College Survey: Easy For Students to Get Rx Drugs on Campus

A new survey has found that it is relatively easy for college students in the U.S. to illegally obtain stimulants and other prescription (Rx) drugs on college campuses, HealthDay reports.

According to the 2015 College Prescription Drug Study, 70 percent of the more than 3,900 respondents said it was somewhat “easy or very easy” to get Rx medications without a prescription on campus.

The misuse and abuse of stimulants was the most common practice, yet students reported misusing a number of other Rx medicines as well. About 18 percent of undergraduates said they misused prescription stimulants and 83 percent said they obtained them from friends.

Pain medications were misused by 10 percent of undergraduates, and about one-third of students said it was “easy or very easy” to obtain them. About 9 percent of undergraduates reported misuse of sedatives, and 44 percent said it was “easy or very easy” to get them on campus, according to the new report.

“Overall, 1 in 4 undergraduates reported that they used Rx pain medications, sedatives or stimulants for nonmedical reasons in their lifetimes,” said study author Anne McDaniel said in a press release. McDaniel is associate director of research and data management at Ohio State University’s Center for the Study of Student Life.

The data also found that undergraduates were more likely to misuse prescription drugs and most students reported they used the Rx meds to help them study or improve their grades.

The survey was conducted by Ohio State University and included undergraduate, graduate and professional students at six public and two private colleges and universities in five states across the country.