MSU birthday cards deliver sober message

Greeting card companies may soon have some competition from a small organization planning to send birthday greetings to every Michigan State University student turning 21.

But they aren't ordinary cards. Following the cover's normal birthday greeting, the inside reads, "Be responsible about drinking ... We want you to turn 22."

The program stems from Be Responsible About Drinking, an organization founded six weeks ago by the parents and friends of Bradley McCue, an MSU junior who died of alcohol poisoning after celebrating his 21st birthday by drinking 24 shots in two hours.

Cindy McCue, Bradley's mother, said the idea behind BRAD is not to discourage young people from celebrating on their birthday, but to give them information on the consequences of drinking too much in a short amount of time.

"We're not saying don't have a good time, we're just saying be responsible," McCue said, adding that celebratory events such as football games, birthdays and the end of classes are times when people are most at risk for alcohol poisoning and other negative effects of drinking.

In addition to the mass mailing of birthday cards, BRAD hopes to sponsor other programs including the distribution of laminated wallet-sized cards containing quick facts about what to do when someone passes out after drinking.

Cindy McCue said problems with drinking begin earlier than many people think. "Students develop their drinking habits in high school," she said. "Eighty percent of high school students are already drinking by their senior year."

So far, all BRAD programs have been funded by private donations, including one given by Rick's American Cafe in East Lansing - the bar at which Bradley McCue was drinking the night he died. Cindy McCue explained that the amount of money the group has limits what they can do.

SANE, Students Advocating Non-Alcoholic Events, a new organization at the University of Michigan this semester, also plans alcohol-free social events for students. It's purpose is "to prove to the community at large that students can have fun without drinking," said Trent Thompson, co-founder or the organization and Michigan Student Assembly president.

The group's inception was the result of a task force on binge drinking, Thompson said. Students who attend SANE events make a pledge to abstain from drinking for the night. The message SANE wishes to convey, Thompson said, is not that drinking is bad, but that it is not necessary to have fun.

The Michigan Department of Community Health also hopes to communicate a strong message to young people who think binge drinking is not a dangerous practice.

The state-funded department launched a radio and print ad campaign March 15 targeting a specific audience - college students. As a part of the campaign, two 60-second ads are running on commercial radio stations whose demographics show they are most likely to be listened to by college students, said Michigan Department of Community Health Director of Communication Geralyn Lasher. The organization also began placing their ads in college newspapers in Michigan.

The main goal of the ads is to inform students of the truth about drinking, Lasher said.

"Alcohol poisoning can disable your brain so you stop breathing," she said. "We want people to have that information so they can make the right choices."

Lasher said that while statistics show the overall number of college drinkers is down, those who do drink are drinking an overwhelming percentage of alcohol.

"Five to 10 percent of students are consuming 70-75 percent of the alcohol," she said.

The Department of Community Health hopes to see the issue of binge drinking succumb to the same fate as the issue of drunk driving, Lasher said. She explained that after Mothers Against Drunk Driving carried out its extensive campaign to keep drinkers from getting behind the wheel, drunk driving became socially unacceptable.

03-24-99