Student Drug Use and Misuse in College

Note: If you are experiencing substance use disorder, please call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration national hotline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for treatment referral and information services, both in English and Spanish.

For the nearly 16 million college students in the U.S., college can be a place for unmatched exploration and growth.

As some students navigate the ins and outs of college — including intense academics and large social scenes — drug use, and subsequently misuse, can be a reality.

Across the country, drug misuse is widespread, particularly among young people. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), 15.4% of people above 18 reported having a substance use disorder in 2020.^[3]

Combined with the mental health challenges college students face, drug misuse is becoming increasingly important to address.

Drugs Used in College

In spring 2022, the American College Health Association (ACHA) surveyed more than 54,000 undergraduates about drug use. Cannabis (41.9%), tobacco and nicotine delivery products (33.1%), hallucinogens (8.9%), and prescription stimulants (6.9%) were the most used drugs by college students other than alcohol — which was the most used substance.^{Note Reference [1]}

Students who reported using a specific substance in their life were then asked how often they used that substance in the past three months. Here are the percentages of students who answered they had used it at least once or twice in the past three months.

Cannabis

Out of the students who reported using cannabis in the past three months:^{Note Reference [1]}

• About 16% reported having a strong daily or almost daily desire or urge to use cannabis.
• Over 61% of undergraduate students had a strong desire or urge to use cannabis at least once in that time.

Out of the students who reported using cannabis in the past year:^{Note Reference [1]}

• Just under 5% of students reported that cannabis negatively impacted their academic performance in the past year.
• Only about 1% of students said cannabis use led to a delay in their progress toward a degree.

Tobacco and Nicotine

Regardless of how it has been consumed over time, tobacco and nicotine have been popular among college students since 1980. Now, college students are swapping out cigarettes for vape pens.^{Note Reference [2]}

• One-third (33.1%) of undergraduate survey respondents reported using tobacco or nicotine in their lifetime.^{Note Reference [1]}
• If this figure represents all undergraduates in 2022, that would mean that approximately 4.5 million students have used tobacco or nicotine.^{Note Reference [1], [5]}
• Nearly 30% of students who have ever used tobacco or nicotine products reported that they failed to control, cut down, or stop their substance use. About 18% said this was their experience in the past three months.^{Note Reference [1]}

Out of those students who reported using tobacco and nicotine delivery products in the past three months in spring 2022:^{Note Reference [1]}

• 35% reported having a strong daily or almost daily desire to use the substance.
• Over 68% of students reported having a strong desire to use the substance over the course of three months.
• 13% of students said that a family member or friend expressed concern about their substance use.
• 20% of students said their tobacco or nicotine use led to social, legal, or financial problems at least once in the past three months.

Vaping Statistics

Of those who had used tobacco or nicotine products in the past three months as of spring 2022:

• Well over three-fourths (83%) reported using e-cigarettes or vapes.^{Note Reference [1]}
• In 2017, 23.5% of college students reported vaping, and in 2022, nearly 40% of students reported vaping.^{Note Reference [2]}

Non-Medical Adderall Use in College

Adderall — a prescription stimulant used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) — started showing up in Monitoring the Future's annual surveys in 2009. Specifically, the surveys ask about Adderall use that is not under a doctor's order or is used non-medically.^{Note Reference [2]}

• At the time Adderall was introduced into the survey, the annual prevalence rates for Adderall were much higher than Ritalin, another prescription stimulant used to treat ADHD.^{Note Reference [4]}
• In the years prior, Monitoring the Future surveys revealed that Ritalin use was declining, suggesting that Adderall might have replaced the use of Ritalin to some degree in the mid-2000s, according to the 2009 volume survey.^{Note Reference [4]}
• In 2018, annual non-medical Adderall use in college students hit its peak at 11%. Since then, Adderall use amongst college students has declined to as low as 7.2% in 2020.^{Note Reference [2]}
• Despite general declines, since 2010, a larger percentage of full-time college students have used non-medical Adderall than their non-college youth counterparts. It's possible that this trend can be attributed to college students' desire to improve their academic performance with prescription drugs.^{Note Reference [2]}

