This is Alcohol Awareness Week. It’s a time when many college campuses offer a variety of events and discussions to bring heightened awareness to alcohol. Mason is no exception, and a variety of events are offered this week. It’s an opportunity to take advantage of some of these, but also to do some additional reflection about alcohol and its role in your life and that of others around you.

When I think about alcohol awareness, several things come to mind. First, the use of alcohol is legal in our society, for those 21 and older. Some perspective about why that law was enacted 30 years ago is helpful. The dominant reason supporting the passage of this law was to reduce automobile crashes and deaths affecting young drivers, including college students. However, what we know today that we didn’t know then, is that our brains continue to develop until our mid-20s; alcohol has more harmful effects on younger brains. If the law were to be considered today, the arguments for the age of 21 would be even stronger than they were 30 years ago.

Another thought with alcohol awareness is for each of us to take a look at the role that alcohol plays in our lives. How does it contribute to the quality of our lives? How important is it? If we do consume alcohol, how do we make sure that we are responsible with this? There are a lot of questions, and the important thing is that we continue to maintain not only the quality of our life for ourselves and with others, but that we maximize our own potential.

Third, there’s an emerging emphasis on recovery issues; this is new at Mason as well as other campuses around the country. For students in recovery from drug and/or alcohol dependence, living, studying, and engaging in the college environment can be a challenge. People become dependent on drugs and/or alcohol for a variety of reasons, and starting at various ages. In any event, it’s a challenge for them, and they will benefit from the understanding and support of those around them. One of the important sayings with people in recovery is “One Day At A Time”; this Alcohol Awareness Week is a good time to learn more about dependence, as well as other issues associated with alcohol.

The bottom line with Alcohol Awareness Week is that we take a few minutes to learn a bit more about alcohol. While a lot is known already, this topic is important because of the dominant role that it plays with so much loss of potential, injury, and loss of life on college campuses. The articles in the Alcohol section of COMPASS, as well as the various resources, worksheets, and quizzes, can be helpful with increasing awareness. Noteworthy, and sadly, is the fact that over 1,800 college students die every year, due to alcohol-related causes. These are preventable. The important question for this week, and beyond, is how to be fully responsible and engaged with good decisions about alcohol.