Delving into Campus Substance Abuse

(Post for JN 412)

The article from today’s CW that I choose to expand upon is “Health center offers range of services for student needs.”  This article didn’t relate too much new information to me. Instead it just listed some of the services offered at the Student Health Center. However, there was one piece of information that stood out to me because I didn’t know the SHC even offered this particular service and that’s the substance abuse specialists. This article stated that the SHC hired two new specialists so they now have three to better help students. I would be really interested in going more in depth in that direction.

I would try and talk to the new substance abuse specialists and see how they have been making the transition into the SHC. I’d also try and talk to the first specialist to try and see why they had to hire two more people. It sounds like this is a popular service. How many patients do they usually see? Do they work in tandem with the counseling center on campus or are they independent from them? I think this would be interesting to explore.

To further that subject it would be interesting to see how the University deals with people facing substance abuse. Do people stay in school and see these specialists or is it more common for people to leave school and come back? I would imagine the number one substance being abused on college campuses is alcohol, but it would be important to find out if that was true. Is seeing a substance abuse specialist something that can be recommended after a Judicial Affairs hearing?

I think in order to further the newsworthiness element of this column, you’d have to look into how other universities are dealing with substance abuse as well. It would probably be best to look into nearby schools like UAB, Montevallo, UAH, Auburn, and Samford.