information, the operational models govern emotions, attention, memory, cognitive processes and, ultimately, behavior” (Ravera and Bertolli, 1995). And when the addict cannot understand their own addiction, this process is exacerbated. UCD could view alcohol more as an addiction, and treat it more as such. REFERENCE Ravera, Furio, and Roberto Bertolli (1995). Psychopathological Aspects of Addiction. Journal of the American Medical Association. UCD Policy on Alcohol  http://www.ucd.ie/stu_life/Consumption_of_alcohol_on_campus.pdf  Strategic Task Force on Alcohol: Second Report (2004)  http://www.dohc.ie/publications/pdf/stfa_second.pdf?direct=1  The Health of Irish Students (2005)  http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/4327/1/2670-2853.pdf  The Impact of Advertising on Teenagers in Ireland  http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/5428/1/DOHC_Health_promotion_Alcohol_Advertsing_Document%5B1%5D.pdf  Read More