Discussions Responses

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Question

For the last discussion, write your primary post of a minimum of two paragraphs due by end of day on Wednesday, address the drinking and drug usage with college students.

 

Identify what can be done to help freshman and sophomores get the most out of their education and not fall trap to the ‘partying’ scene at the expense of their education and future. You must post and discuss your idea and provide supporting educational fact sheet (not previously used by this instructor or a classmate), and a You Tube video or documentary that would be useful with this age group to help make students aware of the dangers of drug experimentation. 

Response 1

I think a great way to help incoming freshman make informed choices would be to make a class like “Drugs and Society” a mandatory class in the first year of college. I would have to imagine most schools cover a lot of this material in orientation but students would take it much more seriously if there was a grade involved. I think that there is no way to stop experimentation on campus but a class like this would go a long way in getting students to go about it in a more educated way and consider the consequences of their actions. The most important strategy is to not approach students with preaching and being judgmental.
My drug fact sheet is courtesy of the

National Institute on Drug Abuse

. I thought that this fact sheet did a good job explaining in clear language some aspects of addiction and how drugs can manipulate the brain’s neurotransmitters. The video I chose, which is curiously titled

“Just One Game of Kings,”

despite the fact that there is no drinking game depicted. It shows a peer pressure scenario and the two ways it turned out depending on the choices made by the main character.

Response 2

Alcohol and drug abuse among college students (age 18 to 22) is a serious problem. University environment are usually seen as encouraging not only use but also abuse. They consume alcohol to get drunk and party harder than past. According to The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (2011) the intensity of binge drinking and rate of drug abuse have jumped rapidly. according to the CASA report, an estimated 310,000 U.S. college students smoke marijuana daily and 636,000 students use illegal drugs (other than marijuana), such as cocaine and heroin. In an environment where binge drinking is common, there are a lot of problems caused by alcohol and drugs like alcohol-related injuries, violation, sexual assault and rape. Consequence of abuse of alcohol and illegal drugs not only affect to GPA but also death. Young student should realize the magnitude of the problem. I found the video Alcohol Abuse on Campus on YouTube and he mentioned about how to manage his drinking and maintain control over urges to binge drink. It would be helpful to students who worry about their unsafe drinking.  

  I think that to cut down binge drinking and use of drug in college, colleges need to make a stricter policy about alcohol and drugs, such as academic probation or ban alcohol on campus. Moreover, students should be educated about alcohol abuse, how it damages to them. Lastly, college president and parents, dean and alumni need to take binge drinking seriously. It is not a college rule and it can be really harmful for students.     

  YouTude : Alcohol Abuse on Campus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM55jBu6bcg   

  Buddy. T. (2011, August 16). College Drinking, Drug Use Grows More Extreme. About.com. Retrieved July 24, 2013, from http://alcoholism.about.com/od/college/a/casa070315.htm 

Response 3

According to the National Center on Addiction and Substances Abuse

(CASA) at Columbia University, half of full time students binge drink or abuse prescription and illegal drugs. Just short of a fourth of college, students meet the criteria for substance abuse or dependence; this is more than twice the percentage of the rest of the population. The problem goes beyond alcohol. Since the 1990s the number of students using marijuana daily has doubled. Cocaine and heroin use is on the rise increasing 52 percent. From 1993 to 2005, the percentage of students that abuse prescription opiods and tranquilizers has exploded to well over 300 percent.  The consequences are extending. Each year: over 1,700 students die from alcohol, alcohol plays a role in 700,000 student assaults and there are not quit 100,000 sexual assaults and rape related to alcohol.  

 

What can be done to reverse this trend?  At Northeastern University, faculty are provided

information

that provides what student behaviors signal substance abuse.  When faculty find suspected substance abuse, they are encouraged to provide support and literature.  To help reverse the CASA suggests: banning alcohol in dorms and at campus parties and sporting events, require students to take classes five days a week so they cannot create schedules with four day weekends for binges and colleges and universities should work with the local municipality to limit the number of bars and liquor stores adjacent to campus.  In addition to limiting the availability, colleges and universities should make available many fun and stimulating drug and alcohol events.

Here

is a YouTube video I found that maybe useful for this age group’s awareness of the dangers of drugs and alcohol.  

Response 4

College campuses are places where young adults not only learn about course materials and academics but they grow socially. For many it is there first experience being on their own without the watchful eye of their parents. Some transition into the time very well, some not so well. I have worked on a college campus for over twenty years, most of it as a campus police officer. I have witnesses countless incidents where alcohol or drug use had been excessive. Unfortunately I have also responded and investigated fatal incidents involving drugs and alcohol.
The NIH has staggering statistics that are very believable. The most notable is “1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries”
We are looking to use the materials from the “Truth” http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/the-truth-about-drugs.html
It is a very well done educational initiative that we believe will be effective in a college environment. Although I also think that is should be mandatory that all incoming students be contacted and watch a video and meet people who provide outreach. This is not done on many campuses.