The Times on student drug use:
Students take drugs. As headlines go, this is probably up there with “Dog bites man”. But it is the way that many take drugs, and the volume, that may well put the fear of God into their parents. The drill for a night can routinely be “cocktailing” – Ecstasy while getting ready to go out, more Es and MDMA powder while out, then chilling with ketamine, the horse tranquilliser, before bed.
If you think this sounds histrionic, think again. Though it is impossible to quantify exactly how many students are now “using”, anecdotal evidence suggests that drugs are more easily available within the university population than ever. The 2006-07 British Crime Survey estimates that nearly half of 16 to 24-year olds have used one or more illicit drugs in their lifetime, 24.1 per cent have used one or more in the last year and 14.3 per cent in the last month.
One of the things that strikes me reading these paragraphs is that there are different understands of what “normal” means.
I wonder if we asked the student population to estimate how many of their peers had ever used illegal drugs, or had used them in the last month whether we’d get anything like the same sort of picture.
Certainly those I’ve spoken to about normative messages suggest that young people regularly over estimate the number of their peers that are “at it”, and the theory then goes that this creates a sense of permission for young people to use drugs.
You’ll remember that we covered the evidence base for normative messages changing behaviour here.
Further reading:
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