The Hoya: The Guide: February 16, 2018

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Although Georgetown imposes strict punishments for drug offenses, the campus continues to host a pervasive drug culture. Two students were arrested in 2010 for manufacturing DMT in Harbin Hall, and several university affiliates have been involved in drug-related incidents.

Despite Pushback, Student Drug Use Continues Julia YAEGER Hoya Staff Writer

On April 1, 2016, marijuana advocates roared past Georgetown University’s front gates in a black Jeep, with lobbyist Louis Drexel Porteous of D.C. Norml, a pro-marijuana legalization policy group, in tow behind in a cage and sign reading: “Jail is not a drug policy.”

Drexel Porteous explained the demonstration was meant to spread the belief to college campuses that marijuana should be legalized and decriminalized in a 2016 interview with The Hoya.

The stunt came just one day before protesters gathered in front of the White House to demand the federal legalization of marijuana, which has been legal in D.C. since February 2015. Led by Adam Eidinger of the D.C. Cannabis Campaign, the demonstration also included a smoking session on federal property at 4:20 p.m.

A calmer story is inside the front gates, however. Abiding with federal laws, students can possess alcohol on campus if they are 21 years old or older, but the Code of student conduct strictly forbids the illegal possession, use or sale of drugs or controlled substances. Despite university pushback, the drug discussion surfaces on social media, in memes and in everyday student conversations. With contradicting District policies and campus regulations, it can be difficult to define the culture of drug use on campus — or whether there even is one.

More Than a Cannabis Culture

In 1988, the beloved Healy Pub, a campus spot for students to relax and enjoy drinks after class, closed its doors in Healy Hall, marking one of several transitions to a more alcohol-aware campus. Just two years earlier, the federal drinking age had been raised to 21 years old, influenc-

ing the administration to firm up its alcohol policies.

2011 saw a push from Georgetown’s students and alumni to revive Healy Pub, but President DeGioia and Vice President of Student Affairs Todd Olsen shot the idea down, citing drinkingage restrictions and more efficient student services as factors.

“We have not demonstrated in this changed environment that we can manage a pub on campus and the way in which the Healy Pub characterized this campus from 1974 to 1988,” DiGioia said (“Last Call Looms for Healy Pub,” The Hoya, Aug. 30, 2011).

In 2007, the university made its alcohol policy more stringent by decreasing the number of kegs allowed in residences and restricting the number of guests allowed at parties, reflecting national trends that binge drinking and alcohol-related deaths among college students were on the rise.

One month later, in September 2007, 125 students gathered in Healy Circle to protest the new restrictions, chanting “No more lying! Our social scene is dying.” Among the students’ demands were amnesty for all petty alcohol violations and age-blind party registration.

Then, in 2008, when college administrators from across the country drafted a petition to discuss the lowering of the drinking age from 21, Georgetown opted out.

“Georgetown is not signing the petition. We are focused on the health, safety and well-being of our students, and we will continue to work at providing a welcoming and safe social environment on campus that respects the law and our students,” previous Director of Media Relations Andy Pino said in an interview with The Hoya.

Although alcohol is one of the most prevalent drugs on campus – just look to the cardboard Natural Light beer cartons that adorn the walls of residence halls – Georgetown is no stranger to

hard drug-related incidents.

In 2010, Georgetown made national headlines when police busted students manufacturing the hallucinogenic dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, on the ninth floor of Harbin Hall. DMT is categorized as a Schedule I drug, meaning it has no legal medical use in the United States. Harbin was evacuated at 6 a.m. after the lab’s discovery, and no injuries were reported.

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While marijuana has been legalized in the District, it remains a violation to possess, sell, or use it while a student at Georgetown.”

JOSEPH DIPIETRO (COL ’18) Director, GUSA Student Advocacy Office

Although the students, one Georgetown and one University of Richmond, could have faced 20 years in prison and up to $1 million in fines, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s federal trafficking policies, the students only faced three years of probation and 200 hours of community service (“Police Find Harbin Drug Lab; Students Evacuated,” The Hoya, Oct. 24, 2010).

Over the years, affiliates of the university have also been involved in drug-related incidents. In 2014, Hunter Biden, former Vice President Joe Biden’s son and adjunct professor in the Master of Science in Foreign Service program, was discharged from the U.S. Navy Reserve after testing positive for cocaine. Then, in 2017, former law

professor Jack Vitayanon was charged with conspiring to distribute illegal drugs (“Former Law Professor Arrested on Drug Charges,” The Hoya, Feb. 3, 2017).

Coinciding with these incidents, “The Big Book of Colleges,” a research-based book that grades colleges on different criteria, gave Georgetown a C- in the “drug scene” category.

“A high grade in the Drug Scene indicates that drugs and alcohol are not a noticeable part of campus life; drug use is not visible, and no pressure to use drugs or drink alcohol seems to exist,” the book states.

In terms of drug culture, Georgetown is on par with other universities. According to the Addiction Center, a web guide for those struggling with addiction, student drug use has four possible causes: stress, course load, curiosity or peer pressure. Georgetown students are no strangers to intense course loads and stress, and the school’s competitive culture might contribute to drug use on campus.

Combatting Campus Drug Use

In 1966, Georgetown became the first Catholic university to allow male students to keep alcohol in their rooms, but in the 52 years since that milestone, the administration has changed its tune. As alcohol and drug use continues to permeate residence halls, the university keeps rolling out out strict policies to combat the campus drug culture.

While students over the age of 21 and residents in nonfreshman dorms can possess alcohol on campus, the protocol is less lenient when it comes the possession and use of hard drugs.

