BLACKSBURG, Va. – Fighting a public health crisis on college campuses can be a challenge as more drug overdoses are happening across the commonwealth.
Many students have freedom for the first time and that can mean experimenting with drugs and alcohol.
"My parents told me there is a time and a place for everything. It's called college," said Spencer Gardner, a Virginia Tech junior.
"There's definitely always a fight inside of 'I know I shouldn't do this but it feels so good,'" said Joshua Redding, assistant director of Hokie Wellness.
Virginia is seeing high numbers of drug overdoses. Every year, about 1,000 Virginia Tech students who have abused drug or alcohol are referred to a program called Hokie Wellness. Referrals can be for such behavior as having beer in a dorm room or getting a DUI. Students may have to take online classes or go through a series of one-on-one counseling sessions with Redding.
The problem may only get worse as the campus grows.
"We may see higher drug use here in the future," said Redding.
Some students come to Blacksburg with serious addictions, Matt, who doesn't want his last name used, is one of them.
"I would say by the time I was 18 I had a full-blown addiction to drugs and alcohol," said Matt.
At Virginia Commonwealth University, he says, he hit rock bottom, and was arrested for selling drugs to support his habits.
"I had to put something in my body to feel normal," said Matt. "I could've been dead, honestly, if I didn't get arrested, but that arrest, really, it was a reality check and I knew that I had to ask for help."
Matt served six months in jail and transferred to Virginia Tech. He credits the student organization called the Recovery Community at Virginia Tech for keeping him clean over the last four years.
"Every student out there that may have an opioid issue is at risk of dying. And so this is not just a student org (organization) for the sake of being a student org of interest. This this is a student org that can actually save students' lives," said Redding.
The students choose to stay sober, holding each other accountable and helping Gardner too.
"If I need help or I'm just having a bad day, whether it be wanting to go out and break sobriety or something else entirely about life or anything, it's just a great group of people," said Gardner.
Redding oversees the student recovery group and says there is a need for it on college campuses because the students can relate to each other in a way that isn't possible with a traditional group such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, where students are placed with a group of older people.
"It's tough. Because they do feel that when they leave behind substance use, they leave behind their friends. We do have, I think, a culture, our responsibility as a college to address these issues, and we're doing that with my work here," said Redding.
The Recovery Community gets together for peer support and social events, to talk about recovery, frustrations, family and to have fun, too.
It's a model growing across the country. Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Virginia and Washington and Lee University also have programs.
Washington and Lee has two weekly school-sponsored, alcohol-free events. Dozens of students come every week to Friday Underground, which is a music and coffee shop, and a new Saturday night poker hangout.
"We don't want to see anybody drop out of school because their addiction has such a good hold of them," said Matt. "I think it's imperative that we have programs like this. Kids leave school, drop out of school. Kids die all the time."
The Virginia Tech Recovery group is small right now but programs that have been around longer, such as the VCU program, involve dozens of students. Right now, Virginia Tech needs a dedicated space for students to meet and money to continue the program and to do such things as group outings.
For parents, Redding says, there are some big signs to look for in your students of any age that may point to drug use:
- Their friend group
- Secrecy and lies
- Falling grades, which are not always the best indicator because some students can balance school work and addiction
- Being late or being afraid to come home during school breaks
For more information on the Virginia Tech program, go to http://hokiewellness.vt.edu/students/programs/recovery.html.
Also, here is the link to the Prevention Council of Roanoke County, if you are looking for ways to talk to your children about drug use: http://www.pc4y.org/.