Part of CCSA’s Chair Lecture Series, the Bill Deeks Lecture Series explores the subject of youth and substance abuse—an issue Mr. Deeks was very committed to during his tenure as the chair of CCSA’s Board of Directors (1993–2001).
The inaugural Bill Deeks Lecture, How Much is Too Much? - A Conversation for Change: Young Adults and Alcohol, took place at the University of Saskatchewan on September 22, 2010.
Why A Conversation for Change?
Alcohol has become largely accepted as part of young adult culture, with many viewing binge drinking (five or more drinks in a sitting) as a normal rite of passage into adulthood. Research shows that Canadian undergraduate students are more than:
- three times likely to engage in weekly risky drinking than the general population; and
- twice as likely to report at least one harmful consequence from their drinking in the past year.
Given that the leading cause of death among Canadian youth (15–25 years old) is motor vehicle crashes, and that 47.9% of these crashes involved young drivers who had been drinking alcohol, it is clear that we, as a society, need to examine the messages that we send to our youth.
Part of CCSA’s Chair Lecture Series, this event aims to raise awareness of issues related to youth and alcohol—specifically the drinking patterns of young adults and their associated harms—while providing a discussion forum where diverse perspectives can be shared with the aim of improving understanding among Canadians about this important issue.
Event Structure
Keynote speaker, award-winning journalist André Picard. and public health reporter at The Globe and Mail is one of Canada's top public policy writers, Mr. Picard is uniquely positioned to discuss the media’s role in normalizing heavy drinking as part of young adult culture. His presentation will be followed by four 7-minute panellist presentations that will explore the following themes:
- young adults’ perceptions of alcohol;
- marketing and advertising of alcohol and its influence on drinking patterns; and
- individual strategies for drinking safely in social settings.
Panellist presentations were followed by a 35-minute question-and-answer period and a reception where participants.
About the CCSA Chair Lecture Series
CCSA developed the Chair Lecture Series to recognize the outstanding contributions of its past chairs of the Board of Directors, both to the development and growth of the Centre and to the understanding of substance abuse issues in Canada. For more information on this series, please click here.