Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

Issue date: 4/4/07 Section: News

Sophomore history major Matt Reeder's friends started using drugs like Xanax, Vicodin and OxyContin while they were still in high school at the age of 16. The pills came from a friend's parent who was prescribed them after undergoing surgery.

She would "dip into" the medicine cabinet and take out pills when she had people over, Reeder said. His friends started using the drugs as an experiment while her parents weren't home, just because "they were around."

Reeder's high school experience is a story that is popping up more on college campuses, according to a report released by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in March, titled "Wasting the Best and the Brightest: Substance Abuse at America's Colleges and Universities."

The center surveyed 2,000 students, 400 college administrators, researchers, eight focus groups and 800 reviews of books and reports between 2002 to 2006. The study found that student use of opioids such as Percocet, Vicodin and OxyContin has more than tripled from 0.7 percent to 3.1 percent since 1993, and student use of tranquilizers, such as Xanax and Valium, has more than quadrupled, from 0.4 percent to 2.2 percent.

OxyContin is a drug designed for time-released pain relief from cancer, surgical procedures or other chronic health problems, and tranquilizers like Xanax are formulated to treat anxiety, tension and sleep disorders, according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

While the these drugs still have a relatively low rate of recreational use, the increase is outpacing that of other drugs, said Joseph Califano, Jr., CASA chairman and president, revealing "an alarming public health crisis on America's college campuses."

The increased presence of the drugs over the years is a result of a "liberalized" use of pain medications, said Alain Joffe, director of the Health and Wellness Center at Johns Hopkins University. He said doctors today are less shy about prescribing the drugs.

Recreational users of these medications typically crush the pills to eliminate its time-release function and snort it for an euphoric sensation similar to that of heroin, said Eleanor Artigiani, faculty research assistant at the Center for Substance Abuse Research. The drugs effectively impair motor functions and other mental abilities.

In Reeder's terms, it "zonked out" his friends, who would break a few pills into lines and take them while they were drinking. He said they knew mixing the two was dangerous, but the pills intensified the effects of the alcohol, and the alcohol prolonged the effects of the pills.

When Reeder's friends couldn't get it out of their own cabinets, they could easily buy it from kids who could get it out of theirs. Twenty-milligram pills would sell for $15 to $20, while $50 could buy 80 milligrams, "enough for a couple of people to share," said Reeder, and they would sometimes casually use the drugs after school.

"It was just a different kind of f---ed up, something else to try," he said.

Other popular methods of obtaining prescription pills include "doctor shopping," said Artigiani - the process of collecting prescriptions from several physicians at once. Many prescription drugs are also available on the Internet.

Because they're central nervous system depressants, both types of drugs depress breathing and sometimes stop breathing completely, especially in combination with alcohol, also a depressant, said Joffe. He said unintentional poisoning from prescription opioids more than doubled between 1999 and 2004 in college-age people. In 1999, 704 20 to 24 year-olds from opioid drug abuse, and in 2004 the number jumped to 1,616; among 15 to 19 year-olds, there were 260 deaths in 1999 and 643 in 2004.

While long-term use of both opioids and tranquilizers have been proven to lead to tolerance, addiction and death, short-term use of Xanax has been proven to impair memory and create paranoia and suicidal thoughts. Prolonged Xanax abuse also represses brain activity, and a sudden stop in its use can create a rebound in brain activity and cause seizures, according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

At the report's release, Califano urged universities and colleges to take action against the growing trend of student drug abuse. CASA's 10 preventative measures included providing screening and treatment for at-risk students and scheduling classes and exams Monday through Friday, and in some cases through Saturday, to reduce substance abuse that occurs on weekends.

Contact reporter Janelle Zara at newsdesk@dbk.umd.edu.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools