DR. WALLACE: You said that there is a high correlation between college students' grades and the amount of alcohol they drink. You said that those who don't drink or drink only small amounts of alcohol earn better grades than those who drink a lot of alcohol. Where did you get your data?

My fraternity roommate and I consume a lot of liquor weekly, but we both are excellent students. If alcohol is so destructive, why do college bigwigs host cocktail parties? The human race has been consuming alcohol since the Garden of Eden, and that wonderful tradition will last forever! — Student, University of Wisconsin.

STUDENT: The Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse compiled data from more than 3,000 four-year colleges and universities and found that students were split into two groups when it came to alcohol consumption: those who rarely drank or never drank, and those who drank often and to excess. To nobody's surprise, the heavy drinkers were the poorest students.

In a study at Southern Illinois University, it was determined that students with poor grade-point averages consumed more than 11 alcoholic drinks per week while, on average, students with the highest grade-point averages had four drinks per week or less.

This is a general picture. Students can crash and burn in college for reasons other than overdrinking. And, yes, some heavy drinkers still manage to pull off decent grades — postponing the collapse of their lives from alcohol abuse till middle age, perhaps. And while there's still hypocrisy on campus — with teachers and administrators hosting cocktail parties while condemning student drinking — there's a growing trend in academia to make school-related functions alcohol-free.

I'm passionate in my belief that society would benefit at every level — the family, the community, the state and the nation — if alcohol were suddenly to disappear from our lives. Of course, many adults have an alcoholic drink only on special occasions, but they are in the minority. Alcohol is a powerfully addictive drug, and once a person is addicted, his life and the lives of loved ones are dramatically impaired. Addicts can become alcohol-free, but will remain alcoholics the rest of their lives. But if they consume just one alcoholic drink, it can trigger the desire for alcohol to dominate their lives once again.

A LIFE WITH HIM WOULD BE MISERABLE

DR. WALLACE: My boyfriend has been arrested and convicted for selling cocaine and is serving a six-month sentence. I am holding some of his cocaine in my garage, but I'm very nervous about it. I can't figure out if I should get rid of the stuff or keep it until he gets out. I don't have any idea how much the stuff is worth. I weighed it and it weighs about 2 ounces. Your advice will be appreciated. — Nameless, Somewhere in North America.

NAMELESS: Flush it down the toilet. If your boyfriend is worth waiting for, he'll be fully rehabilitated by the time he gets out of prison and convinced that crime doesn't pay. In that case, he'll be glad the cocaine is gone. His only interest will be to start building an honest, productive life, with you a part of it.

If he wants the cocaine when he gets out, tell him that you disposed of it and then dump him, too. A life with him would be miserable.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. E-mail him at rwallace@galesburg.net. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.