Views From the Field

As a 21-year-old junior in college, I was deployed to Iraq. That call came right in the middle of the first semester. I went from being a college student sitting in classrooms to patrolling the streets of Iraq

Not that long ago, the nation’s campus-based prevention professionals were loosely organized in part by the U.S. Department of Education and its funded Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Other Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention (HEC), through an entity called The Network Addressing Collegiate Alcohol and Other Drug Issues (The Network). 

College is an exciting time of transitions, new experiences, responsibilities, and a lot more unstructured free time. For students in recovery from a substance use disorder, the overall collegiate environment can be frightening and isolating.

As Americans enjoy their summer vacations, the campus police chiefs and public safety directors serving our nation’s 4,200 colleges and universities are already turning their attention to the challenges their agencies will face in the new academic year.

In the Broadway musical Rent, during the song Seasons of Love, the cast sings of 525,600 minutes, and asks how do you measure a year in a life. 

Leaders should seek out proactive opportunities to educate colleagues about their responsibility to provide effective, evidence-based programs and services to students ahead of a crisis.

In 2016, according to one national study, Wilmington, North Carolina, was named as the city having the highest rate of opioid misuse in the nation. 

College and university campuses are unique environments when it comes to drug use, addiction, and treatment. 

In my work as a prevention professional, I have begrudgingly come to accept this as a reality that has fostered innovation on our campus. 

As our college and universities continue to diversify, so too must our methods for helping address substance abuse on our campuses.