What Communities Can Do?

"Ordinary citizens need to take the lead in reshaping the alcohol environment because if we do not, the industry will continue to misdirect resources and others' good intentions down dead ends while undermining efforts that would make a real difference.
  Over the years, our College Alcohol Study has found conclusively that:

• The lower the price of alcohol, the higher the level of binge drinking.
• The greater the outlet density, the higher the level of binge drinking.
•  The more special price promotions, the higher the level of binge drinking
• The less enforcement of underage drinking laws, the more alcohol underage people consume.

These findings give us a good idea of where to start to effectively change the binge-drinking environment.  As an extended community we need to:

1. Raise the price of alcohol.
2.  Limit the number of bars and other alcohol outlets around our college campuses.
3.  End special price promotions that lower prices even further.
4.  Enforce underage drinking laws" (p255-256)

"Dying to Drink: Confronting Binge Drinking on College Campuses", by Henry Wechsler, Director, Harvard School of Public Health, College Alcohol Study, and Bernice Wuethrich, Rodale2002.