Club Drugs Go to College

Matrix: The Magazine for Leaders in Education, Sept, 2000 by Nicole Rivard

Imprinted with smiley faces and cartoon characters, ecstasy may look friendly and harmless, but club drugs like this can kill.

Administrators and drug counselors share strategies to warn students about this growing danger.

A large X on the door of a frat house does not mean that the occupants are hosting a calculus study session. And if students begin carrying around bottles of Visine, chances are it's not because they're suddenly pulling all-nighters to make the grade. Instead, these may be signs that "club drugs," named for their association with all-night parties at dance clubs, have made their way onto your campus.

"X" Rooms, a growing phenomenon, indicate places where students are getting high on ecstasy, and Visine bottles are a convenient place to store the clear, liquid drug Gamma-hydroxybutyrate, commonly known as GHB.

Although those interviewed by Matrix said most college students don't use drugs, club drugs are becoming the drugs of choice for those who do. According to the 1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 17 percent of people aged 18 to 20 used illegal drugs in 1997. In 1998, the same age group's use rose to 19.9 percent.

Ecstasy, methamphetamine, GHB, rohypnol, and ketamine are the substances experts are particularly worried about, Alan Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said.

"Alcohol is the first and oldest club drug," Westley Clark, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, said. "To address club drugs administrators have to address the issue of drinking because if students are in a setting where their judgment is impaired from alcohol, issues like club drugs become more important."

These drugs have been around for years, but all of the early warning signs are saying use is starting to go up. The Drug Abuse Warning Network, a national probability survey of hospitals with emergency departments, conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, shows an increase in GHB-related emergency room visits from 55 in 1994 to 1,282 in 1998. Rohypnol went from 13 cases in 1994 to 623 in 1998, and ecstasy went from 250 in 1994 to 1,142 in 1998. Ketamine- and methamphetamine-related emergency room visits have increased overall from 1994 but decreased from 1997 to 1998.

"It has not yet reached crisis proportions, but we are trying to get ahead of potential crisis proportions to prevent an epidemic," Leshner said.

Studies show that people between the ages of 18 and 29 take most of these synthetic club drugs. College students in particular have easy access to them because they are Internet savvy, which allows them to connect with manufacturers or find recipes to make the drugs themselves. And, a lot of misinformation on the Web is leading students to believe GHB is safe.

In December, the NIDA launched a multi-media campaign to educate the public about these drugs. Its site at http://www.clubdrugs.org had received 183,000 hits by April. (The information on the site can be ordered or downloaded free of charge.)

In addition to the campaign, the NIDA is increasing its commitment to research club drugs by 40 percent to $54 million in fiscal 2000. The way to educate young adults is to give them scientific-based information that they can understand and relate to, Leshner said.

Health Risks

Some students may assume administrators don't want them to have any fun so they tune out "just say no messages." But unless they think getting sick and dying is fun, students won't ignore the health risks associated with these drugs. That is the message higher-education leaders need to emphasize, prevention experts say. Another effective way to reach students is to have them talk to each other about the dangers of these substances.

A lot of the evidence the NIDA has collected so far suggests these substances interfere with brain function that lasts long after people stop using them. The brain areas responsible for mood, control of emotion, and learning and memory are damaged, and the more one uses the larger and longer lasting the effect.

Clark also pointed out that quality control is not foremost in the minds of the drug manufacturers, and that students' decision making is impaired when using these drugs, making them more likely to have unprotected sex.

Unfortunately many young adults have the misconception that these drugs dangers are OK to use because they aren't as dangerous or addictive as crack, cocaine, or heroin. "I wouldn't underestimate the of ecstasy or methamphetamine for some people," Leshner said. "And a large dose of rohypnol can kill you because it's a tranquilizer. These drugs are dangerous alone but they are particularly dangerous when they are mixed with alcohol."

Because many students believe these substances are not hardcore drugs, first-time drug users are attracted to them, as are the calorie-conscious. "Kids today want to look like Ally McBeal and alcohol has a lot of calories in it," said Trinka Porrata, a drug consultant who was a narcotics officer with the Los Angeles Police Department.