Prompted by “Study Finds Peak Months For College Students’ 1st Drug Use”: http://www.hightimes.com/read/study-finds-peak-months-college-students-1st-drug-use
For anyone interested in actual drug education (not exhaustingly tried-n-failed scaremongering), the prompting piece points to government research showing there’s a resonating start time during the year for each drug.
College students tend to try stimulants such as Adderall and Ritalin for the first time in November, December or April, according to the examination of 12 years of government survey data. They may believe the attention deficit disorder medications will help them ace their exams, even though there is no medical evidence that such drugs enhance performance and such drugs can be addictive.
Students are most likely to try marijuana, inhalants and alcohol for the first time during the summer, not the school year…
No “medical” evidence? I’m not necessarily disagreeing with their conclusion, but modern medicine is in the early stages of understanding the brain, so there’s probably a reasonable lacking of medical evidence on any activity’s mental impact (e.g. being excessively flooded by advertising messages).
First use of cigarettes peaks in June, September and October. Underage college students who have never tried alcohol before are most likely to have it for the first time in June. First-time use of cigars, marijuana and inhalants is highest in June and July, and the first nonmedical use of prescription painkillers happens most often in December.
Other reports using the same survey have found the average age of first alcohol use is about 17 in the U.S., with other drug initiation tending to be later. First marijuana use happens at about age 18 and first nonmedical use of prescription stimulants or painkillers typically happens at about age 21 to 22…
The new findings suggest that prevention messages could be targeted at the months when college students are most vulnerable…
Instead of “prevention” messages, how about a realistic and responsible pros/cons entertainment campaign (education with entertainment for interest)? To assume cannabis (a stress management tool upon proper use) is always a negative is simply wrong, for prime example.
“These are times when parents may want to think about checking in,” said Delany, whose son is a college freshman. “The No. 1 thing to do is talk to your kids in a non-emotional way and tell them what expectations you have.”
Other research has found that college students listen to their parents.
Credibility determines whether or not anyone listens to anyone else.
Expectations can be serious stressors (perhaps even ironically fueling drug abuse).
Each person lives a unique life. Granted there are often similarities, but when we get technical about it (which we must upon being realistic), no two people ever have precisely the same experience (because no two people ever occupy the exact same space at the exact same time as the exact same person) — which means each life runs into unique textures of common stress issues (optimally requiring unique textures of solutions, which often contrasts against ‘status quo’ rigidity — a major stressor fueling drug abuse, based at least upon common sense and basic observation).
You can tell them your expectations, but understand they need to find the right solutions for their specific problems (because only they know the intricacies of their problems via experience), and the serious flexibility offered by certain drug use is key in technologically addressing those problems (mind equipment).
“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.”
As many people in many (if not all) successfully major areas of life reveal, avoiding drug use can also impair academic achievement and derail anyone’s chances of success.
Without a pros/cons look at drug use (respecting the uniqueness of each drug, because they’re usually dramatically different from each other), the credibility necessary for impact remains absent — so too does effective education as a consequence.
As such, drug abuse (including the arbitrarily legal alcohol abuse) rages on with no respect towards prohibition signatures anywhere (wasted taxpayer money to the tune of billions spent annually).
College students, or anyone else, generally doesn’t listen, because they generally don’t have anyone credible to listen to.
Our Respect Cannabis campaign serves to properly remedy that serious problem, but while prohibition fails to impact drug experimentation, by fear of criminal liability, prohibition stands in the way of proper education (even in the case of alcohol, which is prohibited at the age when its experimentation is most commonly started).
The law is in the way of what is obviously fundamentally a health issue. That’s why Respect Cannabis (which grows to encompass intentional perception alteration in general) must focus upon law prior to focusing upon filling the massive drug education gap.
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I am an honest freak (or reasonably responsibly balanced "misfit", if you prefer) of an artist working and resting to best carefully contribute towards helping society. Too many people abuse reasoning (e.g. 'partial truth = whole truth' scam), while I exercise reason to explore and express whole truth without any conflict-of-interest -- all within a sometimes offbeat style of psychedelic artistry.
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