It’s like as soon as you land in college, drugs call out to you from the deep. Like they are magnets and you keep drawing closer and closer to them. But why is that it becomes such a common phenomenon in college to try or get addicted to drugs? Everyone knows about the crazy stories about how drugs can affect your body and mind, but somehow, it still doesn’t seem to scare them enough.
Here are some reasons why college students turn to drugs very easily –
- Plain curiosity
This is the most common one. As soon as college starts, it’s like a new life where you get to do anything you want. You’re not a child anymore and parental restrictions are no more a threat. You want to try new things and drugs becomes one of them, on top of the list. The curiosity is just maddening until you give in and then that turns into addiction, sadly.
- Peer pressure
Another super common one from among the lot. Because of the need for fitting in and wanting to be a part of the “popular people” or at least liked by them, we do a lot of stupid, and even wrong things. Even if things don’t make sense, we do them because we want to be involved and not left alone, or worse, disliked. Drugs is a huge part of this. We see the popular kids do drugs, that influences the others to be like them too. The ill effects kinda blur out, because hey, everybody wants to fit in.
- Getting away from strict parents
A lot of research shows that college students with strict parents are more likely to turn to drugs as a way of rebelling against them than those who have grown up in more liberal homes. These young adults want to break out of the cage so bad that they turn to experimenting with all kinds of things, drugs being one from the top of the list. This is their definition of freedom and with all the wrong intentions, it can escalate into addiction before they even know it.
- Bullies
Sadly, bullying is very common in schools and colleges. It can mess up people’s lives for good and leave them with trauma for the rest of their lives. Some even go to the extreme end like committing suicide because they are not able to deal with it. Drugs are also seen as a mode of escape where these young adults find some sort of getaway from the pain. There are various anti-bullying awareness programmes and how there is a serious need to put an end to it.
- Expectations, low grades and stress
College students are expected to do well in their studies and score the best marks in their exams so that they are placed in reputed companies and organizations for work. This expectation comes as a very heavy one from family and when they are not able to keep up, stress takes over. This huge burden of expectations gets heavier and heavier, and then there’s drugs to help make it lighter. This becomes an outlet for them to get some relaxing and fun, keeping the heavy burden of school far away.
There is a serious need for more awareness programs where open discussions on drug addiction and the downhill road it takes one on. Families, schools and colleges also need to be more sensitive to the needs of these young adults and be able to work towards protecting them from these things. Protecting future generations starts with us.