Drug-related incidents are dealt with by student affairs on a case-by-case basis, with the policy simply stating that violators will be subject to disciplinary action by the University. This disciplinary action can include probation, suspension or “any action the University deems appropriate.”

friday, February 23, 2018 “Like all Code violations, the sanctions depend on whether the student has any prior violations and whether there are any aggravating or mitigating factors. For a first-time, e.g. ‘Drug Policy – Use’ violation concerning marijuana, the sanctions would typically be a $100 fine, 5 work sanction hours, Disciplinary Probation 1 for two semesters, and an educational project,” Joseph DiPietro (COL ’18), director of Georgetown University Student Assocaition’s Student Advocacy Office, said in an email statement to The Hoya.

In some ways, the policy’s vague language policy protects students by determining punishment depending on former offenses or the quantity and severity of drugs in the student’s possession. However, it also hurts students who may not know what to expect if they are caught with or around illicit drugs.

“I think most students are aware that while marijuana has been legalized in the District, it remains a violation to possess, sell, or use it while a student at Georgetown,” Pietro said. “It is also quite common to speak with students who are not aware that while marijuana has been legalized by the District, its possession and use remains a crime under federal law.”

Alcohol abuse consumes the bulk of Georgetown’s Policies on Alcohol and Other Drugs.

There is more information on alcohol restrictions and punishments than on information about all other drugs combined, and alcohol has its own section while the other drugs are grouped together.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy, an international nonprofit focused on reforming drug policies and advocating for drug education, assigns letter grades to universities’ drug policies.

Its goal is to reform drug policies in universities by mobilizing students to participate in political processes and advocacy involving drug use on campuses, according to their website.

By the SSDP’s standards, Georgetown’s Alcohol and Drug Policy received a “B” rating: “[Georgetown’s] alcohol policy takes into account prior violations and balances education/

the guide treatment with punishment; drug policy sanctions are not detailed. No mention of a medical amnesty policy,” says the SSDP website.

Unlike other colleges with an “A” rating, Georgetown’s Alcohol and Other Drugs policy does not include a Good Samaritan Policy, also known as medical amnesty, protecting students who call campus police or emergency services from legal consequences. Currently, only the Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service, a volunteer student-run emergency ambulance service, provides medical amnesty to students in need.

SSDP also cites the university’s combination of punishments for marijuana-related incidents, which are legal in the District, with punishments for other illegal drug use. There is no distinction between the punishment for the use of different types of drugs in the policy. This lack of distinction aligns with both The George Washington University’s policy, which prohibits the possession or manufacturing of illegal drugs or drug paraphernalia, and American University, which specifically bans possession or use of illegal drugs in campus residence halls.

Compared to other D.C. schools, Georgetown receives an average rating. The George Washington University received a “C” grade for its policy’s ambiguity. This score is also a result of GWU’s policy focused on punishment, rather than reform. On the other end of the spectrum, AU’s policy received an “A” because it deals with offenses on a case-by-case basis, and provides full medical amnesty for both the accused and the accuser.

Unlike the Code of Student Conduct, the Sanctioning Guide, which contains recommended sanctions for given violations, used to distinguish between marijuana and other illicit drugs. does make the distinction. Just this past fall, however, the Sanction Guide was updated, and the distinction was removed.

Despite the lack of distinction, Pietro assures that possession and use of illicit drugs are more serious offenses than possession and use of marijuana.

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“While it’s no longer officially treated as a less serious than other drugs, a drug policy violation involving drugs other than marijuana would likely be considered a significant aggravating factor,” Pietro said.

The District’s Drug Problem

Georgetown’s drug climate represents a small portion of a growing population of people in D.C. who consume alcohol or hard drugs. Washington, D.C., has more drug and alcohol abusers per capita than the national average, according to Drug Strategies, a nonprofit research institute that promotes more effective drug abuse prevention, education and treatment.

Today, one in three D.C. residents knows someone who regularly uses illicit drugs.

Drug Strategies cites D.C.’s emphasis on criminal justice rather than drug treatment and prevention as a cause for the city’s high abuse rates. While $1,257 are spent per capita on criminal justice, only $42.45 per capita are spent on treatment. According Drug Strategies’ research, substance abuse is directly correlated to poverty rates, with one in six people in D.C. living in poverty.

Drug users in D.C. typically also suffer from social afflictions such as poverty, homelessness, unemployment or mental health disorders.

Additionally, heavy drinking is 50 percent more prevalent among District adults than the national average. According to CASAColumbia, the national center on addiction and substance abuse, excessive drinking and other drug abuse has risen sharply since 1993. The center conducted a study on college campuses to discover more about university drug culture in the United States, and found that instances of drug use is rapidly rising amongst college students.

The study revealed half of full-time college students — 3.8 million people — binge drink, abuse prescription drugs or abuse illegal drugs. Almost a quarter of full-time

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college students — 1.8 million people — meet the medical criteria for substance abuse or dependence. Among the general population, only 8.5 percent of people abuse or are dependent on substances.

Since the early 1990s, the proportion of students using marijuana daily has more than doubled. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, daily marijuana use is at its highest among college students since the early 1980s, with 4.9% of full-time college and 12.8% of college aged students smoking daily. College-aged peers binge drink, or consume five or more drinks in a row, less than their college counterparts: 32.4% of full-time students binge drink regularly compared to 28.7% of their non-college peers.

The colleges topping the list of alcohol and illicit drug-related incidents are call D.C. home. A 2013 “Drugs on Campus” report revealed that among colleges with less than 5,000 students, Catholic University of America and Loyola University of Maryland ranked top ten when it came to alcohol-related disciplinary action. The director of University of Maryland’s health center reported seeing more and more students trying to recover from substance abuse while at college, according to a 2017 NBC News article.

The growth of alcohol and illicit drug use reflects a greater trend in Washington, D.C. Despite the university’s attempt to squash the glorification of drinking and drug use present on campus in the 1970s-1980s, alcohol and hard drugs permeate the party scene, campus conversations and even Georgetown’s student-run meme page.

