Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Marijuana Education

Despite what some laws suggest, marijuana isn’t safe. Massachusetts recently passed a law that makes it legal to possess less than an ounce of marijuana. Unfortunately this is going to send the message that marijuana is safe and will probably lead to more people trying it. Advisors and peer educators should tell students the truth about marijuana:

• Marijuana does contain carcinogens
• Per puff, marijuana has 3 to 5 times more tar and carbon monoxide than a cigarette
• Small amounts of marijuana impair a person’s driving ability
• Marijuana use can become addictive and is linked with a greater risk for future illicit drug dependence

Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy: “Marijuana Myths and Facts

-posted by Chris Miller

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Great American Smokeout

Today is the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout, an annual tradition where smokers are encouraged to quit for 24 hours. If that is successful, they should try two days, then four, then eight, etc.

This is a day where we remember those that we have lost to tobacco-related illness. It is also a day where we honor those who are fighting for their lives to escape the grips of the most powerful addiction we know.

Congratulations to those who are working to quit and transition to a life free of tobacco. At BACCHUS, it is our honor to help you in that process.

Please visit our tobacco site: www.tobaccofreeU.org

-posted by Tad Spencer and the BACCHUS Tobacco Team

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Thank You

The BACCHUS Network™’s General Assembly in Columbus, Ohio was a tremendous success! We would like to acknowledge the people that helped make the event such a memorable experience.

Many thanks to all of our area consultants and state coordinators who presented programs and hosted events at General Assembly. Everyone did a fantastic job providing a quality conference experience to our affiliate campuses.

Our guest speakers rocked - David Coleman, Tish Norman, Rosemary Laack, Paul Jones, Mike Domitrz, GTC Dramatic Dialogues from High Impact training, Matt Bellace, Jim Painter and Erin Weed. You can read about them in detail in the next Peer Educator!

Area 7 through the leadership of Marc West gave us something fun to do when the lights went out (had to be there). With no electricity, we still had urban line dancing lessons and a lot of positive energy! You're the best.

Thank you to all the participants—students, advisors, professionals, and community members. Your enthusiasm and passion is what makes our Network truly exceptional.

Thank you to everyone who submitted and presented a breakout session at General Assembly. This year’s program offered great variety and creativity. Participants were excited to take back to their campuses the new ideas they learned from you.

Thank you to our host city of Columbus and the fantastic staff at the Hyatt.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the silent auction: donors, bidders, and winners.

We hope to see you all next year in Orlando, November 5 – 8, 2009!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Tracking the Flu

Web-based technologies continue to make an impact on the way we talk about/distribute health information. The big news today is the launch of Google’s Flu Trends: http://www.google.org/flutrends/ This website provides near real-time data on known cases of influenza, around the country. You can get information for the entire U.S. or state-level. This is an exciting breakthrough because of the quickness in information. Normally, it would take two weeks to gather a recent count of flu cases.

This also makes me wonder how programs like Twitter could be used in the future to alert specific areas of increased flu or disease risk. Campuses have already used Twitter to quickly post security alerts. Certainly, the same could be done with health-related outbreaks.

-posted by Tad Spencer

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Tobacco Industry Continues to Target Females

A year after RJ Reynolds introduced its Camel No. 9 brand of “fashionable” cigarettes, Philip Morris is responding with new Virginia Slims “purse packs.” These smaller cigarettes come in a case specifically designed for carrying in purses and handbags.

Story:
http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2008/phillip-morris-to-release.html

So far, we have not seen a significant increase in college female smoking rates. However, if the industry is putting dollars toward development of these products, we should pay attention.

Have women on campus noticed an increase in marketing toward them? It might be worthwhile for a campus to conduct surveys to measure the amount and placement of tobacco marketing encountered by all students.

-posted by Tad Spencer