Substance Abuse Statistics Among College Students are Alarming!

According to (Matics,Greg Feb. 2010) from the Jackson Harold Newspaper article stated the statistics were stunning in the rise of local drug abuse.  (Haskins, Amy) public health educator with the Jackson County Health Department and project director for the Jackson County Anti-Drug Coalition presented statistics of growing drug use.

In the 2009 survey conducted by (Haskins) 21.8 percent of 10^th graders, 33.3 % of high school juniors and 23.3% of high school seniors admitted to drug use.  More alarming was the fact the survey also gave a 10% increase of sixth graders that have begun the cycle of drinking, 11.2 showed tobacco usage and 12% were currently using marijuana.   Haskins further said, “West Virginia has experienced a 550% increase in prescription drug abuse.”  West Virginia residents average some 15 prescriptions each.  These statistics provided a “Take Back Program” disposing of unused prescription drugs is being planned by the Jackson County Anti-Drug Coalition for Year 2 of their grant.  Looking over the statistics, drug usage continues to rise with an extremely high percentage rate of youngsters abusing prescription pills which were astronomical and of huge concern.  The survey helped them acknowledge a severe drug problem within their state and they were able to determine a plan of action by the results.

According to an article published by (Leinwand,Donna; March 2007, USA TODAY) 5.4 million full time college students use drugs and also binge on alcohol at least once a month by a study that was conducted portraying an urgent problem on college campuses around the nation.  The study was released by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.  The study found that students had a higher level of drug usage than the general population in the public sector.  22.9 % of students meet the medical condition for alcohol or drug abuse dependence – compulsively abusing substances despite the negative consequences involved, comparing with 8.5% of all people 12 and older.

     The study also included students who admitted to abusing painkillers such as Percocet, Vicodin and OxyContin.  Compared to the survey from 1993 it only rose 1 percent that year and in 2005 it increased to 3.1 percent.  The percentage of the students smoking marijuana heavily jumped from 1.9% in 1993 to 4% in 2005.  Cocaine and heroin rose from 5.4 in 1993 to 8.2 in 2005.  The percentage of students who admitted or reported to binge drinking three or more times during the week rose from 19.7% in 1993 to 22.8% in 2001.  The study found in 2005, 83% of arrests on campus involved alcohol.  These percentages also show a growing increase in drugs and alcohol but the most shocking in this survey was that college students had a higher percentage rating than those that were not attending college 12 and older.  This was a surprising result to me as many people are veiled into believing most drug problems occur with the less fortunate and uneducated.  This should be a wakeup call to college campuses to bring awareness and to try to bring it under control.  This was a national survey so the statistics of college students using drugs and alcohol are very high and should be a concern for the health and safety of the students attending colleges.

References: 

Leinwand, D. (March 15, 2007) College Drug use, binge drinking rise. USA TODAY.

Matics, G. (February 2, 2010) Substance abuse statistics among youngsters alarming. The West Virginia Jackson Herald.