USE, ABUSE AND MISREPRESENTATION

The tables are empty. The service is so fast that I don't even need a
buzzer. Apparently, this is the golden hour in which I don't have to
wait for food at the Loop. The cashier and I joke about why I'm here
alone at 11:30 p.m. on a Friday.

"I'm meeting up with a friend who's getting McDonalds," I tell
him.

"Su-ure," he says sarcastically. "Well, at least you got it to go."
Laughing, he hands me my food as I secretly try to look less like a
loser for not being out partying.

On any given weekend night, many Duke students are not sober. Although
by far the most abused drug at Duke and most college campuses, alcohol
is not the only recreational drug that's being consumed tonight.
Behind closed doors, marijuana use follows, trailed by cocaine and a
variety of obscure and designer drugs. In 2007, USA Today reported
that about a third of college students had used marijuana and almost
half of all college students engaged in binge drinking at least once a
month.

Although the stigma and barriers to access of many illegal drugs is
high, alcohol-an unclassified legal substance-seems to sneakily get by
branding itself with the air of coolness and passing itself from Solo
cup to Solo cup. Associated with kicking back and watching the game
and bottle service in the cosmopolitan clubs of New York City, alcohol
has both an elite status in our culture and positive associations with
everyday enjoyment. The guise of its relatively safe nature, however,
seems to slip past the dangers that linger in the back of our minds.

We refer to drugs and alcohol as two separate entities, as if alcohol
is so benign that it is barely even considered a drug anymore.
Arguments for its social acceptability based on its legality are
flawed, especially when a large percentage of drinkers are underage,
and the legal classification system for illegal drugs does not always
accurately represent the actual harm inflicted onto users and their
societies. From order of most to least harm, drugs are classified as
Schedule I, II III, IV and V. The lower numbers are supposedly the
most dangerous and usually have the harshest penalties for possession
or distribution. Schedule I includes heroin and cocaine but also LSD
and Ecstasy which, like marijuana, have been associated with medical
benefits.

In 2007, researchers evaluated 20 substances based on physical harm,
social harm, physiological dependence, psychological dependence,
intoxication levels, health care costs, and other factors. On average,
alcohol ranked as the fifth most harmful drug, exceeding tobacco in
ninth place and cannabis in 11th place. It also ranked above LSD,
which was in 14th place. Ecstasy, which supposedly causes holes in
one's brain, was the third least harmful drug. Heroin and cocaine
ranked first and second respectively, in most harmful drugs.

The results from this study are incongruous with the general behavior,
attitudes and policy regarding drug use on our campus and across the
nation. Researchers "saw no clear distinction between socially
acceptable and illicit substances. The fact that the two most widely
used legal drugs lie in the upper half of the ranking of harm is
surely important information that should be taken into account in
public debate on illegal drug use."

I do not support the use of illegal drugs. This study, however, sheds
light on the hypocrisy of government policies regarding drug and
alcohol use, lobbied and advertised heavily by the tobacco and alcohol
industry.

Although I am not opposed to alcohol consumption, the misconception
that alcohol is one of the safer drugs, or not a drug at all, has
direct consequences. Disguised by a college culture and even
encouraged in some circles, substance abuse remains an issue on
campus. According to USA Today's report, 23 percent of college
students meet the medical definition for alcohol or drug abuse or
dependence. When you live anywhere long enough, the weird begins to
look normal. At Duke, people are expected to be drunk on a Friday
night. The cashier at the Loop is surprised I am not.

Blurring the line between substance use and abuse, college will
continue to exist as the only time in our life we can live so
uninhibitedly every weekend. We should at least realize, though, that
this behavior is kind of weird. If you do party heavily, drink up
now-because after college it's called alcoholism.