March 15, 2007

Substance Abuse Rises on Campuses While Colleges Do Little, Report Says

Nearly half of all American college students binge-drink or abuse prescription or illegal drugs, according to a report released today by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

The 231-page report, “Wasting the Best and Brightest: Substance Abuse at America’s Colleges and Universities,” collates four years of research and previously published data, and echoes many themes and findings of past reports on the issue.

It says that drug abuse and excessive alcohol consumption among students have been on the rise since 1993, and links that risky behavior with increases in alcohol-related deaths and higher rates of rape, assault, vandalism, depression, and suicide on campuses.

“It’s time to get the ‘high’ out of higher education,” said Joseph A. Califano Jr., president of the organization, which is based at Columbia University, and a former U.S. secretary of health, education, and welfare.

In a written statement accompanying the report, he lays the blame for those trends at the feet of higher education’s “Pontius Pilate presidents and parents, deans, trustees, and alumni,” whose “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.”

Comments

1. It is very relevant that there is a problem with the substance abuse around America’s colleges and universities, but the fact is that Joseph Califano is putting the blame on the wrong people. I say this in a manner of not “sticking up” for the presidents and parents, deans, trustees, and alumni; but rather being fair and more sympathetic to who is blamed for this major problem. Presidents, deans, trustees, and alumni have been through college themselves, so they should understand that it is not a shock for students attending their universities to have a good time while not attending classes. Although they would like to put a halt on the binge drinking and drug abuse, I believe the deans, trustees, alumni, and presidents have very little to do with the abuse. If a student is 21, obviously it would just be absurd to try and put an end to their abuse, after all, they are just having fun and enjoying their college experience, although it is in fact possible for a legal drinker to abuse drugs and even drinking. For those under 21, I see where Califano is coming from. It is not necessary for students under the age of 21 to drink and abuse druges so heavily and through it into the face of the college they attend and represent. As a student of a college, and being under 21, I have of course had my share of drinks, but I would not nrecessarily say I abused them in any way to harm my school’s program. Parents on the other hand can either be blamed or not blamed. If their child goes away to school, it is obviously out of their hands to stop the abuse because the student is living on their own and making their way into an adult lifestyle. I believe they cannot be blamed for that. But, if their child lives with them in their home and under their roof, the parent still feels the obligation to look after their child, and expects the student to still respect their rules. Although they understand their child is becoming an adult, they still need to know when to bend the rules and cut their children off from partying too heavily.

   This article is very interesting in the fact that a reader can go either way in agreeing or disagreeing with the point Califano is trying to make. Although I do agree with some of the things he has stated, I also disagree with some.

   — Keith Sied    Mar 19, 05:02 PM    #

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