Parents Speak | Evaluating College OD Prevention for our Children

Parents Speak

Jul 29

FULL INTERVIEW BELOW

Parents getting multiple calls home throughout the week know an 18 year olds’ first semester of college is often full of anxiety, depression, and stress. The emotional tolls of new independence leads too many of these students to risky substance use habits in their campus communities. Recent data show students who excel socially have peaked rates of binge alcohol and marijuana use. Simultaneously, there is evidence that greater use of alcohol increases proportionately with a student’s sense of belonging among their peers. Thus, substance use issues impact students both excelling and struggling socially during their first few months of college (Arterberry, Peterson, Patrick, 2024). DopaGE COO, Amanda Grennan, sat down with Jordan G., an insurance director and father of 3, to ask about his family’s experience with collegiate substance use education. His eldest is a 3rd year undergraduate and his younger daughter is an incoming freshman for Fall 2024.

Parents and caregivers have observed that standard practice at many academic institutions is to answer concerns by merely highlighting campus-specific amnesty policies (analogous to state Good Samaritan Laws) during new student orientations and mandating ineffective alcohol-focused intervention programs (Barry, Hobbs, Haas & Gibson, 2015). When these traditional education initiatives for incoming students are shared with Gen-Z classes, there is ample room for improvement toward ensuring a healthier relationship with substance use while students build their new social networks.

As colleges are getting to know their new students, parents have been there. They send their children to college, trusting the institution to guide students through their children’s first taste of independence. Parents prepare their college students for what to expect based on their own experiences and believe the university will protect their children against what has grown into an epidemic - overdose.

Parent Jordan G’s Conversation with DopaGE:

AG | As you prepare to send your daughters to college this fall, what conversations are you having with them about substance use?

JG | “I've been adamant throughout their preparation to go off on their own that for drugs where they don't know where they came from or who's giving them to you: there is nobody you can trust, tread lightly, always have a wingman, and ideally just don’t use substances. At least some of those people around them will be, so I want them to understand there's plenty of risks that are out there that they have not considered. I don't know what all the risks are anymore, so I imagine my children don't either. But I want them to learn about the risks through education, not experience.”

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AG | For your child already in college, what education has the university provided to support their safety as they learn to navigate substance use as a new adult?

JG | “I think you see answers to things like drunk driving, sexual assault and hazing, the common topics which the school is obviously obligated to address. They shy away from this one, either thinking they’re the special case where substance misuse isn’t happening with their students or avoiding advertising it so it doesn’t impact their admissions - either way, it’s a massive gap to leave open. We have a responsibility, just like we're teaching these kids in classes, to teach these kids how to navigate adult life, and safe substance use habits are a part of that. Overdose is the silent killer right now, and it’s tragically gaining volume.”

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AG | What do you feel universities should include in their substance use education to support your child and help you rest easier as a parent?

JG | “As a parent, I really want to see them do more on prevention for overdose and polysubstance use, whether you're a student in the marching band, a sorority, or the football team. Every one of these kids should have this education. There is no resume that could show who is or isn’t using drugs. I would love it if every university, in a welcome orientation process, was like, ‘hey, you need to consider what you want your adult relationship with substance use to be and here is a program that gives you the facts to support those decisions’ - facts that I can’t really give my kids as their parent because I’m not a doctor or pharmacist.”

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AG | How much do you value overdose prevention and polysubstance use education alongside alcohol-focused substance use education?

JG | “What is being taught now doesn't work. This is apparent with the amount of deaths. So if you're expecting kids to call and tell on themselves for doing illegal drugs to seek help without any prior education, I don't think they're ever going to know what to do in emergency situations. Students are scared to call for help and think their friends will sleep it off. Well, guess what? Some of these things you are not sleeping off. You just won’t wake up, ever.

