A survey of drug use on campus
The Admissions Office viewbook contains many images of Yale: students studying in the Bass Library, lounging on Old Campus and performing with a cappella and dance groups. Yet absent from the ivy-strewn pictorials are images of grungy off-campus parties and the Saturday night lines outside Toad’s Place. There are no images of students partying, drinking or — heaven forbid — doing drugs.
But just as alcohol-fueled pregames and crowded frat parties flavor some students’ Yale experience, so too do alternative and mainstream drugs shape the experience of some subgroups of Yale’s...
If you think you might have a problem with alcohol or drugs, there are regular AA meetings on campus every morning at 7:30-8:30 a.m. Mon-Fri at Dwight Hall and 8:00-9:00 a.m. Sat-Sun at Yale Health Services.
The meetings are very welcoming, and you can come and listen without having to commit to anything. The regular group includes students, professors, and community members, and the conversations are lively, smart, and, often, humorous. The group is as mixed in race, economic status, and sexual orientation as any you will find in New Haven. Although the organization is "Alcoholics Anonymous," you are welcome to be part of the group if you are having a problem with a drug other than alcohol.
I was someone who had a very successful college and professional career while also carrying on an impressive career as a heavy drinker. Eventually the drinking overtook everything else, and I had to quit.
It took me years to come to AA because I had the mistaken notion that I would have a religious message rammed down my throat and that I would be surrounded by a bunch of grim old men. I can tell you that as an agnostic woman, who isn't grim at all, I've found a great hidden community here on campus.
This piece is a bit one-sided for such a controversial topic. Was there really not a single person available to make an anti-drug comment (even while acknowledging that it is a minority position at Yale)?
This is probably the most interesting article I've read from the YDN. Great job.
LSD is not an amphetamine...
seriously?! could you not have found a few sane yalies who aren't blind to the REAL consequences of drug use?
LSD is in no way an amphetamine. Come on guys.
See, I actually think there are MANY more drug users (mostly alcohol and marijuana) than answered the survey. Don't you think there is a positive correlation between people who would respond to the survey and people who don't take drugs? I suggest sending the survey to every undergraduate, if possible, and placing a higher premium on responding. Then, you will get a more realistic distribution of results, obviously.
And isn't it assumed that the obvious position is anti-drug? They're illegal? I think it's much more compelling to write about the fact that people don't think they're a big deal...it's understood that nobody is supposed to do them. That's boring to hear about, and it would only progress the ignorance as to what college is really like. And Yale (and other ivies) is pretty tame.
smoke weed!
We know what anti-drug Yalies would say... that would just make the article boring... this is a YDN article that prevents falling into that trap.
Very enlightening article. Who would have known that drug use at an Ivy League school is no different from drug use anywhere else?
I LOVE BLOW!
Damnit, I never said acid was an amphetamine!
I really like the claim that drugs make these smart people even smarter. I've had enough conversations with people who were using stoner logic to know that that is absolutely a false notion.
Aside from the obvious pitfall of addiction (and no, you are not immune from this if you just take your drugs on the weekends), these drugs damage your bodies in numerous ways. Acid stays in your body forever, and you can have flashbacks at any time. It also harms your reproductive DNA. So if you want to have kids as "smart" as you, stay away.
The categories of drug nerds and mind-expansionists were used to describe these students. I'd like to add another one: people with emotional problems who are trying to escape through drug use. That's basically what the drinkers are doing too. Just don't make it seem like the drug users are otherwise well adjusted and normal. What nonsense.
I believe that there is a drug problem at Yale as with any other institution. Perhaps it is just a subgroup. I would like to know if other uncommon drugs, specifically poppy seed tea, have been discovered to be used at Yale?
So much great music came from musicians zooted on coke... whatever you do,don't take tylenol for your hangover,something about Acetaminophen with alcohol that will tear at your innards like shots of acetic acid,The Pancreas will plead for mercy. Drinking water between drinks will help tremendously
this is almost a really good article, though it seems the author fell into the stoner logic here. NONE of the repercussions of taking drugs were mentioned, and minimal non-users were interviewed.
This article is quite meta actually, because it seems to be written with the same logic as the people it's writing about. I feel like I'm on something as I read it, actually.
Your statement about "acid flashbacks" is correct. Your statement about LSD negatively affecting your reproductive DNA have been disproven again and again (See "LSD and Genetic Damage" Norman I. Dishotsky, William D. Loughman, Robert E. Mogar , and Wendell R. Lipscomb;
or for a newer study See: "Human hallucinogen research: guidelines for safety." M. Johnson, W. Richards, and R. Griffiths (2008)J Psychopharmacol 22, 603-620).
You are basing your "facts" off of studies done in the 70s. They were highly uncontrolled. The fact is, most researchers will acknowledge that they don't know enough about LSD or any psychedelic drug (note: I said Psychedelic drug, not cocaine, heroin, etc. Grouping all these drugs together would be like saying every presciption drug is the same... there are different mechanisms and effects). In fact, 1972 and 1990 there were ZERO FDA approved studies on psychedelic drug use. Luckily, over the past 2 years, the FDA has begun approving research into this area so that we can begin exploring what these drugs do on a molecular level and on a clinical level (see: Safety, Tolerability and efficacy on Psilocybin in the Journal of Clinical psychiatry, F.A. Moreno). Now scientists can tell you that LSD is an agonist for serotonin 2A receptors, and causes the downregulation of these receptors; this is much more useful and valid than saying "LSD puts holes in your brain", which is a story we tell 12 year olds to get them away from drugs.
Since you are clearly not the expert you would ask us to believe you are, and since you basing your purported knowledge on studies that have been disproven over and over again (as early as 1971, I might add), I'd like you to reconsider your factual sources. There is a lot more scientific literature that asks us to reconsider the benefits of these drugs in controlled settings than you would think.
For anyone wanting help, please visit http://www.mountainside.org
Great article. You do the YDN proud!