Any GU student can seek free, confidential help from Health Education Services about their use of alcohol or other drugs. Patrick Kilcarr, the director of the Center for Personal Development, helps educate and counsel students regarding choices surrounding alcohol and drug use. He can be reached at (202)-687-8944 or kilcarrp@georgetown.edu.

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Georgetown’s Code of Student Conduct does not include a Good Samaritan policy, which protects students who call emergency response services from legal consequences, but Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service provides medical amnesty to students in need. Georgetown’s drug policies emphasize student health over student liberties.

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Chronicling the Grass-Roots Fight for Legal Pot in DC MEGHAN DECOURCeY Hoya Staff Writer

The 21st century has been marked by calls across the United States for the legalization of marijuana, with lobbyists and college students coming together in advocacy and protest.

Under federal law, the use and possession of marijuana is illegal, but state-level policies differ significantly. In 29 states and Washington, D.C., medical marijuana is legal. However, this figure drops when it comes to recreational marijuana, which is permitted in only nine states and the District. Given D.C.’s status as a federal district, its history with marijuana is a story defined by grass-roots activism.

The first legislative action for legalization in the District came in 1998. Initiative 59, a ballot proposal that sought to legalize medical marijuana, passed with 69 percent of the vote in November 1998.

However, implementation of the proposal was delayed when former Rep. Bob Barr (RGa.) proposed an amendment blocking the initiative and prohibited action on marijuana legalization in D.C. After a long legal battle, which included the American Civil Liberties Union got involved, Congress finally voted to overturn the Barr Amendment in 2009.

Four years later, medical marijuana was legalized in the District.

A D.C-based organization focused solely on ending marijuana prohibition, Marijuana Policy Project was one of the groups that promoted Initiative 59. Founded in 1995, MPP works to reform marijuana policy through lobbying, public education and ballot initia-

tives. Morgan Fox, MPP’s director of communications, explained how the organization lobbied Congress to legalize of medical marijuana in D.C. in an email to The Hoya.

“MPP was heavily involved in getting the District’s medical marijuana program started, and we have consistently worked to increase the program’s efficacy and patient access,” Fox wrote.

Since its founding, MPP has been involved in ending marijuana prohibition across the country and keeps tabs on current legislation being considered by Congress. Its major objectives include changing policies and laws, such as removing criminal penalties for marijuana use.

“Our goal is to make marijuana legal for adults and regulated like alcohol, ensure safe and reliable access for people that use marijuana for medical purposes, and make treatment for problematic marijuana consumption non-coercive,” Fox wrote.

In the District, the next move came in 2014 when the D.C. Council decriminalized the possession of marijuana. The law, which was signed by former Mayor Vincent Gray (D), posed civil fines rather than jail time for offenses and prohibited police from acting upon smelling marijuana.

Congress again tried to thwart the law’s implementation by blocking funding. The Harris Amendment, proposed by Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), barred the D.C. government from spending funds on decreasing drug penalties. In response to the Harris Amendment, activists launched a boycott of Harris’ district in Maryland. The boycott prevailed, and decriminalization went into effect in July 2014.

Congress may maintain authority over the District, but its residents still take an active role in local affairs. Collective action was key in the 2014 ballot initiative for the legalization of recreational marijuana use, known as Initiative 71, or the Legalization of Possession of Minimal Amounts of Marijuana for Personal Use Act of 2014.

D.C. businessman Adam Eidinger was instrumental in the proposal of Initiative 71. In 2013, he co-founded DCMJ, an organization dedicated to fighting for equal rights for marijuana users and growers in the District. DCMJ, which briefly switched to the D.C. Cannabis Campaign in 2013, eventually grew into an effort that included both D.C. residents and people from across the country “We decided to form a new organization that would focus on home cultivation, a type of legalization without commercialization that was possible under D.C.’s Home Rule Act, which gives us the right to do ballot initiatives,” Eidinger said in an interview with The Hoya. “We started by collecting signatures from people in front of the D.C. Superior Courthouse.”

The signatures in front of the courthouse were pledges of support. After receiving signatures, Eidinger’s efforts expanded into a grassroots campaign to change the law. Throughout the process, 200 different signature collectors worked with the organization, and the whole operation was run out of Eidinger’s house.

His efforts paid off: About 65 percent of voters approved Initiative 71 on Nov. 4, 2014, and it went into full effect Feb. 26, 2015. While the law does not make marijuana universally legal, it grants persons over 21 years old permis-

sion to possess up to two ounces of marijuana, grow up to six plants and transfer marijuana to another of-age individual without payment.

Despite the decriminalization and legalization of recreational marijuana in 2014, Georgetown’s policy on marijuana remains firm. Per the 2017 code of student conduct, the possession, use and manufacture of marijuana is prohibited. Violations of the policy are typically resolved by administrative action or hearings.

While the work of the D.C. Cannabis Campaign may be over, DCMJ still has unfinished business. The group still meets often and focuses on organizing demonstrations. On Feb. 28, DCMJ plans to stand in solidarity with human rights groups at the Embassy of the Philippines to protest Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. Other causes the DCMJ advocates for include rights for home cultivators, veterans and college students.

Marijuana use, whether it is medical or recreational, is prohibited on college campuses that receive federal funding, such as Georgetown, as they must comply with federal laws.

DCMJ plans to have events and demonstrations this year for college students — the next one is April 4. The organization emphasizes strong connections with its members to keep them engaged and enthused.

“The one thing I have learned from this that can be transmitted to any other politico in the city who is trying to work on an issue is that you have to form a community around your issue that meets regularly and has friendships and has social life that people actually find enjoyable,” Eidinger said. “If it’s all politics and no social life, it won’t work.”

keenan samway for the hoya

Marijuana legalization efforts in Washington, D.C., led to conflict between the District and the federal governments. The D.C. City Council legalized recreational marijuana in 2014. Congress attempted to thwart these efforts by blocking funding, but the City Council was eventually successful.

