Fatal vision goggles can help demonstrate visual impairment to students without them actually being inebriated during IU Police Department alcohol programs.“We try to incorporate the use of the fatal vision goggles for demonstration purposes,” said IUPD Sgt. Leslie Sloan, who coordinates IUPD community programming.The department provides the seminars free of charge to whoever requests them. The seminars include topics related to alcohol purchases, usage and carrying laws in Indiana.The goggles are very similar to those worn in a high school chemistry class. The only difference is a coating of clear film that causes distorted perception and coordination.The goggles simulate a given range of impairment expressed by blood alcohol content.“We have goggles that are clear and tinted, representing both daytime and nighttime impairment,” Sloan said. The goggles are used in conjunction with various activities that would otherwise be simple when done sober.“We will toss a tennis ball at a person and they will find it becomes a real challenge to catch it,” Sloan said. The class is popular among students in residence halls and greek houses.Users of the goggles sometimes express doubt to their validity. Although a pair of IUPD’s goggles represent a BAC level just over the legal limit, the goggles produce a dizzying effect, which makes it complicated to walk even short distances.The idea is to give you a simulation, not demonstrate exactly what happens at a BAC of .08, said Dee Owens, director of IU’s Alcohol and Drug Information Center.“It is much easier to feel impaired when you’re not drinking and by putting on the goggles, than to realize you gradually worked your way towards impairment,” Owens said.Monroe County CARES Inc., a county-funded entity, provides grants to IUPD and other county-wide organizations which promote local efforts to prevent and reduce harmful involvement with alcohol and other drugs.Lisa Meuser is the organization’s sole employee in addition to its 15 board members.The Governor’s Commission for a Drug Free Indiana recognizes Monroe County CARES, Inc. as the local coordinating council that is responsible for developing the local plan to combat substance abuse in the community, Meuser said.Owens discusses the public health and safety issues from a statistical and research perspective.“The truth is that the road to alcoholism starts the younger you start drinking,” Owens said. “If you can postpone drinking until the legal age, it is highly unlikely you won’t suffer any health consequences from alcohol.”Although Owens admits young adults are not completely in the clear if they wait until their 21st birthday to have a alcoholic beverage, the brain is more fully developed and more resilient to toxins.“I am not a prohibitionist, which is what the alcohol industry labels us,” Owens said. Although she made a personal choice to abstain from alcohol years ago, she has been doing work with alcohol in treatment, prevention and education for almost 30 years.“If you’re doing what’s safe and what’s legal — no problem,” Owens said.
