Latest Updates

(National Institute on Drug Abuse, September 8) Marijuana use continued to rise among college students over the past five years and remained at historically high levels among same-aged peers who are not in college in 2020, according to survey results from the 2020 Monitoring the Future (MTF) panel study.

CAPT Jeffrey Coady, Psy.D., Acting Director of Center for Substance Abuse Prevention at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

(KTVZ, August 17) College students who misuse prescription stimulants or opioids often experience negative mental health and academic outcomes, even if they don’t use other illicit drugs, a recent Oregon State University study found.

Intentional or accidental overdoses can occur when someone you know takes too much of a drug — even if it's the first time taking the drug, and whether the drug is illicit, prescription, or over the counter. 

(University of North Carolina, August 3) First-year college students are reporting drinking less alcohol and having fewer episodes of binge drinking four months into the coronavirus pandemic than they were before the pandemic started, according to a study by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Although hazing has existed for hundreds of years, hazing researcher Hank Nuwer documented that “There wasn't a single [hazing] death from alcohol before 1940. Now, it's one of the most major.” Since January 2000, 100 individuals have lost their lives due to hazing activities in the U.S. Of those, 59 were related to substance use, most frequently, alcohol.

On July 14 at 2 p.m. ET, Campus Drug Prevention will be co-hosting a Twitter chat with Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Communities Talk initiative on underage drinking and substance misuse prevention on college campuses.

This past year, we navigated unprecedented challenges. We shifted programming online. We were pushed to be more creative and flexible.

(Inside Higher Ed, June 17) Sorority and, in particular, fraternity hazing and related hazardous drinking continue to be areas of significant concern for college administrators across the country. Some recent data point to a return to pre-pandemic levels, but more concerning is a continuing upward trend. In fact, a potential, if not likely, scenario is that alcohol use and hazing may substantially increase this fall semester.