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Pressure to Succeed Leads Students to Drug Abuse meena raman Hoya Staff Writer

For college students and student-athletes across the country, mounting pressure to succeed appears to be linked to increased use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Performance-enhancing drugs are substances used to improve some aspect of an individual’s performance, either physical or cognitive.

These enhancers include anabolic drugs, like steroids and hormones, as well as stimulants, painkillers, sedatives and gene doping.

Patrick Kilcarr, director of Health Education Services said anabolic drugs of these types are not necessarily considered performance enhancing unless misused.

“While an athlete that has low testosterone and is prescribed testosterone to achieve a normal level, this is not performance-enhancing.. It is medicinal. The same medication in the hands of someone who does not need it becomes a performance-enhancing drug,” Kilcarr wrote in an email to The Hoya.

This distinction applies to mental stimulants as well. “The same is true of Adderall. In the hands of someone with ADHD it is leveling the playing field,” Kilcarr wrote. “For someone who takes it without need, it becomes a performance-enhancing drug.”

According to Dr. Vince WinklerPrins, assistant vice president of student health, the most commonly used performance-enhancing drug on Georgetown University’s campus is caffeine.

Other commonly used drugs include stimulants like Ritalin, Adderall and Dexedrine, which are commonly prescribed for attention deficit disorders.

Studies show that performance-enhancing

drugs have numerous physical side effects, depending on the nature of the drug. Stimulants, for example, can raise blood pressure, increase risk of heart attack, stroke or aneurysm and disrupt regular sleeping patterns. Performance-enhancing drugs can also be addictive.

“The risk for developing dependence is high,” Italo Mocchetti, professor and vice chair of the department of neuroscience, wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Performance-enhancing drugs used to improve athletic performance can pose significant risks, especially given the intense physical nature of sports.

“Steroids are created for a very legitimate, important medical purpose. People sometimes forget that,” said Dave Tyahla, an adjunct faculty member in the Master’s in sports industry and management program in the School of Continuing Studies. “There is a ton of evidence that suggests that taking those without welldocumented, monitored medical supervision can have a lot of danger to your system in the longer term.”

Luke Mohamed, also an adjunct faculty member in the sports industry and management program, cited concerns regarding the composition of performance-enhancing drugs, which can often contain multiple ingredients — some of which are permitted by government agencies or sports leagues, and others that are not.

Ultimately, the responsibility lies with the athlete to know what they are putting in their bodies.

“Many athletes engage in the use of these supplements thinking they are safe,” Shawn Hendi, associate athletics director, wrote in an email to The Hoya. “But the prevalence of

performance-enhancing drugs in my experience is relatively low.”

Hendi has spent 25 years as a certified athletic trainer, with 23 of those years spent at NCAA Division I institutions.

Although Georgetown’s athletics program has a drug testing policy for student-athletes to reduce potential use of performance-enhancing drugs, drug use remains a concern.

“It can perpetuate well beyond highest level athletes,” Mohamed said. “Competing for a scholarship, that is a stressful situation, and when you are competing for that edge, unfortunately, performance-enhancing drugs can be one of those edges.”

Several other sources cited this potential link between stress culture and use of performance-enhancing drugs, including Kaitlyn Reynolds (COL ’21), social media coordinator for the Georgetown chapter of Active Minds, an organization dedicated to raising mental health awareness on college campuses.

“As it relates to athletics or academics, we do note that there are a lot of circumstances where kids are under pressure to perform to the best of their abilities,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds cited a study published by Active Minds chapters at Colgate University and the University of California, in which students observed a connection between mental health and drug use.

“Perfectionism is actually more crippling than helpful, and it is important to recognize that you are a human being and you have flaws. Are you going to make every basket in every game, are you going to get an A on every test? Absolutely not,” Reynolds said.

“Recognize your resources, know who your support system is.”

Pete Bockelman, who teaches in the sports management program, including the class “Applied Ethics in Sports,” reflected on the often lesser-known side of the ethical debate on performance enhancing drugs in sports.

“There are really two sides of the argument. I have had students do a project saying that performance-enhancing drugs should be allowed for everyone because it levels the playing field,” Bockelman said. “It is one that you do not hear very often.”

But athletes and student-athletes are certainly not the only users of performanceenhancing drugs.

“Performance-enhancing drugs generally stay in the system a while, so the likelihood would be high that if a studentathlete was using some form of banned substance, they would be caught,” Kilcarr wrote. “Non-athletes can use performanceenhancing drugs without external risk of a problem.”

Ultimately, whether they are facing pressure to achieve athletically, academically or otherwise, college students may often find themselves surrounded by an intense stress culture. Recognizing the risks of performance-enhancing drugs can help prevent students from using them and falling into potentially dangerous patterns of abuse.

“Using performance-enhancing drugs can have a lasting deleterious impact on the person,” Kilcarr said. “Especially considering that as use continues, and growth continues unnaturally, the individual will begin to believe the only real way to make substantial gains is to use performance-enhancing drugs. This can create a destructive negative loop of use.”

FILE PHOTO: ALI ENRIGHT/THE HOYA

In the right context, even caffeine can be considered a performance-enhancing drug. Dr. Vince WinklerPrins, assistant vice president of student health, said caffeine is the most common drug at Georgetown, followed by stimulants like Ritalin. Performance-enhancing drugs are just some of the many types of drugs used by students.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2018

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ETHAN KNECHT Hoya Staff Writer

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2018

OPIOID EPIDEMIC

AMANDA VAN ORDEN FOR THE HOYA

Over the last few decades, rates of overdoses and opioid abuse have skyrocketed, in large part because of systematic overprescription of painkillers. For many abusers, heroin abuse begins with the use of highly addictive pills that are acquired legally and then gradually develops into a life-threatening dependency.

