Drugs and uni: A match made in heaven?

Most parents are fully aware of what their kids are exposed to while they’re at uni. Cue the avoidance of uncomfortable subjects; Awkward for the kid, awkward for the parents… let’s just not discuss it.

But there’s one conversation I still remember. My dad, a pretty easy going guy, tells me one thing: please just stay away from drugs.

Drugs have always been associated with uni students, haven’t they? With new found freedom, long yearned for independence and the three year chance to do whatever the hell you want to do, some people can’t help but give them a go.

Given the recent influx of police and sniffer dogs in Oadby, following cannabis suspicions, The Tab have been inspired. Not to test them out ourselves, no. We are asking the question: is the combination of uni and drugs an inevitable one?

Let’s turn to the students…

Should you be excluded if you’re caught on drugs?

That was the outright response I received. People didn’t seem shocked, upset or disgusted at the news. If anything, they seemed pretty underwhelmed by it. So are drugs just accepted these days? Well, not quite. The majority of people I spoke to didn’t actually support drug taking, and were strongly against dealing. In fact, one person suggested expulsion as the punishment if caught.

But then if some people recognise the illegality of drugs, why is it the general response was still that drug taking is ‘standard’? ‘Common’ even, as one person said. Among the responses, the general gist was that ‘everyone experiments’ and that it happens with ‘people our age’. And that’s a fair enough response, given young people have been under the media spotlight before with similar issues.

When asked if they thought if drugs would stop being an issue, the resounding answer was no. Drugs are associated with young people at uni. Drugs will always be associated with young people at uni.

As long as people are willing to grab that freedom, ‘standard’ will probably remain the response.

So where do we draw the line?

I guess that’s up to us. Follow your dad’s advice. Don’t follow your dad’s advice. Or as one of The Tab’s interviewees suggested, drugs are bad… ‘unless they made it legal’!

Let us know what you think!