by Kris Fronzak, News Editor
Both the College and the City of Wooster have abused their fair share of drugs. Last December, Laney Austin ’11 reported for the Voice that over half of college students in the nation abuse drugs or alcohol at least once a month. The year before that, Managing Editor Emily Ryan ’11 reported a 300-400 percent increase in heroin and pharmaceutical drugs in the City of Wooster and beyond.
As if these trends weren’t alarming enough, new issues are rearing their heads. Both Joe Kirk, Director of Campus Security, and Steve Glick, Chief of Police for the City of Wooster, have lately noticed a spike in the usage of illegal drugs on campus and beyond. There has also been a change in the tenor of the drugs.
“Prescription abuse is going through the roof,” said Glick. He cited many incidents of Adderall and opiate abuse, along with an abrupt upturn in abuse of methamphetamine. In the last year alone, prescription drug abuse has shot from six percent of all city drug cases to 21 percent, and marijuana has also increased from nine percent to 26 percent. Interestingly, crack cocaine also plummeted from 41 percent to only 13 percent.
“What we’re doing now doesn’t work,” Glick admitted, but added that he “can’t even guess what would happen if drugs were legal and there wasn’t education about them. To say that we’re losing the war on drugs might be an overstatement.”
Substance abuse at the College is, for the most part, tamer than around the city. Most incidents revolve around underage drinking and marijuana use รณ though Kirk has confirmed that Security has dealt with acid, salvia and prescription drugs, such as Adderall. Security has also heard rumors of cocaine usage, though none of these have been confirmed to date.
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