Cocaine chic, ‘pot’ passe on campus

Press, 9 July 1986, Page 10

Cocaine chic, ‘pot’ passe on campus

NZPA-AP Detroit Marijuana and most other illicit drugs are losing popularity on American college campuses, but cocaine use has emerged as the most serious abuse problem among students, according to a Federal study released yesterday. Students report cocaine to be fairly readily available, and until very recently, the great majority saw little risk in experimenting with it, said Lloyd Johnston, one of the study’s directors. University of Michigan researchers undertook the study for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. About one in six college students used cocaine within a year of being interviewed for the report, and one in 14 within a month.

“It’s been a chic thing to do,” said Mr Johnston, a social psychologist. “That’s changing, and it should change. I think that (cocaine) will lose some of its social acceptability.” The continued heavy use of cocaine arhong students, in spite of the risks of getting hooked or dying from an overdose, was surprising and unsettling, said the researchers. But aside from cocaine, illegal drug use appears to be receding among students, whose predecessors helped usher in the drug culture 20 years ago. Over-all, drug use last year was fairly similar among college students and young adults not in college, said Mr Johnston.

One main difference was how drugs were used on and off campus, he said. College students were more likely to do their drug-taking on the week-end.