“Is Alcohol Worse than Ecstasy?”: Wellness Movie Night

College students who engage in binge drinking are usually pretty well-educated in the dangers of alcohol consumption. But if they’re going to engage in substance use, then alcohol is the lesser of many evils, right? Not so.

This past Thursday night, BU’s Student Health Services hosted a “Wellness Movie Night” in the Warren Towers cinema room. SHS aired a controversial British documentary entitled “Is Alcohol Worse than Ecstasy?” Accompanying the film screening was an abundance of goodies, prizes, and helpful information.

Alcohol education at its finest. | Promotional photo courtesy of Horizon.

To answer the documentary’s titular question, yes. Alcohol is worse than ecstasy. The film was created in response to the unexpected results of a 2008 British research project spearheaded by a group of scientists and professors who found the country’s drug classification system flawed. The scientists generated a list of the top 20 most harmful drugs, with number one being the most dangerous and 20, the least. The list was generated based on three factors: 1) its harmful effects on the user, 2) how addictive it is, and 3) its consequences to society. Although alcohol didn’t take the top spot, it did make it to number five. Alcohol was deemed more dangerous than marijuana, LSD, and amphetamine. This information is startling and, no pun intended, sobering for college students, a good number of whom engage in weekend binge-drinking.

Tajh Goswami, a graduate student in the School of Public Health, hosted Thursday night’s event. He said events like the film screening are aimed at college undergraduates who face the reality of alcohol on a weekend-to-weekend basis. While many college students have had alcohol education classes, or are simply aware of the risks of drinking, it’s important that they’re aware of the social ramifications of drinking. In addition to walking away from the event armed with fresh knowledge, students received helpful handouts with information on alcohol poisoning as well as on, and off-campus resources. Events like the Wellness Movie Night are a fun source of education on a touchy but important topic.

About Ingrid Adamow

Ingrid Adamow (COM '14) is Editor-in-Chief and also a writer for The Quad. Ingrid is an advertising major and enjoys reading, writing, good music, fashion, coffee, and adventures around the city of Boston. But mostly coffee.

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