US Opioid Epidemic Breaks Bodies and Minds

ELEANOR TOLF Hoya Staff Writer

The experiences of a young adult taking the drug Vicodin after a wisdom tooth operation and of another person injecting heroin into the blood stream may seem like drastically different scenarios.

But while both drugs are opiates, with similar effects and processes in the brain and body, one is the symbol of the nationwide opioid epidemic and the other is a commonly prescribed pain medication.

Although there is little evidence to suggest that heroin use across the country is skyrocketing, the widespread prescription of over-the-counter opiates like Vicodin or morphine is the main driving force of what has been dubbed America’s “opiate epidemic.” As with heroin, prescription opiates activate receptors in the brain, and it is this surge of dopamine that places people at risk for repeat use.

“Synthetic opioids, like heroin, work exactly the same in the body as their natural counterparts, opiates, except they last slightly longer in the body,” Italo Mocchetti of Georgetown’s department of neuroscience explained in an interview with THE HOYA. Around 80 percent of heroin users begin

by misusing prescription drugs. According to Nour Al-muhtasib, a PhD candidate at Georgetown’s department of pharmacology, 21 to 29 percent of those prescribed Vicodin or Percocet become addicted, and 4 to 6 percent of those who abuse these prescriptions will eventually transition to heroin.

This percentage is a small proportion, but when multiplied by the millions of people being prescribed opioid painkillers, these numbers are devastating and ultimately lead to the decrease in the average American life span. A report by the Drug Enforcement Administration cited that, in 2015, there were 2 million people in the United States suffering from opioid-related substance abuse disorders, 591,000 suffering from heroin abuse disorder and 33,000 deaths because of opioid overdose.

Heroin did not just appear on the streets in the last 10 years. Opium-based products have been a part of society for hundreds of years. Both Mocchetti and Al-muhtasib attribute the spike in opiate-related deaths to the over-prescription of painkillers.

“In the ’70s and ’80s doctors were hesitant to prescribe opioids out of fear they were addictive,” Al-muhtasib said in an interview with THE HOYA, “Pharmaceutical companies really pushed that they aren’t addictive so prescribing

went up.”

The problem does not extend only to receivers of the prescription. With overprescription, many people do not use the entire quantity prescribed. Half-full pill bottles stocking bathroom cabinets extend risk of abusing the drugs to patients’ immediate family.

To add to the crisis even more, the problem of over prescription has been accompanied by the increased popularity of an even more potent narcotic, fentanyl. One of the most widely used pain medications in hospitals, fentanyl first infiltrated recreational circles laced in other drugs like heroin and cocaine, and then on its own.

“You don’t need to inject it and it lasts longer, so it’s more appealing to many,” Mocchetti said in regard to the drug’s increased popularity.

The added danger of fentanyl is its potency.

“Fentanyl is similar to morphine, but at least 75 times stronger,” Al-muhtasib said. “First, that makes it easier to overdose because you are more likely to accidentally take more. Second, this made it easy to enter the drug trafficking world.” A picture circled the internet in 2017 of a penny next to a lethal dose of fentanyl, with the drug covering less than 5 percent of the coin’s surface.

The strength and the speed of the opioid crisis have encouraged politicians and law enforcement to look toward unconventional

tactics for drug and crime control. Needle exchanges are becoming popular in cities to encourage habitual drug users to use clean needles to avoid the spread of HIV/AIDS. Although contentious, methadone clinics distribute rationed amounts of methadone, an opioid analgesic, to make withdrawal less lifethreatening and smoothly ease addicts into a life of recovery.

In 2016, Canada legalized doctor-prescribed heroin, also in an effort to wean addicts off the drug in a safe and controlled manner. Although seemingly extreme, these tactics are being employed in response to the high risk of overdose that accompanies opioid use. Opioids depress the region of the brain that controls breathing, leaving its victims to die by suffocation.

Although little research has been done on the specific effects opiates may have on the college population, every Hoya should be aware of the dangers of painkillers before filling a prescription for an opiate. They can be the most effective drugs for pain, but the danger comes in with the length of use, Mocchetti said.

“There is no reason for a student to take medications with opiates in them for more than one to two days,” Mocchetti said. “The longer you take the pills, the more likely it is to get addicted.”

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Debunking Common Drug Myths Olivia Jimenez Hoya Staff Writer

Myth #1: It’s too late to quit cigarettes — the damage is already done.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people who have quit smoking see improvements regardless of how long they have been smoking . The body begins the healing process just 20 minutes after an individual quits smoking. After two to five years of not smoking, the risk of a stroke reduces to that of a nonsmoker. After 10 years of not smoking, the risk of lung cancer is cut in half.

For college students, the prospect of quitting might seem particularly daunting, as many use smoking to cope with the highstress environment. However, quitting smoking is easier for the young: a February 2008 study in the American Journal of Public Health has shown that smokers aged 18 to 24 are much more likely to successfully quit smoking tobacco than older smokers. 84 percent of young smokers, compared to 66 percent of older smokers, reported seriously attempting to quit smoking, and 8.5 percent of young smokers, compared to only 5 percent of older smokers were able to quit for six months or longer.

Although quitting smoking is difficult, kicking the habit while still young will be easier than quitting later on in life, and the health risks of smoking will be greatly mitigated, creating a powerful incentive for college-aged smokers to quit.

Myth #2: Prescription drugs have few health risks because they are legal.

According to the Huffington Post, many students use prescription drugs appropriately to treat common disorders like Attention Deficit Disorder. Amphetamines like Adderall and methylphenidates like Ritalin increase the user’s focus by stimulating the flow of dopamine, a chemical that plays a major role in the brain’s reward and pleasure regions, to the brain. This in-

creased dopamine flow makes it easier for users to ignore minor distractions, ameliorating their concentration for a short period.

