Living the College Life: Other Drugs - Should I Try Pot or Other Drugs?

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"If you try something that has been laced, then you may end up sick or even dead. It is not a risk worth taking." - Lauren Hardgrove, Ohio University,

Students learn about themselves in college by doing new things and pushing boundaries. Perhaps that's why many who would never dream of breaking the law or endangering their lives might otherwise try drugs. Some convince themselves nothing bad can come of it. They are emboldened by the fact that, despite all the warnings about drugs, they know people on campus who have tried or even regularly use drugs"and they haven't dropped dead yet. What these students may not stop to think about, though, are the many wasted lives that resulted from similar rationalizations.

This article will take a look at drugs other than alcohol on campus, and how students have handled choices associated with drug use. It relates how and why colleges have little tolerance for drug-using students, and it makes it clear, from a legal standpoint, the deep trouble that can result from a drug arrest. In addition, a Harvard Medical School faculty member with extensive research experience in the field tells why even trying drugs is a bad idea. Even once.

As a result, this article is less about making choices than the urgency of making the only practical choice about drugs: staying away from them at all cost.

If you're not familiar with the smell of marijuana, you'll likely know it when you sniff its unmistakable pungent odor. Expect its scent to creep through the hallways if students are using it anywhere on your dorm floor. And if they open the door while you're passing by, you might receive a friendly invitation to join in.

Students say declining the offer is one of the best decisions you can make in college.

Grace Choe (University of Southern California) says she realizes that trying drugs isn't likely to kill you. "But personally, I don't think drugs are that much of a hurrah"it's not worth it for me to [mess] up my mind. I have a pretty shoddy memory to begin with, so I like to keep all my brain cells, thank you."

Students say pot is the most commonly used drug on campus and, as a result, the one most likely to be offered to them. They might be enticed by claims that it's pure or "good stuff." They're mindful that pot isn't in the same league as drugs such as cocaine or Ecstasy, and the claims of quality reassure them.

One student not otherwise cited in this chapter suggests, "Make sure you know where it came from," to those thinking of trying pot. It seems like good advice, especially considering the source: an intelligent student who is cited in several other chapters in this book. But the guidance is flawed: First, you can't predict how you'll respond to getting high. Secondly, unless you personally grew it and manufactured it yourself (not impossible but unlikely), there is no way to know for certain where it "came from" or what's in it.

The only thing you can be sure of is that you're risking your health by inhaling such a substance.