AA meetings a step in the right direction

The administration now has proof that students recognize the problems of alcohol abuse. Tufts Health Services, at the request of students, is initiating on campus Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Alcohol overconsumption is a chronic societal problem. Though the administration seems to prefer targeting heavy social drinking with an enforcement approach, prevention and treatment of individual alcohol abuse is even more valuable. The addition of AA to the programs offered at Health Services is beneficial even for students who never drink, though it is not the cure-all for alcohol issues on campus.

Alcoholics Anonymous, founded in 1935 by two recovered alcoholics, is not for every person with a drinking problem. Founded two years after the 21st Amendment repealed prohibition, the AA program synthesized modern medicine and psychology with religious values to create the now famous 12 step program. The primary goal of an AA member must be the desire to never drink alcohol again.

Most other anti-alcoholism programs are much less stringent, aiming at teaching responsible drinking. If you think that you are dealing with an alcohol problem, then it is important to make a decision about how much alcohol you think that you can handle.

This is one time that we can look to our president as a positive role model. One of George W. Bush's close friends told The Washington Post for a July 1999 profile of the then-presidential candidate that "Once he got started [drinking], he couldn't, didn't shut it off." Then, after his 40th birthday celebration, Bush decided to quit drinking because he needed to regain control of his life, he told the Post. Though he did not go to Alcoholics Anonymous, he followed AA's philosophy of giving one's life over to the care of God and going completely dry. He claims that he has not had one drop of alcohol since that day in 1986.

However, as one Brit noted last November when Bush visited England, can you trust a man who can't trust himself with just one pint? It is up to each individual to make the decision whether ten, five, or one alcoholic drink is too many.

Tufts Health Service offers a number of programs to help each individual control his or her alcohol consumption. Adding a recognized program like Alcoholics Anonymous, unique because it is an abstentionist movement highly based on a belief in God, will have positive benefits by providing another option for students with drinking problems.

The more that students with drinking problems seek help and prove that they can deal with alcohol problems responsibly, the less the administration will have to interfere.