{"id":44184,"date":"2018-06-21T14:08:53","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T21:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=44184"},"modified":"2018-06-21T14:08:53","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T21:08:53","slug":"what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/","title":{"rendered":"What drugs are students taking and why are they taking them?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nFor many students, the move away to university is the first time living away from home. And with all the freedoms independent living entails, it\u2019s maybe not surprising then that drug use tends to be much higher among students than the general population.<\/p>\n

The 2017 Crime Survey of England and Wales<\/a>\u00a0found that around one in five adults age 16 to 24 have taken a drug in the past year \u2013 but the figure is much higher for university students. About two in five students are drug users, according to a\u00a0study from the National Union of Students<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The most popular drugs are cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy, but the rise in prescription drugs \u2013 included in the\u00a0Crime Survey for England and Wales survey<\/a>\u00a0for the first time in 2015 \u2013 represents a noteworthy development in peoples\u2019 drug using repertoires.<\/p>\n

To try and deal with the issue of widespread drug use at UK universities, one university is enforcing a drug-free policy among its students. In a\u00a0recent letter<\/a>\u00a0printed in the Sunday Times, the University of Buckingham\u2019s vice chancellor, Sir Anthony Seldon, announced that the university was set to become the first in the UK to ask students to sign a contract promising not to take drugs on university property.<\/p>\n

Drug taking has no place at all in our vision of what a university is about. If students persist in taking drugs, they will be asked to leave.<\/em><\/p>\n

This might sound all well and good, but this type of proposed crackdown on drug use is likely to exacerbate stress among students. It will also mean that students will be more likely to hide drug use and less likely to discuss any drug concerns with staff or peers.<\/p>\n

Grade pressures<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Part of the problem is that students aren\u2019t just using drugs to get high on nights out. Far from being used for hedonistic reasons, research shows many students are self medicating with substances\u00a0to progress in their education<\/a>. This is in part because increased\u00a0student fees and debt<\/a>\u00a0are leading to greater pressure on students to achieve high grades.<\/p>\n

A recent\u00a0YouGov survey<\/a>\u00a0found that 77% of all students reported a fear of failure \u2013 with their primary cause of stress being university studies. This fear of failure and desire to attain high grades leads to a willingness among some students to do anything to keep up \u2013 using \u201csmart drugs<\/a>\u201d such as Modafinil, Ritalin and Adderall, according to some reports.
\n

\"\"

Drug use at university isn\u2019t just about getting high on a night out. Shutterstock<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

These prescription medications are used to help improve students\u2019 concentration and focus, particularly when studying toward assessments. Students claim that using them means they can study for long periods and combat procrastination and exhaustion.<\/p>\n

Self medicating<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Increased levels of stress and anxiety may also account for the recent trend in\u00a0young people using more benzodiazepines<\/a>, particularly Xanax. Access to these drugs has been made easier with the growth in online illicit pharmacies and the \u201cdark web\u201d.<\/p>\n

The extent of mental health problems in UK universities was also highlighted in the\u00a0YouGov survey<\/a>. It found that over a quarter of students reported having a mental health problem \u2013 with depression and anxiety the most common. Almost three-quarters of those surveyed stated that studying for their degree was one of their main sources of stress.<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0recent study of 2,810 UK-based students<\/a>, conducted by the National Union of Students, mental health featured prominently as an explanatory factor for drug use. One-third of students who used drugs, said they had done so to deal with stress, while almost a quarter said they use them to self medicate for an existing mental health problem.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the answer?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

What all this shows is that drug use is very much a part of the student experience. And, given that drug taking happens at universities for a myriad of reasons, a blanket ban on substances is not the answer.<\/p>\n

University policies should instead aim to minimise harmful effects rather than simply condemn and prohibit them. This is important, because hard-line prohibitionist policies increase stigma and discourage engagement with support services.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, students studying at university are often in vulnerable financial and emotional states. And universities have a duty of care to ensure their students are appropriately supported, rather than punished.<\/p>\n

Author Bios:<\/strong> Robert Ralphs is a Reader in Criminology, Mike Salinas is a Lecturer in Criminology, and Rebecca Askew is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology (Illicit substance use and drug policy) all at Manchester Metropolitan University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many students, the move away to university is the first time living away from home. And with all the freedoms independent living entails, it\u2019s maybe not surprising then that drug use tends to be much higher among students than the general population. The 2017 Crime Survey of England and Wales\u00a0found that around one in […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":44185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[209347],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-44184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-student-drug-habits"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat drugs are students taking and why are they taking them? - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What drugs are students taking and why are they taking them? - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For many students, the move away to university is the first time living away from home. And with all the freedoms independent living entails, it\u2019s maybe not surprising then that drug use tends to be much higher among students than the general population. The 2017 Crime Survey of England and Wales\u00a0found that around one in […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-21T21:08:53+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/drugs-inside.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"452\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"What drugs are students taking and why are they taking them?\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-21T21:08:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":767,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/06\\\/drugs-inside.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"student drug habits\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\\\/\",\"name\":\"What drugs are students taking and why are they taking them? - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/06\\\/drugs-inside.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-21T21:08:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/06\\\/drugs-inside.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/06\\\/drugs-inside.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":452},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What drugs are students taking and why are they taking them?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What drugs are students taking and why are they taking them? - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What drugs are students taking and why are they taking them? - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"For many students, the move away to university is the first time living away from home. And with all the freedoms independent living entails, it\u2019s maybe not surprising then that drug use tends to be much higher among students than the general population. The 2017 Crime Survey of England and Wales\u00a0found that around one in […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2018-06-21T21:08:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":452,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/drugs-inside.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"What drugs are students taking and why are they taking them?","datePublished":"2018-06-21T21:08:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/"},"wordCount":767,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/drugs-inside.jpg","keywords":["student drug habits"],"articleSection":["Lifestyle"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/","name":"What drugs are students taking and why are they taking them? - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/drugs-inside.jpg","datePublished":"2018-06-21T21:08:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/drugs-inside.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/drugs-inside.jpg","width":680,"height":452},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-drugs-are-students-taking-and-why-are-they-taking-them\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What drugs are students taking and why are they taking them?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44184"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=44184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}