Creating a Campus-Based Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Program

Prescription drug abuse among college students is a growing concern for campus alcohol and other drug prevention practitioners. This Webinar will review data—both national and from two college campuses—on prescription drug abuse rates among college students. The current state of research on prescription drug abuse prevention efforts will be reviewed, followed by a discussion of the possible steps for developing and adapting pieces of a science-based, comprehensive approach to addressing student prescription drug abuse.

Dr. James Lange, San Diego State University (SDSU), will briefly discuss national and SDSU student prescription drug abuse data and describe the effects of one policy change regarding SDSU’s health center. Further, Dr. Lange will point out other programmatic activities designed to address binge drinking that may be demonstrating some ancillary effect on student prescription drug abuse.

Christina Athas and Constance Boehm, The Ohio State University (OSU), will discuss OSU student prescription drug abuse data and current and planned prevention strategies. They will focus on the process for campuses to use local student data to guide prevention efforts.