Next Generation of Rehab: Is the party culture on college campuses more extreme than we thought?

Tallahassee, Fl- Living in a popular college town like Tallahassee, I hear the same story every Monday, a friend of mine telling me about their weekend escapades. They are always bragging about their weekend blackout or getting ridiculously high. It usually ends with someone looking to buy Adderal to catch up on the assignments they failed to do over their crazy weekend. College is the ultimate time to party, for most it’s the period of time before demanding adulthood, when careers and families become responsibilities. But is the extreme party culture on campuses the norm or is it a veil over a much bigger problem?

In college, our long weeks can be extremely stressful, with a copious amount of essays or lab assignments, students look for stress release during the weekends. This involves binge drinking, illegal substances, and prescription pills. Taylor Bishop, a student at FAMU explained her attitude towards partying “When I go out, more than half the time my friends are heavily intoxicated and I don’t really worry about what their doing because I believe they wont put themselves in dangerous situations but sometimes that’s not always the case.” Just like Taylor, many students have become numb to extreme substance use. The scary truth is that many of these substances are habit-forming and students are dealing with addictions they are are not completely aware of. 

According to a report in 2005 from CASA, the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, “almost one in four college students (22.9%) met the medical criteria for substance abuse or dependence, almost triple the proportion (8.5%) in the general population.” Many students don’t recognize the thin line between intense partying and real substance abuse. Zach Walker, a current law student at Indiana University, dealt with his roommate developing an addiction during his undergrad at IU.

 “Chris* was addicted to pain killers and cocaine,” said Zach. His addiction worsened and began to affect his relationship with his teammates, “I knew he had been stressed out about his obligations as a player and as his addiction grew he became more and more distant from everyone on the team.” 

But like most of us, Zach brushed it off at first, 

“Chris began his heavy use of drugs during the latter part of my time as his roommate. At that point many of us weren’t aware of the severity because of the amount of partying that some times takes place on college campuses.” said Zach of his roommate. “I felt like I was just living with a person that liked to party real hard.” Stories like Zach’s are common but sometimes the problem isn’t recognized.

There are plenty of negative impacts with college’s party culture. According to Core Institute, 31% of college students missed a class due to substance abuse, 22% of students tanked an exam or essay, and 159,000 of the nations current freshmen will drop out due to alcohol or drug abuse. Substance use also creates dangerous situations  on college campuses. Alcohol is involved in 90% of campus rapes. According to the American Journal of Health, 1,825 college students die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries. When weighing life and death, alcohol and drugs are never worth life. 

If you or someone you know may be dealing with addiction or abuse, there are plenty of options to seek help. Sunshine Manor, FAMU’s office of counseling, provides services for substance abuse, addiction, and sexual assault. 

• Name changed to protect the individual

Sunshine Manor: 850-599-3145

National Help Line for Substance Abuse

(800) 262-2463