Binge drinking and drug abuse a problem on campuses

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About half of U.S. college students binge drink or abuse drugs, and the number who abuse prescription medication such as painkillers is up sharply, a report released on Thursday found.

The study, issued by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York, provides a detailed look at substance abuse among America's college students based on surveys, interviews and other research.

"I think we have, by almost any standard, a serious public health problem on the college campuses. And it's deteriorating," Joseph Califano, who heads the center and served as U.S. health secretary from 1977 to 1979, said in a telephone interview.

The report found that 49 percent of full-time college students ages 18 to 22 binge drink (consuming five or more drinks at a time), or abuse prescription drugs such as painkillers or illegal drugs like cocaine and marijuana. That translates to 3.8 million students.

In 2005, 23 percent of them met the medical criteria for substance abuse or dependence, it said.

From 1993 to 2005, the proportion of students who abuse prescription painkillers such as Percocet, Vicodin and OxyContin rose more than 300 percent to 3.1 percent (about 240,000 students), the report said.

Abuse of prescription stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall doubled to 2.9 percent (225,000 students), and abuse of tranquilizers also rose, the report said.

During the same period, daily marijuana use more than doubled to 4 percent (310,000 students). Overall use of other illegal drugs such as cocaine and heroin rose by half to 8.2 percent (636,000 students).