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Policy Development for the Reduction of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems at an Australian University
Author(s) -
BlazeTemple Debra,
Howat Peter,
Barney Judy,
Saunders Bill,
Saxon Stan,
O'Connor John,
Gadsdon David
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.1991.tb00896.x
Subject(s) - project commissioning , promotion (chess) , publishing , confusion , alcohol consumption , drug , alcohol , public relations , health promotion , psychology , medicine , political science , public health , nursing , psychiatry , law , politics , psychoanalysis , biochemistry , chemistry
Universities, as with other workplaces, experience problems related to alcohol and other drug use by staff and students. There is little published information about the prevalence of these problems among students in the university setting in Australia as compared with the availability of information from the USA. Curtin University of Technology's experience with alcohol‐related problems seems to be documented better than most other Australian institutions, and the available evidence indicates that the level of student alcohol consumption and reported alcohol‐related problems is cause for concern. However, this is not to say that Curtin's problems may be any greater than those of any other Australian university with alcohol available on the premises. Many years of involvement in health promotion teaching and research, combined with identification of alcohol and drug related problems on campus, were thought to be the primary factors preceding the university's decision to begin the process of formulating comprehensive alcohol and other drug policy for staff and students. The absence of clear and consistent alcohol and other drug policy can lead to 1) undermining of the educational environment, 2) confusion about appropriate behaviour, 3) dealing with drug‐related problems by inaction or arbitrary and inappropriate action. Alcohol and other drug policy has two main goals: problem reduction and better management of problems.