Welfare: Drugs
Push doesn’t want to be all po-faced about this and our policy is that we neither condone nor condemn anything you do. We just tell it like it is.
At some universities drugs are a problem (and, for some students, a ‘problem’ means a lack of availability). There’s both use and abuse. Of course, using anything illegal can get you kicked out of university, which is probably the worst way to flunk. And in any case, messing about with unfamiliar substances, without knowing what they’ll do to you, is pretty bloody daft.
No university is completely immune from the effects of drugs, although the most affected are those in towns or cities where drugs are easily available and where a certain type of club culture is strongest.
However, most universities don’t have any facilities to combat drug problems specifically. They rely on the health and counselling services to handle situations.
Alcohol abuse – and remember that alcohol is the most common drug taken in UK universities – is part of the problem too. Drinking’s a part of student life and there’s nothing wrong in that, but going too far is also quite common.
All too often, it’s the result of students who’re rather too immature and who’re away from home for the first time and just a tad too over-excited about the availability of cheap drink. For others, alcoholism is a more serious illness. In any case, students can get help from their university or students’ union welfare services or from the local or campus health centres.
Last updated on: 21 April 2008