James,* a freshman at Northeastern University was a promising
young man from New Jersey. Throughout high school he had dreamed of
attending Northeastern and making Boston his future home.
James,* a freshman at Northeastern University was a promising young man from New Jersey. Throughout high school he had dreamed of attending Northeastern and making Boston his future home. He was taking calculus, organic chemistry, psychology, and economics and did well in each of them.
Like many incoming freshman, he was amazed at the amount of freedom college life allowed. He no longer had a curfew or his parents telling him what to do. He discovered how easy and “fun” it was to try and use different drugs. His GPA dropped from a 3.5 to below a 1.0 in one semester.
By the end of his second semester, he was forced to drop two of his classes due to lack of attendance. He was sleeping from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and drinking, smoking weed, popping prescription valium, snorting coke, etc. the rest of the time. Whatever his friends and he could get their hands on, they’d try. It wasn’t because he was bored, or because he was a “bad kid.”
It was because it was available, and there wasn’t anyone around to make him think about the repercussions of their actions. They were only thinking about the present.
I wish I had known how prominent drugs were among college students before I came to Northeastern. I had always known that alcohol and drugs were a problem, but I was very surprised to see it happen so frequently.
According to the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information, NCADI, in the past 15 years, the number of young adults ages 12 to 25 who became abusers of prescription painkillers such as OxyContin or Vicodin has exploded. In 1985 there were approximately 400,000 users. In 2000 that number increased to more than 2 million.
There are three categories of prescription drugs that are most commonly abused among young people: Opioids, pain killers, CNS depressants, which are prescribed for depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders, and stimulants, which are prescribed for sleep disorder narcolepsy, attention deficit disorder (ADD), and obesity.
Examples of common Opioids are Vicodin, Percocet, Oxycotin, and Codeine. Common CNS depressants include xanax and valium, and examples of stimulants are adderall and ridalin. Surprisingly, college kids will go to great lengths to gain access to these different medications. During finals week, I knew of several people selling and buying adderall in large quantities to help them stay awake and stay focused.
I was prescribed adderall earlier this year to help me focus at work, and once word got out that I had it, the requests began pouring in. I’d get cell phone calls and instant messages online daily from friends, or friends from friends, wanting to know if I’d sell them some. One could view this as an easy money-making outlet, but I view it as a potential addiction waiting to happen.
Individuals with prescriptions need to have a knowledge of the drug they are taking, what drugs not to take and why. Without this knowledge, the user might be unaware of the damage they are causing to themselves. My friend *Charolette has a prescription for Effexor XR, which is prescribed to treat patients suffering from depression. She was also taking Vicodin and valium with alcohol recreationally every weekend, unaware that they would have an effect on each other. Effexor is an “upper”, used to help the depressed user’s brain reach a state or “normalcy.”
Both Valium and alcohol are depressants, drugs that slow the brain down. With an individual suffering from depression, these two drugs can have a major effect on how they think. Although everyone’s body reacts to drugs differently there is a general effect these drugs can have on one another. In general, it significantly increases the feelings of sadness and hopelessness the antidepressant medication is supposed to fix. She would have days of total sadness and depression, and thought that the medication she was taking wasn’t working. She had no idea that the drugs she was taking “for fun” were manipulating the drugs she needed to take.
Administrators put a lot of emphasis on the alcohol abuse among college aged students. Surprise, surprise, it isn’t difficult for under-aged college kids to get their hands on alcohol. All they need is a good fake ID or a friend who’s over 21 to purchase it for them. Through my eyes, the emphasis should be put on preventing the use of both alcohol and drugs together. Teenagers aren’t aware of the dangers that can happen to their body. All they know is what to do and what short-term effect they will get.
Effects on the body:
Opioids – Attach to opioid receptions in the brain and spinal cord, blocking the transmission of pain messages to the brain.
CNS depressants – slow brain activity through actions on the GABA system and, therefore, produce a calming effect.
Stimulants – enhance brain activity, causing an increase in alertness, attention, and energy.
Effects of short-term use:
Opioids – blocked pain messages, drowsiness, depressed respiration.
CNS depressants – a “sleepy”, uncoordinated feeling during the first few days.
Stimulants – elevated blood pressure, increased heart rate and suppressed appetite.
Effects of long-term use:
Opiods and CNS depressants – potential for tolerance, physical dependence, withdrawal, and/or addiction.
Stimulants – potential for addiction.
Possible negative effects
Opioids – Severe respiratory depression or death following a large single dose.
CNS depressants – Seizures following a rebound in brain activity after reducing or discontinuing use.
Stimulants – Dangerously high body temperatures or an irregular heartbeat after taking high doses.
The use of pain killers and CNS depressants along with alcohol causes an increased and quickened “drunk” effect. It’s become popular among select groups of students to either ingest the pill normally or crush it, and “snort” or inhale it through the nose. The later causes the drug to be released into the blood stream quicker.
NCADI reports that in 2000, 43 percent of overdoses treated in hospital emergency rooms – or nearly 500,000 patients — were directly caused by abusing prescription drugs. In seven major urban cities, 626 people died from overdoses of painkillers. And from 1998 to 2000, Vicodin abuse increased 48 percent while OxyContin abuse rose 108 percent.
Getting your hands on these prescription medications isn’t an easy task. Obtaining pills, in the New England area, such as Vicodin or Xanax are far more difficult than finding marijuana or harder drugs such cocaine or ecstasy. This is a growing problem that needs to be both recognized and dealt with.
With every new generation comes a new addiction, or a new popular drug. Infomercials, pamphlets and motivational speakers aren’t going to fix or cure this epidemic. Kids need to be taught the long term effects of drugs and the effects of mixing drugs with alcohol. The infomercials we see on TV everyday preaching “If you have a friend who has a problem with alcohol or drugs…help them.”
Nothing on the infomercial says what constitutes a problem, or why it is a problem in the first place. Simply saying, “This is bad” or “Don’t do that” or “Because I said so,” isn’t enough. If no one tells them, they’ll learn through experience, and sometimes by then it’s too late.
What about James*? Well, he realized the seriousness of his actions two weeks before finals. He had already dropped two classes, and was failing two. He managed to bring up one of his Fs to a C, but lost the credit for the other three. His QPA now sits at a 1.9, the minimum average required to stay in the university. He’s realized that he can’t just live life in the present where drugs and alcohol are concerned. He has his fingers crossed now that his parents will let him return to school to continue his education.
For details on teen drug abuse, visit www.drugabuse.gov, www.steroidabuse.org, www.clubdrugs.org or the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information website, www.health.org/
*Names and identities changed.
Lacey Green is a third year (of five) student at Northeastern University in Boston. Readers may contact her at La********@*ol.com