However, many students are not prescribed these substances to aid their own studying. Though the Food and Drug Administration regulates these drugs, they can still negatively affect users’ health.

Common symptoms and dangers of amphetamine overuse include rapid breathing, tremor, loss of coordination, irritability, anxiousness, restlessness, delirium, panic, paranoia, hallucinations, impulsive behavior, aggressiveness, withdrawal and addiction, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

According to Dependency.net, methylphenidate is known to interfere with blood pressure and cause digestive problems and loss of appetite. There are also important psychological implications in abusing ADHD/ADD drugs such as Ritalin, as dependency becomes common when they are part of one’s normal routine.

Other prescription drugs commonly implicated in substance abuse include benzodiazepines, such as Xanax, and opioid pain relievers, which are at the center of the national consciousness as lethal overdoses have become an epidemic. Regardless, prescriptions for these drugs are still legally given by doctors and medical professionals.

Myth #3: Using alcohol to relieve stress has no long-term consequences.

Forming a dependence and addiction to alcohol is a serious risk. In college settings, alcohol is often used as a coping mechanism for stress. While the “work hard, play hard” mentality is not necessarily destructive, the cycle of high stress during the week followed by intense alcohol consumption can contribute to a student becoming reliant on drinking as a coping mechanism. Eventually, a student risks becoming psychologically or even physically dependent on alcohol.

Patrick Kilcarr, Ph.D., the director of the Center for Personal Development, works through Health Eduction Services to inform students about substance use and abuse and to provide counseling for those struggling on campus. Kilcarr said in an email to The Hoya cyclical substance use has the potential to develop into abuse.

“Stress is certainly one of the ingredients associated with alcohol and other drug use,” Kilcarr wrote. “If we are stressed and, we drink or use some other substance, the stress temporarily is diminished. If this is done enough over time, a pattern of reducing stress through using occurs which then can develop into varying levels of dependency.”

Myth #4: Only irresponsible people engage in irresponsible drug use.

Students at elite universities such as Georgetown may believe themselves to be too smart and disciplined to abuse drugs.

Yet even students who demonstrate selfcontrol through academic success can fall victim to addiction.

According to a 2017 study at Arizona State University, rates of drug addiction among students at elite universities are two to three times higher than national norms. The stress and pressure to succeed that students experience at these highly competitive institutions may contribute to the high abuse rates, according to Tom Workman, fellow for the Education Department’s Higher Education Center for Alcohol Drug and Prevention Program, in a 2011 interview with the digital media company Inside Higher Ed. Casual drug use can quickly escalate into abuse with serious consequences, as Kilcarr outlined with hypothetical, yet alltoo-common, scenarios.

“A sophomore pre-med major, after experiencing excellent academic achievement during freshman year, begins to major in smoking and sees social and academic

performance begin tumbling down hill,” Kilcarr wrote. “A senior who believed their degree of drinking would change when they graduate is fired from a high-end job for consistent tardiness. A student who began using their roommate’s prescription Adderall became so addicted, they had to leave school for a year, never fully feeling engaged when they returned.”

Myth #5: Addiction is a choice. Treatment is ineffective.

Substance abuse and substance abuse disorders are frequently held in contempt and stigmatized by others, resulting in detrimental effects for struggling individuals who might feel ashamed to seek treatment. Studies have shown that stigmatization of drug users is a major factor that prevents individuals from seeking and completing addiction treatment.

Getting help for a drug problem can be a frightening step, Kilcarr said.

“Individuals who are struggling with dependency or addiction issues need to realize they don’t need to suffer!” Kilcarr wrote. “Moving away from use requires changing fundamental ways of thinking and acting regarding self and substances. This certainly can feel daunting for anyone.”

Yet overcoming dependency is a battle worth fighting, as its long-term results are massive.

“The fact is that with enough distance from using, people begin to reengage their talent, their belief in self and moving toward what they truly want in life. They begin to feel far more balanced. Stress will always be there.

Learning skills to address the stress can be life giving,” Kilcarr wrote.

There is no shame in receiving treatment, as addiction rests beyond the scope of individual control. Treatment can be effective for many and has allowed people to regain their lives. Defeating addiction is not easy, and, as Kilcarr wrote, “requires a great deal shifting in a person’s life.” But recovery is important and possible for everyone, especially when they are surrounded by support and love.

LEFT: AMANDA VAN ORDEN FOR THE HOYA; RIGHT: SHEEL PATEL FOR THE HOYA

Georgetown University’s Health Education Services is a resource for students seeking health-related educational materials and assistance with issues such as substance abuse, stress management and nutrition. Thus, it is an ideal resource for anyone seeking clarification about myths surrounding drug use.

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THE HOYA

the guide

friDAY, February 23, 2018

Cigarette Use Does Not Vanish With Vaporizers Alexandra Brunjes Hoya Staff Writer

Although Georgetown University can often feel like a bubble, its students are not immune to fluctuating trends in vaping and use of cigarettes. While cigarette use among teenagers is at an all-time low, the number of students vaping is skyrocketing, which may cause cigarette use to increase again.

Georgetown is currently reckoning with this trend. A 2016 Georgetown University Student Association referendum asked the student body to confront campus regulations and a potential future without smoking on campus.

GUSA’s campuswide smoking referendum aimed to gauge student interest in implementing a smoking ban on campus. The results revealed that 49.64 percent of students were in favor of implementing rules to make campus smoke-free, while 46.37 percent opposed the referendum. The remainder of students voted “undecided.” GUSA hoped to use this referendum to inform its stance in discussions with University administrators, who had previously stated that its goal was to be a completely smoke-free campus by the end of the 2017-18 school year.

Currently, the official stance on smoking listed on Georgetown’s website states, “It is the policy of Georgetown University to achieve an environment as close to smoke-free as practically possible.” The explanation goes on to say that the goal of this policy is to protect nonsmokers from the health risks of smoking.

