(An interesting new idea)
Students battling addiction get havens
Thomas J. Sheeran - Associated Press
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Cleveland --- His name is Ben, and he's a campus drunk, trying to stay sober amid a lot of chances to party.
The 19-year-old, sticking with his first name in the style of Alcoholics Anonymous, knows how to party. He learned to drink in the fifth grade in Cleveland. By high school he was drinking at least three nights a week, sometimes having 20 drinks of beer, gin and tequila.
''Every time I had time I would drink,'' said Ben, gently petting the mutt that he and his housemates at Case Western Reserve University have adopted.
Now in college, Ben is trying to stay away from booze, and Case Western is doing its part by offering him a spot at a ''recovery dorm.''
The residence --- with sparse landscaping and bare-bones furniture --- looks like a fraternity house, only cleaner and lacking a beer keg on the back porch. It's the university's experiment to help students who have drinking and drug abuse problems cope with the high-pressure environment of college.
While many campuses have housing for nonsmokers and nondrinkers, student residences for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts are rare. Officials at Rutgers University, which pioneered the idea, know of only a handful of such recovery dorms, perhaps three or four nationwide.
There are an estimated 1,400 alcohol-related deaths each year among college students, most involving car accidents. A government study released in 2003 said binge drinking --- defined as having five or more drinks in a sitting --- was climbing fastest among 18- to 20-year-olds.
There's evidence that campus recovery programs can make a difference. Michigan's Grand Valley State University, which in August landed a $127,000 federal grant to expand programs including AA meetings six days a week, said its 5-year-old program has cut frequent binge drinking 59 percent. The number of moderate or nondrinking students was up 19 percent.
Case Western's Recovery House opened in September on a quiet street near campus. No markings indicate its role, allowing students to keep their personal struggles confidential.
Like any campus, the 9,000-student Case gets its share of binge drinkers. About three dozen students a year require emergency room treatment for substance abuse, often alcohol, said Jes Sellers, director of the school's counseling center.
Concern about such students prompted Case Western to move on its 10-year goal of having a residence for students trying to end alcohol and drug abuse, Sellers said. The six housemates, all men, have backgrounds that include abuse of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine.
Every resident must have an approved treatment plan, which typically includes AA meetings or counseling. Alcohol and drug use is forbidden.
Still, Sellers said Recovery House should have a homelike, supportive atmosphere. Violations would be handled on a case-by-case basis. ''We know relapses occur. We leave a little room,'' he said.
Students must pass a rigorous application process to live in Recovery House: Do you have other addictions, like gambling or sex? Will you release your court records? Do you have any mental problems? Will your family support your sobriety? Do you take prescription drugs?
Paul, a 26-year-old senior and finance major with a history of drug and alcohol abuse, said moving into Recovery House has been helpful. ''You have other people to hang out with who have the same problems,'' he said.
> ON THE WEB: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism:
www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov
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