Elon University

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Tuesday, March 9, I was honored to be the keynote speaker at Elon University. This program was sponsored by Elon's Safe Rides program, a system of transporting Elon students safely around the area. Whether the student is intoxicated, fearful for their safety or it's just too cold out, Safe Rides is there to help keep Elon students safe.

A huge thanks goes to Elon's own Nicole Parker, Pope, Kimberly, the SPARKS(s), and everyone who made my time in NC so memorable! Gotta say, hitting some North Carolina BBQ didn't hurt my feelings, either!

Also want to thank the brothers of the Lambda Lambda chapter of Kappa Sigma for helping provide transportation on Tuesday. Was great to get to know the brothers of the Lambda Lambda chapter. The chapter also showed up in full force to support my program – and that's showing a brother some love!

On Feb. 4, Idaho State University hosted yours truly to campus for keynotes. Thanks to the fraternities and sororities at ISU for being such an awesome audience for the afternoon keynote, and thanks to the general student population of ISU for coming out that evening!

Special thanks to Aaron McCabe, Val, Sammie and Tanya for being such awesome hosts! Also thanks to the ISU chapter of Kappa Sigma for welcoming in a brother into their midst! Thanks, gentlemen! AEKDB
 

The below link is to an article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch concerning drunk driving in Missouri.

I haven't been intimately involved with the anti-DUI movement in Missouri since moving to Florida three years ago. However, I'm so pleased to see that the justices, lawmakers and policy makers are all on board for more effective anti-DWI measures.

A little factoid from my days at Missouri State University...

In an old substance abuse intervention class, we were taught a stat that said of 100 alcoholics, 94 will die as a direct result of their drinking.  MVA, falling down stairs, drowning in a bathtub, etc. Four alcoholics will have organic brain damage which will effect them the rest of their lives. Two alcoholics will make it into permanent recovery.

Now, cross reference this with an old tour to the medium security prison in Fordland, MO. Every prisoner is required to work a 12 step program for his substance abuse issues. Due to these 12 step mandatory processes, this prison has only a 40% "rate of return" by prisoners released. The national and state average? 80%.

The question remains:  How do we keep the chronic alcoholics with a history of DUI off the roads? Incarceration with a focus on treatment? Seems to work. But what about just keeping them off the roads? Obviously if a prisoner is incarcerated, he/she is driving nowhere. But it takes so many resources to accomplish this.

This is why so many folks in the anti-DWI fight are in favor of using technology to accomplish the goals. Breathalyzers installed in the cars of offenders, alcohol detection devices planted in steering wheels, retinal scans in rearview mirrors that show if a driver is drunk, etc. Does this technology cost a lot of money? In some cases, yes. But is this a better way to keep offenders off the streets? I think so.

Again, the most heartening thing of all is seeing such an active interest in the DWI fight. Props to Missouri for being so progressive with their DWI enforcement, prosecution and goals of keeping drivers safe.

 http://m.stltoday.com/STL/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Im7SYAg7&src=cat

This article gives a bit of an idea of combating excessive alcohol consumption in England. It's interesting the man quoted in the article says Great Britain's level of alcohol consumption is at an epidemic level. I heard the same thing said about the United States' consumption rate over five years ago. The American who stated this runs an alcohol rehab facility in California and studies the trends. A bit frightening...and something we need to stay aware of.

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New Year drunks should pay for hospital care?

 LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Excessive drinking over New Year's Eve could cost Britain's National Health Service as much as 23 million pounds,  according to a report on Thursday which recommends drunks be charged a  hospital admission fee of 532 pounds ($845.9).

 "Alcohol misuse in Britain is at a level where it constitutes a public health epidemic," said the report by the right-leaning Policy Exchange think-tank.

 Direct costs to the state-funded NHS, which provides free health care  for Britons, are nearly 3 billion a year, with hospital admissions for  alcohol intoxication doubling in a decade, it added.

 The government should review its entire strategy for tackling the  harms from alcohol misuse, it advised.

 "We recommend that the costs of being admitted to hospital to sleep off alcoholic excess should be met by individuals, not the NHS," said  Henry Featherstone, head of the think-tank's health unit.

 "Those admitted to hospital for less than 24 hours with acute alcohol intoxication should be charged the NHS tariff cost for their admission of 532 pounds."

 That amount would be reduced for those paying the costs of their own alcohol education and awareness course.

