A new study suggests that binge drinking and drug abuse is on the increase among American students and that colleges should do more to address the problem.
49 per cent (3.8 million) of full time college students indulge in binge drinking or abuse prescription or illegal drugs, says the 231-page report, by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University which is titled “Wasting the Best and the Brightest: Substance Abuse at America’s Colleges and Universities”.
And it also finds that 1.8 million full-time students (22.9 percent) are using substances at a frequency and quantity that meet the DSM-IV mental health criteria for substance abuse and dependence. This is two and a half times the prevalence in the general population (8.5 per cent).
DSM-IV is the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders used by mental health professionals such as psychiatrists and psychologists to assess substance abuse and dependence in terms of use and impact on daily life.
Among the reasons given for the increase is that students are looking to drugs and alcohol to relieve stress, increase performance and improve mood.
The report looks at prevalence of alcohol and substance use from 1993 to 2005. It found:
– No real decline in students who drink (70 down to 68 per cent) and binge drink (40 to 40 per cent).
– But intensity of excessive drinking and rates of drug abuse have risen sharply.
– Frequent binge drinking up by 16 per cent.
– Drinking on 10 or more occasions a month up 25 per cent.
– Getting drunk three times a month or more up 26 per cent.
– Drinking to get drunk up by 21 per cent.
The report also examined use of prescription drugs from 1993 and 2005, and found an alarming increase in the number of students using them:
– Use of opioids like Percocet, Vicodin and OxyContin up 343 per cent.
– Use of stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall up 93 per cent.
– Use of tranquillisers like Xanax and Valium up 450 per cent.
– Use of sedatives like Nembutal and Seconal up 225 per cent.
In terms of use of illegal drugs from 1993 to 2005, the report found that the number of students:
– Using marijuana has doubled to 310,000.
– Using other illegal drugs such as cocaine and heroin is up 52 per cent to 636,000.
Looking at the consequences of this behaviour on the student population, the report finds that:
– Deaths from unintentional alcohol-related injuries in 2001 amounted to 1, 717 deaths, up six percent from 1998.
– Increase in proportion of students injured as a result of their own drinking up 38 percent from 1993 to 2001.
– Increase in average number of alcohol-related arrests per campus up 21 per cent from 1993 to 2001.
– In 2005 alcohol-related arrests constituted 83 percent of campus arrests.
– Victims of alcohol-related rape or sexual assaults in 2001 amounted to 97,000 students.
– Number of students assaulted by a student who had been binge drinking in 2001 numbered 696,000.
Students who belong to fraternities and sororities (these often live together in a large house or complex of apartments) are more likely to drink (88 as opposed to 67 per cent), binge drink (64 as opposed to 37 per cent), drink and drive (33 versus 21 per cent), smoke (26 versus 21 per cent), use marijuana (21 versus 16 per cent), or use cocaine (3 versus 1.5 per cent) compared to those who are not.
The report also suggests that many students don’t seek help because they fear the social stigma that accompanies being seen as a substance abuser. They estimate some 37 per cent of students have this fear, and as a result only 6 per cent of those who meet medical criteria for substance abuse actually look for help to overcome their dependence.
The report compares the effect of illicit drug use on sexual behaviour and finds that 78 per cent of students who use illicit drugs have sexual intercourse, this compares with 44 per cent of those who never use drugs.
The CASA report is the culmination of four years of research, surveys, focus groups and interviews with students and college administrators and claims to be the “most extensive examination ever undertaken of the substance abuse situation on the nation’s college campuses”.
Among its other findings the report shows that although the number of students who smoke is as high as 1.8 million (23 per cent) the rates of daily and heavy smoking have dropped slightly in the last decade.
Between 1993 and 2005 daily rates of smoking among college students dropped from 15 to 12 per cent, and heavy smoking (more than half a pack a day) from 9 to 7 per cent in the same period.
Nearly 38 per cent of college administrators, according to the report, say the major barrier to addressing the problem of drinking and drugs is that “public perception that substance abuse by college students is a normal rite of passage”.
CASA on the other hand do not accept this, as reflected in the accusation by CASA’s chairman and former US Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Joseph A Califano Jr, “Under any circumstances acceptance by administrators, trustees, professors and parents of this college culture of alcohol and other drug abuse is inexcusable.”
He goes on to say that “these Pontius Pilate presidents and parents, deans, trustees and alumni have become part of the problem. Their acceptance of a status quo of rampant alcohol and other drug abuse puts the best and the brightest–and the nation’s future–in harm’s way”.
He says they have encouraged a college culture of alcohol and drug abuse, and this is linked to poor “academic performance, depression, anxiety, suicide, property damage, vandalism, fights and a host of medical problems”.
The report makes a number of recommendations to address the problem, including limiting the advertising of alcohol on campus and at sports events, and banning smoking on campus premises. Others who have looked at the report suggest this raises the question of whether the age limit for alcohol should be raised.
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University who wrote the report is not to be confused with The National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association, also known as “CASA”.
Click here for National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA)
Written by: Catharine Paddock
Writer: Medical News Today