• High blood pressure, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases
• Liver disease
• Neurological damage
Safe Strategies
• Choose not to drink or wait until you are 21
• Choose to spend less time with friends who tend to drink more than you like
• Decide not to attend social events where heavy drinking / drug use will occur
• Identify healthy way to reduce stress
• Identify ways to be more comfortable in social situations without using alcohol / other drugs
• Use the buddy system and watch out for each other
• Avoid drinking games
• Avoid pre-gaming
• Drink slowly / Space drinks over time
• Eat before and while you are drinking
• Alternate alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks
• Be assertive and clear about choices
• Be prepared with reasons to not drink or stop drinking beyond a point
• Share goals with friends
• Never leave a drink unattended
• Have a designated driver
Alcohol Related Sexual Assault
The model below focuses on the most common type of sexual assault that occurs between men and women who know each other and are engaged in social interaction prior to the assault, the prototypic university sexual assault situation. For more information: Alcohol Related Sexual Assault: A Common Problem among university Students( Abbey, 2002)
The Facts
• 50 – 70 % of all sexual assaults involve alcohol
• Sexually aggressive experiences include: threats for sex against their will, sexual touching against their will, and attempted and completed sexual penetration against their will
• 85 % of rapes on college campuses are committed by an acquaintance
• 71 % of rapes were planned in advance – it is therefore not solely an uncontrollable, impulsive act of sexual gratification
• The fact that alcohol consumption may increase likelihood of experiencing sexual assault DOES NOT make the survivor responsible for the perpetrator’ s behavior
• People who commit crimes while under the influence of alcohol or drugs are not considered free from guilt
31