Pill Poppin is Poppin On Campus! Better Watch That GPA

Went to school in Baton Rouge for a couple of years/My college career got downed with a couple of beers/Came back home, now I gotta pay back loans/Same nigga, same block, same shit they own – Common “It’s Your World (Part 1 & 2)”

Transitioning from high school to college is the most difficult time for students, which explains why so many are drunk and high on liquor and pills when you troll through Instagram posts.
The stress of that process is the reason drug, and alcohol abuse is so high, particularly among Freshman.
Case in point: President Barack Obama’s daughter Malia isn’t even in college yet, but she received an apology from Brown University after students “Narced” her playing beer pong.
It’s so easy for students to get their hands on liquor and prescription drugs.
According to a national survey by The Jed Foundation, 30% of students regularly consume drugs and alcohol during their first term at college.
Over 70% have some access to Ritalin and Adderall, whether it is from other students, their parents or off the street.

Drunk man asleep in car near highway

“I would say it’s close to accurate just for the fact that it’s easy to get. I don’t use them personally, but I definitely can tell you how to get them,” Plattsburgh State broadcast journalism major Kyle Bryans told Plattsburgh State’s Cardinal Points. “If someone says, ‘Hey, take this pill. It’ll help you on the exam,’ tell that to an 18-year-old kid, and they might want to give it a shot,” Bryans said.
Even though students know taking the drugs is equivalent to cheating, roughly 1 and 10 do it anyway. Aside from studying, many drink and do either drug while partying, because they appear to enhance the effects of drinking.
Science proves that unprescribed use of either drug results in anxiety, stress and other side effects the will drastically impact a student’s health during his or her first term. The research also proved that doing drugs and consuming liquor will eventually lead to a lower GPA.
“The discrepancy between students’ perception that it can enhance the effects of drinking and the reality is disturbing because taking ADHD medications could prompt students to actually drink more to feel buzzed or drunk,” said Gustavus Adolphus College professor Peg O’Connor.
A lot of factors contribute to the abuse. But mostly, it starts in high school, when there’s not enough emotional support during the transition to the first year of college.
Having a mentor has proven to be the most successful method of avoiding traps as a Freshman.
It’s something former New England Patriots player Asante Samuel touched on during an interview with CollegeHip.com.
“I had a friend named Elton Patterson. He helped guide me,” Asante Samuel told CollegeHipHop.com. “He helped me set up my email so I could go into the computer lab and log onto the Internet. Just simple stuff like that was a transition.”
So don’t ignore the advice and think that turning to liquor and drugs are the way. And students already have enough to worry about, so parents and teachers in high school need to step it up.
“It is clear that emotional preparedness should be better integrated into the work that high school communities are doing to guide students through the transition into college,” said John MacPhee, Executive Director, The JED Foundation.