NCJ Number
204079
Date Published
April 2004
Length
60 pages
Annotation
This booklet provides an overview of illegal drug usage within higher education.
Abstract
The Office of National Drug Control Policy put together this guide to give administrators at institutions of higher education a basic understanding of illegal drug use among the college population and to urge their support in ridding campuses of this threat. People start using drugs for many reasons including peer pressure, thrills, or in search to a path of enlightenment. No one takes drugs with the intent of becoming an addict. Rather, they become addicts because the chemically induced changes in the brain make the individual feel as though they need the drug and endanger their health. Any amount of drug use can dull the educational experience. Drugs are a barrier to all that a college or university aims to do for its students, thus maintaining a drug-free campus is vital to achieving ones goals. Data collected by researchers in Michigan for the Monitoring the Future Study point to an unsettling trend about rates of drug use in college. While still in high school, college-bound seniors are less likely to use illicit drugs than their age-peers who do not go to college. After graduation, however, college students “catch-up” and exceed their age-peers in drug use. Drugs used on college campuses today include marijuana, PCP, and many club drugs. The Drug-Free Schools and Campuses regulations require that, as a condition of receiving funds or any other form of assistance under any Federal program, an institution of higher education must certify that it has adopted and implemented a program to prevent the unlawful possession, use, or distribution of illicit drugs and alcohol by students and employees. In 2003, Congress passed the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act, which prohibits individuals from renting, opening, leasing, or maintaining any controlled substance. This guide found that overall, working to eliminate drugs is an ongoing, difficult process, but that the challenge of maintaining a campus without drugs is well worth the effort. List of sources, definitions and Web sites of related organizations included.