New Attitudes

DRUG USE ALL TOO COMMON ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES

I still remember the first time I saw anyone smoking pot. I was a sophomore
in college and was visiting students at Georgia Tech. We all sat in a
cramped living room as the pipe was lighted and passed from person to person.

A naive 19-year-old, I was shocked. When a pipe was passed my way, I
refused it.

Now, only two years later, this scene has become all too familiar. I don't
even flinch when I see people smoking pot. I no longer worry about my
friends who smoke pot or drink too much.

I worry about the ones who are doing harder drugs.

Drug abuse is rampant at the University of Georgia, as among college
students elsewhere, more so than any student will ever admit --- or perhaps
more than any parent wants to know about.

I don't mean only about students doing cocaine or heroin (I have known a
few who dabbled in those) but taking drugs people seem to have forgotten about.

Students use them to chill out, to stay up or just to hallucinate. Some
students relax by popping over-the-counter drugs, usually depressants or
painkillers.

Students who need to stay up all night studying or partying --- or who just
need a boost of energy --- sometimes use methamphetamines. Methamphetamines
go by many names, such as speed, crystal meth and crank. They can often be
highly addictive, and an overdose can lead to stroke or heart damage.

There is also the highly publicized Ecstasy and students still cook up
mushrooms to get a "natural" high.

There is also ketamine, or "special K," which is a general anesthetic used
mainly on animals. It is a white powder that is usually sniffed, causing
dreamlike states that lead to hallucinations and delirium.

We students all hear stories of how this drug causes people to lose
consciousness and foam at the mouth.

I know you parents will say, "That's not my child." But drug abuse is more
common than we want to think. I know many students, from those in the honor
society to those barely passing their classes, who do these types of drugs
for one reason or another.

No one is immune from falling prey to drugs, especially in an environment
such as college, when it has become so socially acceptable.

We shouldn't write this off as "kids will be kids." Drug abuse is alive and
well. Students don't view it as a big deal; maybe it is time parents and
family did.