Health Education and Wellness’s Goal-driven Alcohol       and   drug Intervention Network (GAIN) program at Mississippi State University promotes student education about personal alcohol habits and driving under the influence.
Since its inception two years ago, the student-only program has placed a high priority on the education of students regarding their personal alcohol habits. The program’s office is located on the third floor of the Longest Student Health Center.
JuLeigh Baker, a health educator at MSU, said there has been an alcohol education program students can utilize for all of the seven years she has worked for the university.
“Health Education is always looking at our programs and trying to improve,” Baker said.
GAIN is an approved research project that compiles and stores confidential data acquired from students and stores it. The Health Educator in charge of the program, Ashley Fondren, said she thinks GAIN may be able to publish an article at some point in the future using this data. 
Several universities across the country have implemented similar programs for alcohol awareness. GAIN was developed from another such program, BASICS, which is thoroughly researched and provides evidence of its effectiveness on college students.
GAIN recruits students through class presentations, enlisting the help of professors who offer extra credit to the students who participate in the program. The program also sets up booth displays in highly traveled areas around campus.
Students interested in participating should contact a Health Educator who will schedule them for two 30-minute appointments for the student interviews. In the first session, the student will take two surveys of varying depths which account for the majority of the 30-minute time period.
Fondren said the first survey called an “Audit,” assesses the student’s risk for alcohol abuse and is based on the frequency of their drinking habits. The second is a longer and more in-depth online survey thatgauges their attitude toward drinking as well as establishes basic demographic information to determine statistics specified to that student’s body type and size.
The second survey includes questions such as how many days of the week in the last 30 days the student drank to establish a drinking pattern. This information is also used to determine if a binge drinking episode has occurred and what the student did while experiencing it.
According to Fondren’s Alcohol Awareness presentation, 63.3 percent of students reported alcohol consumption within the last 30 days. It also said 42.3 percent reported consuming five or more alcoholic beverages in the last two weeks.
Fondren said the program wants to make a connection for the student between the amount of alcohol consumed and the resulting outcomes. Once GAIN has established a maximum limit the student has drunk at one time, they can determine that student’s level of risk with his/her drinking behavior. 
Fondren also said GAIN also uses what is referred to as “social norming” to shed light on the actual drinking habits of MSU students rather than the misperception most students believe.
“What we want to do is enlighten the student on what really happens at MSU concerning all students,” Fondren said. “We find that people’s perceptions of how much students drink is often much higher than what really happens.”
Some of the questions students are asked in the interview include opinions on the prices of the average MSU student drinks and how the student perceives their own drinking. 
Students are also asked to consider what kinds of things they think would happen to them while under the influence of alcohol. These include both positive and negative side effects of its consumption.
Fondren said when students were asked what they did while drinking, the top three answers included the highest percent said they did something they regretted, forgot where they were or what they had done or had unprotected sex.
The information attained through the surveys is assembled into a feedback report. The feedback report is explained during the second appointment; caloric intakes as well as the cost associated with consuming alcohol are also discussed during this session. 
Fondren said she remembers the reactions of some students during their second appointments when viewing their feedback report.
“I got to sit in on some interviews with students and I could see the surprise in some students eyes especially whenever we talked about the social norming,” Fondren said.
GAIN emphasizes the use of protective strategies while drinking. It most heavily stresses not operating a vehicle after the consumption of alcohol. The program strongly recommends the use of designated drivers.
“If you are under 21 or are driving you should not drink at all,” Fondren said. “If you’ve had even one drink, do not get behind the wheel.”
MSUPD Chief of Police Vance Rice said it’s  GAIN’s job to be a preventative measure for driving under the influence (DUI)  arrests, and educating students about the issue.
The legal limit of alcohol consumption is any number below 0.08 percent, but this number can differ from person to person depending on their sensitivity to alcohol.
Rice said when the average person processes alcohol their blood alcohol content lowers about two points an hour, and typically women process alcohol slower than men.
“There are so many lives lost every year needlessly to impaired driving,” Rice said.
According to Rice, being convicted of driving under the influence can be detrimental for several years, will cost a fortune, and will prevent the person charged from being hired for certain jobs.