Binge Drinking and Drug Use on U.S Collage Campuses Rising

Heavy partying including the use of alcohol and drugs has long been a feature of U.S. collage campuses. However in a study released today it appears that there is now such a large number of students abusing drugs and alcohol on U.S campuses that alarms bells are going off.

The practice of binge drinking and using drugs is on the rise in U.S. collage campuses. According to Reuters nearly 50 percent of U.S. collage students participate in binge drinking and or drug use.

One specific drug use that has risen sharply is the abuse of painkillers and other prescription drugs.

These recent findings were discovered in a study carried out by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. This study takes an in depth look at the drug and alcohol use by collage students on U.S collage campuses. Information was gathered by interviews, surveys and other statistics.

In speaking to Reuters about the study that was released to today, National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University head, Joseph Califano said, "I think we have, by almost any standard, a serious public health problem on the college campuses. And it's deteriorating."

The findings of the study are startling. It shows that 49 percent of full time college students take part in binge drinking and or take some kind of drug. The most commonly used drugs were painkillers, cocaine and marijuana. To give these statistics some real world numbers it would mean that 3.8 million students are partaking in these activities.

The study also discovered that as many as 23 percent of the students were abusing these substances to the levels that are considered as dependence or substance abuse by the medical community. Since 1999 the use of prescription painkillers has increased dramatically by 300 percent. This accounts for around 240,000 of the students studied. The most commonly used painkillers were said to be OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet.

Besides prescription painkillers the use of a number of other prescription drugs has seen huge increases. Some of the drugs that have seen their use doubled include Ritalin, Adderall and some kinds of tranquillisers. This accounts for 225,000 students.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University is now calling for something to be done. They claim that the excessive binge drinking and drug abusive does not act as a rite of passage. The Center claims that this behaviour has been allowed to bloom on U.S collage campuses and it was about time some strict guidelines were put in place to reduce it. In speaking with FoxNews, Joseph Califano said, "If they make this a priority they can do something about it."

A few signification figures from the study show that of the 68 percent of students drinking on U.S. collage campuses, 40 percent of these binge drink and these binge drinkers are doing this activity much more frequently.

In a FoxNews report Carol Falkowski from the Hazelden Foundation states, "It's getting more intense" "Drinking games that were happening in private parties of houses or bonfires 10 years ago are now happening in public venues. That to me reflects a sort of larger acceptance of extreme drinking." Falkowski believes this behaviour is sending out the wrong message about binge drinking.

It is thought that the increase in binge drinking and drug use leads to other serious problems. These include more risk of accidental death, overdose, falling grades, date rape and damage to property.

In a telephone interview with Bloomberg Joseph Califano said, "We're playing Russian roulette with the future leaders of our country." "In a time of fierce global competition, do we want to put our best and brightest students at risk?"

Sources
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aRlxvTV3nm0Y&refer=us

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Mar15/0,4670,CollegesSubstanceAbuse,00.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN1430923220070315