No smoking is allowed inside any building on campus, and those who smoke must do so in “designated areas outdoors.”

Saad Bashir (COL ’19), a former GUSA senator who helped lead a campaign to vote “no” in the referendum, said that the campaign was not meant to indicate support for smoking on campus, but rather the need for more nuanced regulation.

“The purpose was to propose an alternative smoking policy our team developed,” Bashir said, “which included smoking zones and other better policy ideas overall compared to the university’s idea of a blanket ban on everything.”

At the time of the referendum, the proposed smoking ban on campus applied to all smoke and tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, hookahs, vaporizers and chewing tobacco.

Bashir said this policy is problematic because it is difficult to enforce and could cause divisions between smokers and nonsmokers — or between international students and noninternational students.

Additionally, a cornerstone of Georgetown’s smoking policy is to prevent nonsmokers from facing the harmful effects of smoking, and several of the banned items, like chewing tobacco, would not endanger other students.

Many students are turning toward alternative methods of nicotine intake, such as vaping over smoking cigarettes.

According to Becky Wexler, the director of media relations for the Campaign for TobaccoFree Kids, an advocacy organization, that ecigarettes are increasing rapidly in popularity and have become the most commonly used tobacco product among youth.

In an email to The Hoya, Wexler cited statistics demonstrating an increased prevalence of vaping among high school students, adding, “It is concerning that youth e-cigarette use continues to exceed use of cigarettes and other tobacco products.”

Part of the problem is that manufacturers of e-cigarettes do not have to reveal everything that is in their products, and there have not yet been many studies characterizing vaping’s long-term effects.

Although e-cigarettes appear less dangerous because they lack tar and traditional cigarette toxins, they are not free of harmful effects.

“A Surgeon General’s report issued in December 2016 concluded that youth use of nicotine in any form, including e-cigarettes, is unsafe, can cause addiction and can harm the developing adolescent brain,” Wexler wrote. “A growing number of studies have found that youth who use e-cigarettes are more likely to subsequently use traditional cigarettes.”

The National Institute of Health reports that 30.7 percent of teens who use e-cigarettes are likely to begin smoking cigarettes in the next six months, and a September study showed that teens who use e-cigarettes are more than two times as likely to smoke regular cigarettes.

Thus, the risk vaporizers pose is twofold: Not only are they causing a spike in adolescent nicotine exposure, but they may increase use of cigarettes — ironic considering e-cigarettes were created as a way to help smokers quit.

This trend is particularly concerning since cigarettes are the leading cause of preventable death in America, accounting for about one in five deaths.

During the last Washington, D.C. legislative session, the D.C. Council passed three tobacco control laws. One raises the minimum age for tobacco sales to 21; another prohibits the use of tobacco at baseball sporting events; and the third is working to include e-cigarettes in D.C. smoke-free laws.

Tobacco-Free Kids supported the passage of all three laws and is now working to raise the District tobacco tax by two dollars.

While Georgetown may be at a standstill regarding smoke regulation, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) appears to be committed to enhancing legislation to reflect the rising trend.

Regarding the use of e-cigarettes as a means to quit smoking, Wexler called for full and immediate FDA regulation of e-cigarettes to fully ascertain the devices’ health risks and potential effects. “[Regulation is essential] to prevent these products from undermining decades of progress in reducing youth smoking, and to assess and identify which, if any, specific e-cigarettes are effective at helping smokers quit all tobacco products or switch completely away from cigarettes,” Wexler said.

Part of the popularity of e-cigarettes in teens is the wealth of advertising and the ease of purchase and use. NIH statistics show that 70 percent of teenagers are exposed to e-cigarette ads. Additionally, many students experiment with vaporizers and then find themselves intrigued by the variety of flavors and the ease of purchase. For example, Juuls, a popular e-cigarette brand, can be ordered online in minutes. The ability to use vapor-

TOP: ANNE STONECIPHER/THE HOYA; BOTTOM: LAUREN SEIBEL/THE HOYA

The results of GUSA’s campuswide smoking referendum revealed that 49.64 percent of students were in favor of implementing a smoking ban on campus. izers in a dorm or other campus buildings without detection further popularizes vaping.

Chantell, a sales associate at VaporFi, a vaporizer store just a few blocks from campus on O Street and Wisconsin Avenue, said that about half of her customers are college-aged.

“I think the thrill of it is what people really like,” she said, adding that many clients appreciate that, unlike cigarettes, vaporizers do not smell, and the increased volume of smoke allows you to do tricks when you exhale.

When asked if she believes that most of her clients are using vaporizers to quit smoking, Chantell was adamant: “Yes, absolutely, absolutely. 100 percent. The point of vaping is to get people to stop smoking cigarettes al-

together. The objective of vaping is to lower your dosage [of nicotine] until you hit zero, and then you can still smoke and have fun with it.”

The prevalence of vaping on campus has increased in the past few years, bringing to light the question of how the administration should control smoking on campus.

Following the 2016 referendum, some student smokers have switched to e-cigarettes, and many nonsmokers have started to vape.

The shift toward a smoke-free campus renders it unclear whether Georgetown aims to protect the health of students who do not smoke, or regulate the decisions of those who do. The fate of smoking at Georgetown remains uncertain — perhaps the time has come for another referendum.

friday, february 23, 2018

the guide

THE HOYA

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Reconciling Drug Use With Ethics and Religion william leo

Hoya Staff Writer

As a Jesuit university, Georgetown has always had a strong connection to religious traditions and ethics. But when drugs are involved, deeply held beliefs can seem dizzying and contradictory.

From professional ethicists to everyday men and women of faith, Hoyas are doing the hard work of analyzing the ethics of drug use. Both religion and philosophy can inform the community about how it should consider drug use.

