Every parent has one ambition for their children when they venture off to college – to be successful. In the 1990’s, attending college was deemed as a measure of social status and students who chose to attend college were highly respected and performed to the best of their abilities inside the campus halls. Now in our generation along with ambition, parents must pray for the safety and peer pressured party habits of their children because of the prescription drugs, binge drinking of alcohol, and marijuana that has become so accessible on campuses nationwide. Think that this epidemic is only at certain colleges? According to a survey conducted by NBC this past year, half of college seniors nationwide have admitted to drug or alcohol abuse while in college. It is time that societies stopped turning their heads at the utterance of drug and alcohol abuse on college campuses and begin to take a stand to improve the futures for our children and ultimately society as a whole.
When a parent sends their child to a college or university for the first time, the last thing on their mind is worrying about what drugs their child will encounter during their four year stay away from home. According to a study released by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University in 2007, “Alcohol remains the favored substance of abuse on college campuses by far, but the abuse of prescription drugs and marijuana has increased dramatically since the mid-1990’s.” Society was aware that when students ventured away from home for the first time that they were more prone to underage drinking and staying out late partying. Recently, studies are finding that students are abusing multiple types of prescription drugs, not only to get high, but for stress relief or as study aids. Abusing prescription drugs can have severe consequences for the student, not only lawfully but emotionally and physically as well.
Alcohol and drug abuse has been linked to more than half of college drop outs and students that were once at the top of their class are now being asked to withdraw because of their failing courses. Take Nicole Packman’s story as an example. Nicole was a dedicated college sophomore at Monmouth University, studying to become a special education teacher in New Jersey. One of the undersides of being an education major are the 35-50 page lesson plans and projects due four times throughout the semester. “I used to tell my friends to see me in December when I started school,” explained Nicole, “I had no time to work or to fit any social aspect into my life. It was academics all the time.” Nicole’s stress level had reached a maximum level and when her friend offered her a xanex (alprazolam) to take the edge off of her stress, she could not decline. Before Nicole knew what hit her, it was December and she had become so addicted to xanex that she was no longing attending her classes or submitting work and had fallen into a deep depression. After attending a rehabilitation clinic, two years later Nicole is ready to head back to school to give it another shot. When asked about what advice Nicole would give to other college students she stated, “It only takes one time and you can be addicted. Stay away from drugs and believe in yourself as a student and that should be enough.”
Nicole was lucky to have a great support system with family and friends by her side, but some students are not as lucky as Nicole. According to the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT), “drug and alcohol abuse is the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 24.” On each college campus there are programs and organizations that try to inform students about the risks of driving while intoxicated, but by viewing the staggering numbers of deaths that pile up each year on campuses, more needs to be done about students’ understanding as to what they are giving up by giving in to alcohol and drugs. Every individual was at once sitting in a mandatory assembly in high school, carelessly listening to a middle-aged individual discuss why not to take drugs and why not to drink alcohol. The time has come for more affirmative action at the source – college campuses. “If they make this a priority they can do something about it,” stated Joseph Califano, Chairman and President of the CASA.
In order to follow in Califano’s words, a successful plan needs to be started on campuses nationwide in order to ensure that college students begin to realize the long term effects associated with drug and alcohol abuse. James E. Lange, Coordinator of Alcohol and Other Drug Initiatives at San Diego University, hosted a Webinar on the topic of creating a program tailored to modern day prevention and awareness of drugs and alcohol on campus. Lange’s focus was creating a program that not only offered awareness about drugs and alcohol but also to establish prescription drug abuse prevention strategies on campus tailored around local campus student use data. All campuses are not the same and it is important that the program fits the criteria for the amount of the total student population who is abusing drugs or alcohol. Although the success of Lange’s program has not be surveyed as of yet, programs such as the one that he suggested would benefit every college campus and would be tailored to the design and statistics of drug and alcohol abuse on campus.
Our society is changing and with that change we are becoming more aware of what is hindering our society and holding back the future leaders of tomorrow. Now when students head off to their first years of college they will be put to the test to see if the strong prevail not only in academics, but also in campus life. Drugs and alcohol have made their way into each and every college campus and have hindered the growth of many students. In order to stop this epidemic, programs must be put into place and must be fought to be put into place to protect the future leaders of tomorrow from the harmful effect of drug and alcohol abuse.
