How To Avoid Drugs During Your College Career

College is the time when many people start to experiment with things like sex, drugs, and alcohol, when it should be the time in which people are preparing for adulthood and getting ready for their future careers. That doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun in college, but you should learn when to say no and how to keep your eye on the prize.

You can have fun in college without the drugs and alcohol, and without letting your experimentation get out of hand. Alcohol and drugs can be very addictive and once you develop an addiction problem during your college, it can be a hard recovery and you might need to take the help of a drug rehab center in order to get rid of the addiction. That said, here are some things to keep in mind that can help you get through your college career without becoming an addict or abuser.

Focus On Your Studies

One way to keep from letting the college parties, and all around college craziness, get to you and damage your life and your college career is to focus on your studies. Make college your top priority. That means showing up to classes, getting your homework done before hanging out with friends, and understand that you don’t need drugs to focus.

Sometimes college students think that drugs, like speed, can help them get more hours of study in and help them focus more, but in reality they simply turn you into a drug addict. Even marijuana use has been rising with college students and can lead to failing grades and dropping out.

Realize You Can Have Fun Sober

Just because you are focused on your studies doesn’t mean you can’t hit up a college party or two. Maybe you made some friends and want to get to know them, so you go to a party, that doesn’t mean you need to get wasted or high. You can have fun sober.

The type of fun you have with drugs or alcohol in your system is inebriated fun that is clouded by poor judgement calls. By partying sober you can really get to know people and yourself, and you lower your risk of bad things happening (like people spiking your drinks with drugs, overdosing, or being raped.

While standing on your head on a beer keg may look like a ton of fun, it’s a recipe for disaster.

If you do fall into the drug and alcohol spiral at college there is help. You can even get help strictly for a dual diagnosis, which will include therapy. But you need to want the help. You can get kicked out of college for drug use too.

Don’t ruin college, and your future, by letting the first time you are away from home be one big party. If you are worried that you may be led into a world of drugs and alcohol, speak to a counselor or visit a alcoholics or narcotics meeting where you might get a little information to scare your straight before you even start to head down the wrong path.