Study Finds Peak Months for College Students’ 1st Drug Use
Posted on 08/27/2015 by C Greisen
Students most likely to try alcohol, marijuana and inhalants in summer, not school year, study finds.
A study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for the first time provides insight on substance use initiation patterns among the one in every five, full-time college students (aged 18 to 22) using illicit or potentially harmful substances, including alcohol.
The study, featured in the Baltimore Sun, found underage college students who have never tried alcohol before are most likely to have it for the first time in June. While the peak month for alcohol use among college students of legal drinking age was January.
Rear Adm. Peter Delany, the director of SAMHSA’s Center for Behavioral Health Statistics, which produced the report encouraged parents to talk to their kids about their expectations around substance use, particularly during these peak times.
Parents of new college students “breathe a big sigh of relief that they got them through high school,” said Amelia Arria of University of Maryland, a co-director of the Maryland Collaborative to Reduce College Drinking and Related Problems. “Parents should be more aware that college presents a risky environment (for drug and alcohol use) that can impair academic achievement and derail a student’s chances of success.”
The Maryland Collaborative offers tools and scripts for parents at the website collegeparentsmatter.org.
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