Western ethical philosophy particularly considers drug use from an angle that is intimately tied to the definition of humanity, human agency and the good life. Legal and economic issues aside, recreational drug use raises philosophical questions not only about how people should treat others, but about how they should treat themselves.

The three modern Western schools of ethical thought — utilitarianism, deontology and virtue ethics — all express different views on what is permissible.

Karen Stohr, Senior research scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and associate professor of philosophy, said the three schools disagree on the importance of harm to self and others.

Utilitarianism, a philosophy that examines the consequences of actions and deems moral the choices that maximize happiness and utility, is relatively tolerant of recreational drug use, so long as the drug in question is not addictive or damaging in the long term.

“If the drug in question is relatively harmless and creates a lot of pleasure, then, from a utilitarian standpoint, there would be nothing particularly wrong with it,” Stohr said. “In particular, utilitarians would think that the recreational use of marijuana is not a big deal.”

However, this perspective on drug use does not extend to harder drugs like heroin, as they have the potential through addiction to create damaging side effects in the long term that would outweigh the positive pleasure benefits of drug use in the short term.

However, other ethical philosophies put a greater emphasis on preserving the human capacity to reason. Deontology prioritizes the moral rules and the intentions of actions: If a certain action incapacitates the ability to reason, deontology would reject it. “[Founder of deontology Immanuel] Kant thought that we have sort of a basic duty of self-respect to maintain hold of our rationality as best we can at all times,” Stohr said.

Kant prioritized humanity’s ability to reason and analyze choices critically, Stohr said.

“Kant was worried about people getting drunk for the sake of getting drunk.

Because when you are drunk, you are not capable of acting in a rational way or treating others rationally. Insofar as that is true of people who are high or under the influence of other drugs, the same considerations would apply, Stohr said.”

If rationality is central to our conception of what it means to be a human be-

ing, then even a less intense high would itself be morally culpable, according to Kant’s logic.

Virtue ethicists, who follow the teachings of Aristotle regarding moderation and living an ethical life, fall somewhere in the middle of these two views.

“In virtue ethics, I think it would depend on the extent to which the drug use is compatible with acting well as a human being,” Stohr said. “So if you are an Aristotelian, you are going to ask the question of whether it is compatible with being an excellent human being.”

Philosophical considerations often intersect with deeply held religious views on recreational drug use. Views vary across religions. For example, paragraph 1291 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which sums up the beliefs of Catholics, states, “The use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense.”

Similarly, the Sahih Muslim, a collection of authoritative sayings from the Prophet Mohammad, attributes the following hadith to the Prophet Muhammed: “Every intoxicant is khamr [wine] and every intoxicant is unlawful.”

For some religious traditions, drug use seems categorically forbidden.

However, the lived experience of believers, especially among the young believers at Georgetown, articulates faith in a more complicated way. According to Juliana Pyo (MSB ’18), a Roman Catholic, faith is negotiated, navigated and con-

tested by the demands of life.

“I make the distinction between my religious views and my personal views,” Pyo said. “I totally understand the argument that your religious views definitely influence your personal values, but I don’t think it’s the root of your personal values.”

Some students, such as nondenominational Protestant Christian Joe Sonza (COL ’19), still strongly feel the impact of their religious beliefs on their attitudes.

“My point of reference to my Christianity is the Bible,” Sonza said. “And the Bible does not say ‘thou shall not roll up a joint,’ per se. But my personal guidance is something like a verse in 1 Corinthians where Paul says, ‘Whether you eat or drink, do so to glorify God.’ In what circumstance would that [drug use] be for the glory of God ... I can’t imagine a scenario when it is.”

However, people of religious backgrounds can also express different attitudes toward mind-altering substances, as noted

by Hindu student Noelle Dayal (COL ’19).

“I think Hinduism can promote healthy mind alteration and I think that it is possible for some drugs to do that in some capacity,” Dayal said.

Although religion plays an important part in how these attitudes and beliefs are formed, students at Georgetown are busy making up their own minds about these issues in ways that sometimes conform to religious doctrine and sometimes upend it. As legalization spreads, our religion and ethics will continue to digest the evolving spiritual and philosophical implications of recreational drugs.

LEFT: RICHARD SCHOFIELD/THE HOYA; RIGHT: FILE PHOTO: RYAN BAE/THE HOYA

Recreational drug use is as divisive an issue on the ethical front as any. Many philosophies condone usage as long as it does not permanently harm users or impair reason. Other philosophies condemn recreational drug use from the start, stating that the risks that come from long-term prescription drugs are not worth their use.

Resources for Students ON-CAMPUS CONFIDENTIAL

OFF-CAMPUS CONFIDENTIAL

Student Health Center Darnall Hall Ground Floor 202-687-2200

Alcoholics Anonymous 202-966-9115

Counseling and Psychiatric Services Darnall Hall 1 202-687-6985 weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

202-444-PAGE (7243) for after-hours emergencies

Al-Anon/Alateen 202-882-1334 D.C. Metro Substance Abuse Hotline 888-294-3572

Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service Village C West 206 202-687-4357

Narcotics Anonymous 202-399-5316 or 800-543-4670

Health Education Services 1437 37th St. NW Poulton Hall, Suite 101

MedStar Washington Hospital Center, D.C. Forensic Nurse Examiners Program 110 Irving St. NW 202-742-1736

Carol Day — Director, HES 202-687-8942

OFF-CAMPUS NONCONFIDENTIAL

Patrick Kilcarr — Director, Center for Personal Development, HES 202-687-8944

District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department 202-727-9099

ON-CAMPUS NONCONFIDENTIAL Office of Student Conduct Leavey Center 530 202-687-4056 Georgetown University Police Department Village C West Ground Floor 202-687-4343

Illustration BY: mina lee and Grace Chung/THE HOYA