We have effectively trained kids to not tell the truth about drugs with the alcohol-focused substance use education. We have effectively trained people to lie to their doctor about their habits. So that's what people do. We have to build this education in a way that builds confidence to ask for help. You can’t single out the student that you think might do drugs. You have to do an overall training and education program for everyone. In order to be a student going to school and living on campus, there should be requirements to what you are educated on that meet the needs of anyone’s lifestyle.”

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AG | Why would parents look for comprehensive overdose prevention education included in first-year orientation?

JG | “Plenty of kids go to college and haven't really drank, and then they're in the hospital Day 2. On the other hand, plenty of kids go already having a lot of experience with alcohol. It's the same thing with other drugs. So if they think they're in a safe place - which many kids believe they are despite the risks - combined with the idea that they have wingmen around them at all times - which they might not - and are indestructible because they’re young - which of course they aren’t - the kids have to be educated to know that they are not indestructible and there is always a chance they don’t complete their degree or worse, because of substance use.

Consistency across the education and training that is quick, cool, and cutting edge - as opposed to different individuals presenting live - that is where the world is going. Luckily, people can go by the education necessary through something like DopaGE and know what to do for safety should a situation arise.”

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AG | How do you think college substance use education might impact your child’s relationship with substance use during their collegiate career?

JG | “I think the younger ones learn a lot from their older siblings or friends in most situations. I wish my older child was more educated on what to avoid and then, if an overdose happens on campus or at a party, she can show her sister what to look out for and how to deal with it. Older students and younger students are equally at risk. It's not like you outgrow it, even after college. I wish my oldest had this same opportunity.”

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AG | How does a college’s substance use education influence your decision of where you send your child to school?

JG | “Their approach to substance use contributes to the overall way the university plans to help my child develop at their institution. I would love that they have programs that teach children how to best live on their own for the first time. They're going to have complete freedom, usually for the first time. I think it's the college's responsibility to teach and guide students through this, which might lead to less monitoring from them. The university should train the kids on topics that most parents probably don’t know either, on what to do so that overdose risks can be solved amongst each other first.

Right now, at my oldest’s school, security guards and RA’s get trained on how to use Narcan. It's up to security to save the day. Every second counts in surviving an overdose situation, so that shouldn't be the case. It's got to be self-monitored by the students to some extent, beginning with the students knowing what they are dealing with.”

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AG | Finally, how urgent is it to you that colleges prioritize overdose prevention education for incoming students?

JG | “If you were a school, and you had a hole in the roof and water was pouring in nonstop, you would fix it. Well, guess what? There's a substance-use-sized hole in every university’s roof and that water is pouring in. The problem obviously exists, the data is staggering. Every parent wants to see their child survive to earn a diploma, but this is killing too many kids. The idea that any universities would not be doing overdose prevention education makes no sense. I hope it is more of a bandwidth and awareness block than a denial block.

The focus should be on substance education that works, where the data supports it. There could only be good that comes from this. Programming has to be consistent and built in a way that students are interested in it or it won’t make a difference. If they like how they’re learning and the key points are the same as what their friends at other schools are learning, then you get a huge impact because the kids talk to each other. An overdose among college-aged kids probably happened yesterday, if not today. These universities have a responsibility to take care of our children on their campuses and guide them into becoming young adults. Part of that responsibility is to make sure that the kids are in a safe environment and if they are not, what can the university do to rectify that? It is one of the things really missing at these schools and it probably has been for a long time. When it's a problem, you can either sit there and watch it or try to fix it. We need to give this our best efforts to fix it - now.”

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For many students, freshman year is their first sense of independence and autonomy. DopaGE was glad to speak with this father as research is emerging that highlights how, as college freshmen are adjusting to their new residences, social circles, and unfamiliar pressures, substance use serves as a readily-available method to meet new people and form bonds with their new community. The recent publication emphasizes that, by understanding how first year-students’ realities are altered by the college environment, universities will establish more early prevention initiatives and require fewer intervention initiatives to foster more inclusive, safer environments that better mitigate mental health and substance use issues among the first year classes (Arterberry et al., 2024).

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