Staying Sober Through Your College Years
Choosing Between the Parties and an Education
The start of a new college year may bring visions of a new discoveries, new friends and advancement toward a new career. Unfortunately, for too many, college brings heavy alcohol use, drug use, injury and, for 1,700 students each year, even death. No young person leaves for college with the intention to become a drug addict or alcoholic. But it’s all too easy to get caught up in the parties and club scenes.
What Drugs Are Common on Campuses?
Historically, there’s always been plenty of alcohol and marijuana on campuses, but these days, you’ll find Adderall being passed around to help with heavy class loads and late night study sessions. There’s also plenty of painkillers, cocaine and tranquilizers.
The other hazard for college students is a tradition like Spring Break. Drug and alcohol use skyrockets during this time and there are almost always a few deaths and serious injuries at popular Spring Break venues. Party drugs like cocaine, Ecstasy, GHB, Rohypnol, and synthetics are often found at these party venues.
New Freedoms
When a young adult leaves for college, it’s so enticing to take advantage of all the new freedoms available. Most new college students have not lived away from home or spent long periods on their own before so these new freedoms can be overwhelming. The excitement of going clubbing or to party after party can sway one to bend any rules they might have set for themselves before arrival. Maybe they have a few drinks, nothing serious. But when others start popping OxyContin or Ecstasy, it might be hard to rein oneself in.
It can also be hard to resist the temptation to use Adderall, a form of amphetamine, to study or write papers for long hours. When your friends are doing it and seem to be doing okay, why shouldn’t you? I’ll join in, you might think, finish my paper and still make it to my 8 a.m. class with the use of this stimulant. Or maybe not… since its use can trigger paranoia, depression and hostility as well as leading some people into addiction.
And now, with legalization of medical marijuana in nearly half the states and recreational use being legal in a growing number, marijuana use is increasingly normalized. As a result, we’re seeing an increase in marijuana use among college students. According to the annual Monitoring the Future study, in 2015, 38 percent of college students said they had used marijuana in the prior 12 months, up from 30 percent in 2006.
The marijuana being grown today is far more potent than anything offered to earlier generations. Regular use of this drug lowers one’s ambition and ability to think clearly. And yet, ambition and clear thinking are qualities one needs to obtain a quality education.
Opioids Have Made their Way onto Campuses
Today’s opioid crisis has not excluded college students. Several universities including the University of Georgia have noted an increase in heroin use on their campuses in recent years. Opioid addiction often starts in middle-class homes through the use of prescription painkillers, easy enough to obtain from unused pills in the medicine cabinet, or when they were prescribed to a young adult after dental work or sports injury. Addiction to painkillers can happen fast and when the pills run out, the cheaper and easier alternative is heroin.
Is it Really Worth it?
As a college student you will invest four or more years and tens of thousands of dollars in a higher education and degree. Is it worth throwing all that away for the sake of the party? What are the chances of you retaining that education and putting it to use if you spend the majority of your college years stoned or drunk? A little sampling of drugs can easily develop into full-blown addiction and the destruction of one’s goals.
Here’s what you can do to make it easier to avoid the lure of the campus party and drug scene:
Find supportive housing. Find other sober students to share an apartment or dorm room with. Or maybe an apartment off campus might be a good choice, more remote from on-campus party crowd. Many colleges now have sober housing for students in recovery so check with the college housing office.
Join the party but skip the alcohol. You don’t have to become a recluse — you can still socialize and have fun without drinking or taking drugs. Dance, act up as much as you want and you’ll still fit right in. If it’s hard for you, go to parties with one or more other people who want to stay sober.
Stay active and pursue other interests. It’s not expected that you do nothing but study seven days a week. Plan hikes, trips to musical or theater events, boating adventures, meetings of people who like to write or paint or sing. Get creative. Every college has plenty of clubs that focus on common interests. And there’s always team sports on every college campus.
Expand your group of friends. The more people you get to know, the more likely you’ll find people who have similar interests to yours.
Maintain Your Personal Interests and Well-Being
If there were activities that helped you maintain your balance or health at home, do your best to continue them at school. This could mean eating well, exercise or other activity you have found enhances your well-being. Keep in touch with family and good friends who have known you for years as a way of staying in touch with your true nature and your goals.
Help Others
Social service is an excellent way of keeping yourself from engaging in less positive activities. Choose activities that reflect your own convictions and purpose in life — perhaps visiting the elderly or tutoring children once a week. If you have been at college a year or two already, perhaps you could help a newer student get settled into a positive lifestyle.
It may be challenging. You may need apply some discipline to yourself and polish up your social skills, but if you can make through college without being sidetracked by alcohol and drug abuse, you’ve set yourself on a positive track for the future.
