by Katherine O'Brien, ThD candidate & Certified College Planning Specialist
Over 11% of the 7.7M drug related ER visits were made by 18-25 year olds. This age group also has the highest rate of cannibus related ER visits. (per a 2023 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report)
A recent article by Dr. Jill Grimes, a college health specialist, pointed out a number of blind spots many of us have about drugs, particularly with regard to our teens and drugs.
1. "Good" kids won't use drugs - especially my child, who is smart, responsible, successful, and has a "good head" on his or her shoulders. Unfortunately, you might still get a call about your young adult child OD'ing, hallucinating, becoming paranoid, depressed, or having a substance-related car accident.
2. My kid would never get near a drug dealer - a seedy person in a dark alley somewhere. Life has changed. Lots of undergrads are dealing drugs, even though they don't realize they are drug dealers. Here's what it looks like today: a dorm friend passing along some pills to an overtired classmate, someone sharing prescription ADHD meds to help a friend focus.... this is often what drug dealers look like today. Maybe they are just sharing a THC laced gummy candy or brownie with a friend with social anxiety.
Eating a brownie, or other edible, isn't lighting up a cigarette or joint, right? Even our good, rule abiding kids are getting tripped up by the innocent looking ways drugs are offered and used all around their campus.
3. Lots of parents and/or our friends smoked a little weed in college, and we turned out ok. So, we think a little experimentation won't hurt our kids, since it didn't hurt us.
With the legalization of marijuana (yes, I'm dating myself by even using that term) or cannabis, use has become very very common. One 2023 study Dr. Grimes mentioned was a couple of recent studies of 14,000+ students on more than a dozen Texas college campuses, where recreational cannabis is illegal) that found that almost 40% of them had used it - a whopping 26% had used it on their Texas college campus!!
Today's weed is stronger than what was available in the '80s and '90s. The concentration of THS was less than 1.5% in 1980 to almost 4% in 1994, to an average of OVER 16% in 2022, per the National Institute of Drug Abuse. A Colorado report stated that the marijuana flowers produced there now have an average of 19.2% THC per gram and the hash and oils, concentrated products, average over 65% per gram - vaping cartridges average nearly 80% per gram. Today's weed is FAR more addictive.
4. Self-medicating has become pretty common. Our young adults are more stressed and less resilient than previous generations has been. Many kids have Xanax or Adderall prescriptions. That familiarity makes others think it's safe to buy a prescription med from a friend. And that friend may not realize that he or she is actually a drug dealer. Since they are seeing such free use of prescribed pills, some conclude that all pills are safe, but they aren't.
Our kids are facing more subtle and complex challenges than we did in this arena. It's not just happening at parties. It's not limited to the fringe kids. It's happening all over campus and in the dorms, in ways and forms that seem harmless or safe. Add the increased potency to that mix and it's no wonder so many are becoming addicted and/or finding themselves in the ER or having a related crisis.
5. Parents CAN prepare their kids for the reality of drugs on campus.
Add Narcan to their first aid kit and teach them how and when to administer it. Narcan is helpful for stopping the ill effects of an opioid or fentanyl overdose. You can buy it without a prescription but will likely need to ask the pharmacist for it since most keep it behind the counter rather than on the shelves.
Teach your student/teen about the various ways drugs are showing up on campus these days and encourage them to visit the health clinic or other medical facility on campus with they experience a serious inability to focus or concentration, insomnia, or test or social anxiety. Proper care and treatment can help significantly.
Encourage them to seek help BEFORE things become a crisis. Nipping a problem in the bud is so much better than having to deal with the mess afterwards. Careful and proper handling of small problems with stress, injury, anxiety, or depression will often stop them from becoming a crisis.
Providing expert knowledge for the journey to college is what I do in my college consulting practice. Helping young people become successful adults includes helping them remove obstacles as well as identify and utilize opportunities. For more information, please visit my website CelticCollegeConsultants.com. To schedule a consultation to discuss your situation and explore the ways I can help make your teens dreams come true, please email me at: KOB@CelticCollegeConsultants.com
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