Below you will find a column detailing one Baylor student’s choice to abuse prescription drugs in order to make it through a tough night of studying for three major tests.
I have agreed to run this column anonymously. When this student asked me if it was possible to run this column in the paper, hesitancy and sympathy coursed through my veins.
I was sympathetic because I understand the intensity of college life and my life mimics the author’s in numerous ways.
Balancing a tremendous academic workload while engaged in extracurricular activities and maintaining a part-time job demands much from students.
On a deeper level, I think all students relate to the author. We’ve all experienced that severe feeling of despair when tests are rapidly approaching.
We panic, thinking we might forget everything we once knew or that we’ll study too late into the night, missing our alarms and, subsequently, the tests in which we put our time and effort.
In fact, I think many students — more than most of us would like to estimate — have either considered or engaged in illegal substance abuse just so they can competently fulfill all academic responsibilities.
Baylor — while it maintains a Christian mission — is not immune to illegal or prescription drug abuse.
We have a great counseling center that is prepared to help the students of our university.
I think students’ mindsets are the problem. We don’t think about our fellow students even though we’ve been in their place. As friends, we should be encouragers and should be there in times of need.
The author’s easy access to prescription drugs, however, proves otherwise. Having never taken Adderall before, the author was able to get not one, but two pills from Baylor students in minutes.
I was also hesitant about this piece because I wasn’t sure how the experience would impact the campus community.
I knew that it was neither my nor the author’s intent for this piece to lead students to believe that Adderall is the right solution to the struggles of college life.
The first time I read the column, I thought what the writer had done was plausible and understandable.
My own acceptance of what the author had done was scary and I had nearly dismissed the idea of running the column. “Students won’t get it,” I thought to myself. “It’ll be taken as an endorsement for the abuse of prescription drugs.”
Hear this: If you are struggling with the hardships of college so much so that drug abuse is tempting, you are in need of help.
You aren’t alone in this, so turning to friends — who are most likely experiencing similar feelings — is a viable and beneficial option that trumps any small pill.
The author is right in saying that “an entire generation is risking their health regularly in order to stay at the top.”
This must change, and we, as a generation, have to be strong enough to help those in the troughs of college anxiety.
There are many great resources available to us, but none as great as the uplifting spirit of community.
This one author is symbolic of a generation’s self-inflicting terrible habits.
We must embrace the model of Christ and realize that the best way to cure a generation of abusers is surrounding individuals with love and grace and working through it together.
-Nick Dean
Editor in chief
Dean is a junior journalism and political science major from Austin.
