The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University issued a report March 15 about substance abuse at college campuses in United States. The report, entitled Wasting the Best and the Brightest: Substance Abuse at America's Colleges and Universities, is raising eyebrows across the country of people concerned about the higher education system that is supposed to be providing the leaders of tomorrow. The 231-page report is considered the most comprehensive study ever done on the topic.
The report compares data from a 1993 study about substance use and abuse on college campuses to data from a study conducted in 2005. While it covers substance abuse of all kinds, from alcohol to Zolof, the findings on alcohol consumption are responsible for creating a stir in the media. Overall, the report found that about half of all college students binge drink and/or abuse prescription or illegal drugs and that almost one in every four students meet the medical criteria for substance abuse or dependence, that is three times the proportion among the general public.
At times, the numbers reveal an increasing trend in substance use by college students, especially in the area of drugs. For example, student abuse of prescription painkillers like OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet and tranquilizers like Xanax and Valium has increased three to four times since 1993.
The study also found that the proportions of students who drink (65-70 percent) and binge drink (40 percent) have changed very little over the past decade. CASA's major claim is that it is not the number of students who are drinking but the frequency with which they are drinking that has changed so dramatically. The report says that the proportion of students who binge drink frequently increased 15.7 percent, "risky drinking" increased 25 percent and there was a 20 percent increase in the proportion of students drinking to get drunk.
Dan Devine, FCRH '07 said, "Binge drinking? That's so 1993."
2008 Woodie Awards
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