University pub crawls could soon be a thing of the past, and students could be paying more to drink at campus bars.
Those are just two of the recommendations made in a multi-university report focused on the dangers of binge drinking at Nova Scotia university campuses.
Students Nova Scotia released a review of student union policies and practices surrounding the overconsumption of alcohol on Wednesday. The independent review includes 31 recommendations to reduce dangerous habits.
The recommendations include no advertising that promotes excessive consumption, no association of sex and alcohol, and no advertising that promotes sexism or discrimination.
“What we’re focusing on is really high, high-risk behavior, so what we know from a pub crawl is, much like drinking games, that is directly encouraging high-risk behavior,” says Matthew Rios, student union president at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S.
Roughly 26 per cent of Nova Scotia university students report problems related either to their own drinking, or that of others, compared to 19.5 per cent of other Canadian university students.
“There’s no single reason here,” says Rios. “There’s not a silver bullet to solve these issues. There are multiple levels of approaches that need to be taken. Some that are within our control and some that are at the provincial level and federal level.”
The report was funded in August with $7,500 of support coming from the Nova Scotia government. Six universities funded the remainder of the $21,000 project.
“Whether it’s in our homes or our communities, certainly on our university campuses, and our hope is by having discussions, we’ll continue to start to change the culture,” says Rios.
He hopes the report and recommendations will start a conversation among students and take the danger out of drinking.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Gena Holley
