Drue trends contradictory
By Melanie Brandert
Staff Reporter
Hallucinogens such as LSD are
making a comeback, and num
bers showing a decline in mar
ijuana use at UNL may be misleading,
according to a drug education coordi
nator at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln.
A University Health Center student
health survey from 1985 to 1993
showed that the number of students
who have tried hallucinogens increased
from 6.2 percent in the latter 1980s to
8.5 percent in the early 1990s. The
survey showed that the number of
students who have tried marijuana has
been declining since 1990, from 40
percent to 27 percent in 1993.
Dave Bower, a drug and alcohol
education coordinator at the health
center, said that although the survey
showed a decrease, he had talked to
students who said marijuana use at
UNL was increasing.
“By word of mouth, I find that more
students may be using marijuana more
than people realize,” he said. “It’s not
that the survey is incorrect, but it deals
with around 300 students per year.
We’re trying to get a feel for what
students say is going on through that.”
One UNL student, who asked to be
identified only as Curt, said he thought
the number of people who used mari
juana had stayed the same or increased
slightly in the past few years. Howev
er, he said, its use has become less
taboo.
Many of the people he knows who
use marijuana don’t necessarily think
it’s unhealthy.
“All of the pot-smokers I know are
pretty health-conscious,” he said.
“It doesn’t do your lungs any good,
but I think alcohol causes a lot more
long-term problems,” he said, because
the lungs regenerate themselves if a
person quits smoking.
Curt said marijuana was the most
common illegal drug used by UNL
students, followed by LSD.
Bower said he thought students were
using marijuana and LSD more be
cause they were cheaper than most
illegal drugs and easier to obtain.
David Hunnicutt, education direc
tor at the Nebraska Council to Prevent
Drug and Alcohol Abuse, said mari
juana use was declining ten years ago
but had started to increase within the
last couple of years.
“I think it might be that 10 years
ago, there was a lot of pressure (to
crack down) on marijuana use, then
the shift focused on alcohol,” he said.
However, Curt said he thought a
bigger concern was increased experi
mentation with LSD among UNL stu
dents.
“If (people who use LSD) don’t
think it’s unhealthy, they should,” he
said. “It actually changes your brain. It
mimics a nuerotransmitter.” This caus
es LSD’s hallucinatory effect and can
cause flashbacks.
However, Hunnicutt said marijua
na could have hidden dangers.
It is difficult to know beforehand
how potent marijuana is, because the
concentration of its active ingredient,
tetrahydracannibol (THC), can’t be
controlled for dosage as beer can. Also,
a user would not be able to detect if the
drug had been altered.
“Withsmokingpot, youdon’tknow
if it has been laced with anything,” he
said.
Student Drug Use
A University Health Center student survey from
1985 to 1993 shows the percent of students who
have tried marijuana and hallucinogens. The percent
of students who tried these drugs is displayed above
the year. _■
^ Percent of students who
have tried
hallucin
Percent of stude
have tried mariji
Source: University Health Center Aaron Steckelberg/DN
Binge drinking has its consequences
By Melanie Brandert
Staff Reporter
wo alcohol prevention officials
disagree on recent trends re
garding alcohol consumption
among college students, but both ac
knowledge that binge drinking is still
a serious problem.
David Hunnicutt, education direc
tor at the Nebraska Council to Prevent
Drug and Alcohol Abuse, said there
had been a decrease in the number of
college students who drank frequent
ly, but the trend had remained steady
for binge drinking, the ingestion of
five or more alcoholic drinks at least
once a month.
He said people had underestimated
the seriousness of binge drinking in
Nebraska. Although 43 percent of col
lege students are binge drinkers na
tionwide, Hunnicutt said, that number
is closer to 50 percent in this state.
“Binging is the real concern,” he
said. “They don’t think it is as serious
here as other areas.”
Dave Bower, drug and alcohol ed
ucation coordinator at University
Health Center, said binge drinking had
increased at the University of Nebras
ka-Lincoln over the past couple years.
Citing UHC student health surveys, he
said eight of 10 UNL students drank,
and about half of students regularly
drink to get drunk.
Peer pressure is one of the main
reasons for the increase, Bower said.
Also, students don’t realize what
high-risk drinking can to do to their
bodies, both physically and mentally,
he said.
“That’s what they (students) per
ceive as being fun,” Bower said. “They
want to drink a lot of drinks and see
what happens later. They feel like
they’re indestructible.”
Bower said the number of male
UNL students who engage in heavy
drinking, the consumption of 60 or
more alcoholic drinks a month, has
doubled. For women, it has tripled.
According to the 1991-92 Nebras
ka Behavioral Risk Factor Survey from
the State Department of Health, peo
ple ages 18-24 were more likely to be
heavy drinkers (6 percent) than older
Nebraskans (3 percent).
“With that kind of high risk alcohol
use comes negative consequences that
students must experience,” Bower said.
Sarah Teten, an undeclared gradu
ate student at UNL, said she knows
drinking is bad for her. Teten goes to
the bars about three nights a week and
usually has two to six drinks or more.
“I like to be active and do healthy
things, but I abuse my body,” she said.
“I think it’s affordable right now, but
maybe not.”
However, according to Hunnicutt,
the consequences can be costly.
“There’s really a lot at stake,”
Hunnicutt said. “Drinking was a joke
at the time (when ‘Animal House’ was
popular in 1979), but the rules really
have changed.”
Businesses may decide not to hire
someone who is a problem drinker.
Alcohol also plays a factor in the
number of those who contract a sexu
ally-transmitted disease.
Hunnicutt said he thought stiffer
penalties for drinking and driving —
as well as alcohol awareness and edu
cation — would help decrease the
number of college-age binge drinkers.
“We have to hold people account
able for the decisions they make, and
that means enforcing campus poli
cies,” Hunnicutt said.
Establishments that serve or sell
alcohol to college students also should
be held accountable, said Brian Baker,
a traffic safety coordinator for the Lin
coln-Lancaster County Health Depart
ment.
According to the health depart
ment’s survey, young adults tended to
report more incidents of drinking and
driving each month than older adults.
Drinking and driving does not oc
cur as much in Lincoln as in some
other cities, Baker said, because of
UNL’s proximity to the bars.
The increase in the number of re
ported drinking and driving incidents
also means that college students con
tinue to ignore the facts and potential
consequences.
Bret Gottschall/DN
“It’s more important for them to
take chances and suffer the conse
quences of becoming intoxicated,” he
said. “(But) it doesn’t affect them
selves. It affects those around them.”
One solution Baker suggests is to
force downtown drinking establish
ments to provide responsible service
of alcohol to college students.
“If we can increase the responsibil
ity of those who sell alcohol, off- and
on-sale, together with education and
increased enforcement, (there will be)
enhanced laws and enhanced practices
by the judicial system to more speedily
and severely punish offenders.
“Everybody has to play die part.”