A focus group designed to discuss drug use among local college-age students and determine the best methods of gathering accurate drug use data on this age group has recently been formed by the Middlesex County Substance Abuse Action Council (MCSAAC). While the council has for some time collected survey data regarding drug use among high school students and adults in Middlesex County, it has never compiled data about this in-between age group.
“With college students, honestly, we have no data,” said Betsey Chadwick, director of MCSAAC. “We don’t survey at Wesleyan…we don’t survey over at Middlesex Community College. 25 percent of the high-schoolers are saying they smoke [marijuana] whereas only 12 percent of the adults say they smoke. Well, when did they stop smoking? What’s happening during the college years?”
As part of a larger study regarding lifetime drug use, focus-group members from Wesleyan and Middlesex Community College will provide MCSAAC with information about drug use during their college years. Additionally, reviews will be conducted to ensure that respondents interpret the questions consistently.
“I think this is a really valuable opportunity for students to have a voice on what’s happening in the local Middletown area when it comes to addressing substance abuse issues,” said Lisa Currie, Director of Health Education. “It’s a chance to go beyond what happens at Wesleyan, and to literally have your voice be heard at the local level.”
According to Chadwick, effective surveys of the 18-25 demographic could reveal shifts in levels of drug use in the Middlesex region, as well as suggest strategies to reduce drug use overall. She specified that they wanted at least one focus group to look at published data provided by the University of Connecticut (UConn) for the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS). This data, which was under the Statewide Epidemiological Workgroup, recorded statewide statistics on college students.
“[The DMHAS data], that’s statewide. It records how many college students are reporting using prescription drugs… or how often they smoke marijuana,” Chadwick said. “Those are the kind of statistics we’ll be using as we talk to the college students here in Middletown to get a sense of what’s going on in their campus.”
In the focus group, MCSAAC also hopes to obtain information on student sentiment regarding the Amethyst Initiative, a movement comprised of college presidents calling for the reconsideration of drinking laws—namely, the national minimum drinking age of 21.
“Several of the towns in Middlesex County are going to be holding open public forums and debating the lowering-the-drinking-age question, so that’s certainly going to be part of the focus group,” Chadwick said.
MCSAAC currently has five volunteers from Wesleyan and five from Middlesex Community College, which are the only institutions of higher learning in the county. Chadwick noted that the target goal for the group is to have about 12 people so a relaxed and conversational atmosphere can be maintained.
“We still are looking for a few more [participants],” Chadwick said. “[We] hoped to grab six people who want to join us for an hour of fun talk and pizza, and 10 dollars when you leave.”
Students can still volunteer by contacting MCSAAC. No preparation is needed. The focus group will meet Thursday, Oct. 16 at 6:00 p.m. at the Chamber of Commerce, located at 393 Main St. Students can contact MCSAAC at 860-347-5959.
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