As your interview with Henry Wechsler of the Harvard School of Public Health suggests, there is much that parents of college students and university administrators can do in an effort to reduce the harmful effects of excessive drinking (“Binge drinking on campuses gains attention,” Education Today, Jan. 5).
But let’s not put all the responsibility on their shoulders.
Parents and university administrators are not responsible for manufacturing and marketing alcoholic beverages with an eye toward creating profits through volume sales. Parents and university administrators are not responsible for the number of bars located within walking distance of our college campuses. Nor are parents and university administrators responsible for the price specials that encourage drinking to get drunk.
The alcohol industry is fond of touting “personal responsibility,” but it never owns up to the fact that its manufacturing and marketing practices contribute mightily to the harmful effects of alcohol abuse.
Given that these are businesses driven by the profit motive, it’s clear that we’ll need help from our local, state and federal governments to implement and enforce some reasonable restrictions.
There’s no need to return to Prohibition.
Since alcohol industry spokespeople are so fond of citing Europe’s attitude toward alcohol, let’s pursue policies that follow the No. 1 principle adopted by the 1995 European Conference on Health, Society and Alcohol: “All people have the right to a family, community and working life protected from accidents, violence and other negative consequences of alcohol consumption.”