Other Prescription Drug Misuse in College

The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy conducted a spring 2022 study of over 6,500 students at 15 colleges. They found:^[6]

• 14.5% of students reported misusing stimulants, 7.8% reported misusing sedatives, and 6.8% reported misusing pain medications.
• 11.4% of students said it was somewhat easy or very easy to obtain pain medication for non-medical use.
• 15.2% of students said sedatives were also easy to get for non-medical use, and 26.4% said the same was true for stimulants.
• The majority of students who misuse prescription drugs reported that they typically get them from friends (44% for pain medications, 54.6% for sedatives, and 76.9% for stimulants).

According to the spring 2022 ACHA study, 69% of students who used prescription stimulants were not prescribed the drugs. However, even those who were prescribed the drugs were misusing them. Thirty percent reported using a higher dosage than was prescribed, and 20.7% reported using their prescription stimulants more often than was prescribed.^{Note Reference [1]}

In place of misusing prescription drugs, many students (38%) reported turning to illicit drugs.^{Note Reference [6]}

Among those who have done so, these drugs have been the most common:

Drug Use in College Over the Years

• Except for marijuana, illicit drug use among college students has decreased since its peak in the past two decades — from 20.8% in 2014 to 16.2% in 2020.^{Note Reference [2]}
• Cannabis use has gradually increased over the years among college students. Between 2000 and 2020, the number of college students using cannabis increased from 34% to 43.9%.^{Note Reference [2]}
• Between 2017 and 2020, hallucinogen use among college students more than doubled (4.1% compared to 8.6%).^{Note Reference [2]}
• Only 17% of college students reported smoking cigarettes in 2020, compared to 44.5% in 1999.^{Note Reference [2]}

Drug Use in College Students vs. Non-College Youth

• Non-college youth reported higher percentages of drug use across the board besides Adderall and cocaine.^{Note Reference [2]}
• 4.3% of college students reported using Adderall in the past 12 months compared to only 2.2% of non-college youth.^{Note Reference [2]}

Drug Use in College by Gender

• Cis women students reported using fewer drugs across the board than cis men, except for cannabis and e-cigarettes or vapes.^{Note Reference [1]}
• In fact, cis women were much more likely to use vapes than cis men (86% vs. 77%).^{Note Reference [1]}
• Trans and gender non-conforming students reported using substantially more cannabis (54%) and hallucinogens (16%) than cis students as of 2022.^{Note Reference [1]}
• 2.1% of students surveyed reported they were in recovery from alcohol or other drug misuse. Trans and gender non-conforming individuals were more likely to be in recovery for alcohol or drug misuse than cis students (2.4% of cis men, 1.8% of cis women, and 4.4% of trans and gender non-conforming students).^{Note Reference [1]}

Frequently Asked Questions About Drug Use in College

Can schools drug test students?

Colleges can't require students to take a drug test as a condition of enrollment. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a federal appeals court called college drug testing unconstitutional in 2016.^[7]

However, student-athletes that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) may be subject to drug testing for banned substances at any time.^[8]

Why do students use drugs?

From internal struggles to external pressures, college students reported using different drugs for many reasons.

• Those who reported misusing prescription stimulants cited studying or improving grades (76.1%) and enhancing social situations (24.1%) as their top reasons.^{Note Reference [6]}
• Students who reported misusing sedatives cited relieving anxiety (50.8%) and sleeping (47.3%) as their top reasons.^{Note Reference [6]}
• Out of those who reported using prescription stimulants non-medically, over three-fourths (76.1%) said they used the drugs to study or improve grades.^{Note Reference [6]}

What percent of college students use Adderall?

In 2020, 7.2% of college students reported using Adderall in one national survey. That's a decrease from 11% in 2018.^{Note Reference [2]}