 Department of Health figures confirm that total annual healthcare cost relating to alcohol misuse amounts to about 2.7 billion pounds a year.

 (Reporting by Stephen Addison; Editing by Stefano Ambrogi and Paul Casciato)

Shaming of wrongdoers in America goes back a long, long way. Think the stockades where early Colonists were held in public, the powers that be hoping they'd be embarrassed by the public ridicule.

That type of punishment has been proven ineffective, for the most part. Plus, with the Constitutional right of no cruel and unusual punishment, you don't often see people hung out to dry in your neighborhood.

Now, with the era of social networking, one D.A. in Texas is bringing a bit of the shaming punishment back to the forefront. The D.A. of Montgomery County, Texas is using Twitter to post the names of DUI offenders. Since beginning the practice, a couple dozen drunk drivers in Texas have had their names "revealed" to the public.

I put revealed in quotes for one reason: their DUI arrest is already public information. The D.A. is just using a creative and technologically advanced medium to get their names out in front of the public. Here's a link to an article and you can draw your own conclusions:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6802419.html

One of the complaints of the practice says it's not right to single out drunk drivers. His wish is that if the D.A. is going to do this, then the name of every arrestee should be put up on Twitter. My opinion? Fine by me!

The D.A. has a fine point:  DWI is the biggest crime in his county. For such a prevalent crime, measures can be taken to try to prevent such a crime.

The use of Twitter to share the names of drunk drivers doesn't exactly fall into shaming alone. It's also a great preventative tool. If you were in this county, wouldn't you think twice about driving drunk to be sure your name is kept out of the media?

Either way, I applaud any efforts that keep drunk drivers off the road – when nearly 15,000 Americans are killed every year by this preventable crime, I'm glad someone in the criminal justice system is stepping up to try to make a difference.

Metro State University

On Tuesday, Oct. 6, Metro State University in St. Paul, MN held an awareness event for Disability Awareness Month. Not only was yours truly an honored guest, but I got to share the stage with Minnesota Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie (the kind of guy I wish I could vote for, but that would mean having to live through Minnesota winters!)

Special thanks to Mary Bailey-Bustos and Stephanie for all the help logistically, for being so darned entertaining and welcoming for we out of towners!
 

This week was filled with programs in one of my favorite places: the upstate of South Carolina! Tuesday was a marathon day with four programs: Palmetto High, Wren High, Wren High's SADD club and then a parent program for Anderson District One. Thanks to Dr. Mason Gary at Palmetto High for allowing me to speak to the Palmetto High student body! This was one awesome program! Thanks to Robbie Benneker at Wren High School for the opportunity to speak to all 1700 Wren High students! Tons of FaceBook friends from both Wren and Palmetto-and thank you to all the parents who came out in the evening to discuss how we can have better relationships with our kids and help them make healthy and safe choices. Special thanks to Leigh Colombo for helping arrange these programs – you rock!
 

This past week while I was in South Carolina, I learned about a trend in the SC drunk driving field:  liquor-cycles.

In South Carolina, if an individual gets a certain number of DUIs, he/ she will lose their license to operate a motor vehicle. However, if the vehicle is under a certain horsepower, it's not considered a motor vehicle. Scooters, Vespas, etc. are allowed for DUI offenders who are no longer allowed to drive a real car or truck.

On one hand, I like this notion. And truthfully, I'm kinda surprised so many people actually choose to drive their Vespas and stay within the law.

However, no matter if someone has a driver's license or not, he/she can still jump in a car, turn the ignition and drive down the road. If a convicted drunk driver is staying within the law and not operating a car, that reduces the risks for the general public from habitual DUI offenders.

However, isn't there a better way to keep habitual drunks from driving? Yes, yes there is. And that is by the use of modern technology. With as many Americans as get DUIs and get their licenses taken away, it puts a dent in the American work force. Wouldn't it be a better way for us to use technology that allows a driver to operate a vehicle when they're sober, but not when they're drunk?

Not just the ignition-lock breathalyzers, but the use of intoxicant detecting sensors on the steering wheel. And lasers on a rearview that can see if the driver has been drinking. True, this may take a bite out of the liquor-cycle market, but so what?

Let's embrace modern technology to keep our streets safe and our lives guarded, instead of just trying to circumvent the problem by putting drunks on different vehicles.