Student’s death prompts provincial binge drinking report
Posted Aug 30, 2012 05:25:20 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The province is set to release a report Thursday intended to curb binge drinking at universities.
Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health will release his “Reducing Alcohol Harms Among University Students,” followed by an immediate response from Acadia University in Wolfville.
The university’s response comes one year after the death of a 19-year-old Acadia student from Alberta following a night of heavy drinking.
“That was the precipitating event,” Dr. Robert Strang told News 95.7. “But that’s not an isolated event. They have an ongoing issue, like all university campuses, of over-consumption of alcohol.”
“Staff at Health and Wellness worked at Acadia’s request. I’ve been working with them over the last year to review what Acadia has in place to prevent over-consumption of alcohol,” explained Strang.
The province has already provided a framework of information to universities on how to curb student alcohol abuse. Acadia has already taken some action, Strang said.
The report is being released one day after Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly called on bar owners and the province to do more to curtail the amount of binge drinking happening in the city’s downtown entertainment district.
