April 20 marked a holiday many marijuana users have deemed "4:20," a day on which cannabis enthusiasts celebrate their drug of choice by indulging in it. Among University students, 28.4 percent reported having used marijuana in the past year in the spring 2006 University of Virginia Health Behaviors Survey.
For the most part it seems as though the majority of University students avoid abusing illegal drugs. According to the same survey, only 5.1 percent of University students reported having used prescription stimulant drugs not prescribed to them for uses other than the prescribed purpose, and an even smaller 2.1 percent reported having used cocaine in the past year. Only 0.1 percent reported having used heroin in the past year.
According to Susan Bruce, director for the Center of Alcohol and Substance Education at the University, the most popular drugs among college students are alcohol, tobacco and marijuana.
"Looking at drugs other than these three, very small percentages of students are using them," Bruce said.
Third-year College student Emily O'Keefe, a peer health educator, said one reason students may use drugs is that "College students get really stressed out, and these drugs take you away from that completely."
Pass that dutch
One such drug, marijuana, produces a euphoric relaxation and altered sensory perception. Despite the appeal of the high, however, Richard Heisterman, substance use clinician at Student Health and licensed clinical social worker, warned that marijuana causes apathy as well as "problems with memory, learning and perception and loss of coordination."
Heisterman said one long-term risk of marijuana use is amotivational syndrome, a chronic state of apathy. He explained this could be because the "substance stays in your body for a long period of time, so single use effects will occur in an ongoing way."
Bruce said despite popular myth, heavy users can become addicted to marijuana. She distinguished between physical and psychological addiction, noting that it is possible to become psychologically addicted to marijuana. A physical addiction is less apparent, however, because tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the main psychoactive substance in marijuana, stays in fat cells in the body for an extended amount of time, meaning withdrawal symptoms are not as severe as with other drugs.
Study buddy
Prescription stimulants, such as Ritalin, are the most common kind of prescription drugs to be misused by students, though Bruce said even this number is very low.
These drugs are unsafe and can lead to dependency, but because prescription drugs are controlled, they lack a risk other drugs have.
"If you buy a street drug, it could be contaminated with something else," Bruce said. "This is not a risk with prescription drugs."
Heisterman said all stimulants mimic adrenaline and "produce a feeling of power and superiority."
He added that people who feel inferior or insecure could gravitate toward these drugs because they produce "a high upper sense of being in charge of one's life."
Stimulants also increase alertness, which could be one reason students abuse them.
"Students use them as study aids," Bruce said.
A thin line
Bruce said use of harder drugs, such as cocaine, at the University, is very low, though it is still "something we're concerned about."
With cocaine, there is a much higher risk of addiction than with drugs such as marijuana.
"Cocaine is a drug that can easily get away from people," Heisterman said. "It is a dangerous drug to mess around with."
Bruce agreed that the risks associated with cocaine use are tremendous.
"You can die on you first use," Bruce said, citing the 1986 death of Len Bias, a basketball player who died of cardiac arrhythmia due to cocaine overdose less than 48 hours after the Boston Celtics selected him in the NBA draft.
According to Heisterman, cocaine is a powerful psycho-stimulant that directly affects the brain.
Immediately after use, cocaine "produces hypersensitivity, alertness and energy," Heisterman said.
Heisterman also warned that long-term use can lead to drug-induced paranoid psychosis. Additionally, he said mixing cocaine with alcohol can be a deadly combination, forming the chemical cocaethylene in the body. Cocaethylene creates euphoria similar to that caused by cocaine alone, the difference being that it is longer-lasting. This combination is particularly toxic for the heart.
Dangerous highs
Though only 0.1 percent of students reported having used heroin in the past year in the Health Behaviors Survey, the dangers of this drug should not be ignored. An overdose can include convulsions, coma and possible death, according to the University of Virginia Alcohol and Drug Policy.
Heroin produces feelings of "euphoria, drowsiness and apathy," Heisterman said. "It gives a user a sense of making the world go away."
Heroin is highly addictive, both physically and psychologically, and the withdrawal symptoms -- such as panic, nausea, chills and tremors -- are severe.
Be a lifesaver
Ending drug abuse is a difficult and long process, according to O'Keefe.
"When you're an addict, you're always an addict," O'Keefe said, citing the story of a close friend who suffered from addiction and had to remind herself daily not to use.
O'Keefe said there is a difference between abuse and addiction. When someone is an addict, his or her brain chemistry changes, whereas an abuser is someone who continues to use a drug even after suffering negative consequences socially, emotionally or legally.
Heisterman said people tend to use drugs that meet a psychological need for them, noting that this is what leads to dependence. When a person decides to stop using a drug after a period of dependence, "psychological problems are opened up again," he said.
Though this can cause anxiety, it is "ultimately a good thing because the person can now turn his or her attention to the primary problem," Heisterman said.
O'Keefe emphasized the importance of supporting people who are trying to end a drug addiction.
"Addiction is a disease, not a personal weakness," O'Keefe said. "Anyone can be an addict."
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