Colleges respond to opioid crisis with resources, 'recovery houses'
| NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.
The first time Cherise tried college, she lasted only a couple of months.
Lonely and miserable, the Rutgers University freshman聽turned to heroin, and quickly became addicted. She dropped out of school and after what she describes as an 鈥渋ntentional overdose鈥� in 2014, wound up in a rehab facility near the campus in New Brunswick, N.J., just down the street from fraternity row.
It was there that she heard about Rutgers Recovery House, a year-round dorm where students recovering from drug and alcohol addictions can find friendship and sanctuary from the temptations of college life.聽
Believing it was 鈥渕eant to be,鈥� she re-enrolled at Rutgers, and moved into the Recovery House.
鈥淚 was home,鈥� says Cherise, who, like all the students in the house, asked that her last name not be used. Now 28, she graduated in the spring.
Almost unheard of five years ago, collegiate recovery programs are multiplying amid an opioid epidemic that of 4,110 Americans under 25 in 2016, the last year for which the figure is available. That鈥檚 almost double the number of young people who died of opioid overdoses in 2006.
Those statistics, and a flurry of seed funds from state governments and nonprofit organizations, are compelling colleges to take the often joked-about issue of campus drug use much more seriously, acknowledging a problem that still makes many campus leaders 鈥� especially in recruitment, development, and alumni offices 鈥� uncomfortable.
Before opioids, colleges 鈥渨ere able to sweep it under the carpet better,鈥� says Christopher Freeman, community recovery supervisor at The College of New Jersey in Ewing. Students were abusing drugs and alcohol 鈥� they just weren鈥檛 as likely to die.
In 2013, there were a couple dozen collegiate recovery programs; today, there are around 200, according to advocates.
Changing attitudes toward addiction聽
The epidemic has also accelerated a shift in attitudes toward addiction, these advocates say. Long condemned as a moral failing, addiction is increasingly seen as a public health issue, worthy of public dollars. New Jersey, ,聽and North Carolina all provide grants to colleges toward the cost of running recovery programs. New Jersey鈥檚 legislature passed a law in 2015 requiring most public colleges to have recovery housing.
Research suggests that recovery programs benefit both students and colleges. that students who participate in such programs have higher grade point averages than their peers and are more likely to graduate. Just 8 percent relapse, on average.聽 聽聽聽
Still, collegiate recovery programs remain relatively rare 鈥� fewer than 5 percent of campuses have them 鈥� and many college leaders remain skeptical they鈥檙e even needed. There鈥檚 not a lot of data on addiction among college students, and what little there is suggests that, contrary to depictions in popular culture, they abuse drugs at lower rates than their peers who aren鈥檛 enrolled.聽
One in 5 full-time college students reported using an illicit drug other than 鈥� and usually in addition to 鈥� marijuana at least once in the previous 12 months, for the National Institutes of Health found. That鈥檚 slightly lower than the 24 percent of recent high school graduates who aren鈥檛 in college who said they鈥檇 used them. , by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found rates of illicit drug use among all 18-to-25-year olds to be as high as 38 percent.
But advocates for the recovery programs say many college leaders are in a state of willful denial, reluctant to admit a problem that might harm their institutions鈥� reputations or dampen recruitment.聽
鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want parents walking around campus seeing posters that imply there is any kind of a substance abuse problem on campus,鈥� says James Winnefeld, a retired U.S. Navy admiral and former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who started an organization to tackle the opioid epidemic , just four days after enrolling as a freshman at the University of Denver.
This semester, DU opened a community center for students who are in recovery. While the center does not offer housing, a spokeswoman says the college plans to set aside a floor of an existing apartment complex for recovery housing next year.
Other collegiate recovery programs are long established. The first was created at Brown University in 1977, by a classics professor who was himself recovering from an alcohol addiction.聽Rutgers followed suit in 1983, after a student who had been drinking fell from some bleachers and became paralyzed. But the real growth has come since 2013, when a nonprofit organization called Transforming Youth Recovery began offering grants to colleges to start programs. Over the past five years, the nonprofit, which was started by a woman who lost her son to an opioid overdose, has given out $1.3 million in grants to 161 colleges.
Recovery programs vary in size and scope, but most offer 12-step or other support groups, 鈥渟ober social鈥� events, and awareness-raising activities, . Just under half provide professional counseling, and roughly 10 percent include housing. A few have started offering medication-assisted treatment, weaning students off of opioids with the help of drugs that lessen their cravings for them.
The Rutgers approach
At Rutgers, the Recovery House is much more than a chem-free dorm. For Cherise and the 24 other students who live there, it鈥檚 an antidote to the loneliness that many people recovering from an addiction feel among peers who don鈥檛 understand why they can鈥檛 have 鈥渏ust one drink.鈥澛�
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to have a glass of wine, I want the whole bottle. It鈥檚 so hard to tell another person what that鈥檚 like,鈥� says Andrea, a graduate student. 鈥淗ere, I don鈥檛 feel alone.鈥�
The dorm is also a refuge from the broader campus, where a culture of casual drug use and binge-drinking can jeopardize recovery. Advocates refer to colleges as 鈥渞ecovery-hostile鈥� environments.
鈥淭here are triggers anywhere you go 鈥� there鈥檚 just more on a college campus,鈥� says Devon, who is a rising sophomore. 鈥淵ou go outside and you smell weed. It鈥檚 easier to get drugs here than anywhere else.鈥�
There are two things that keep her from succumbing to these temptations, Devon says as she sits with a group of other women in the Rutgers Recovery House鈥檚 lounge. One is that 鈥渢his place is always open,鈥� even during breaks. The other: Students who relapse are required to move out.
Students here say they hold each other accountable and are quick to notice when a dormmate is struggling. When Devon was tempted to relapse recently, she went to her friends and told them, 鈥淒on鈥檛 let me.鈥� And when Cherise had anxiety attacks during finals week, she says, a fellow recovering student, Jen, sat with her and helped her breathe.聽
Most students aren鈥檛 so fortunate. On a vast majority of campuses, those in recovery still face an impossible choice: 鈥淩eturn to the same environment that fed my problem, or prioritize my health and forgo my education,鈥� says聽Amy Boyd Austin, president of the Association of Recovery in Higher Education.
Barriers to more programs
Advocates say there are two reasons there aren鈥檛 more programs: money and stigma.
When money is tight, many colleges prioritize prevention and response, investing their limited dollars in efforts to stop substance abuse and treat it when it occurs.聽Many remain focused on the much more pervasive problem of marijuana and alcohol abuse. In the University of Michigan survey, nearly two-thirds of students said they had been drunk at least once in the previous 12 months, and almost 40 percent said they had used marijuana 鈥� the highest rate since 1987.
The stigma surrounding drug and alcohol addiction is subsiding as students become more open about their struggles, advocates say. But it鈥檚 far from gone. Many college leaders continue to say they don鈥檛 have recovering addicts on their campuses, a claim made easier by the lack of reliable data on addiction rates among college students.
鈥淢ost schools are still in denial,鈥� says Kristen Harper, a consultant with Transforming Youth Recovery.
Often it takes a tragedy to spur a college into action. But Mr.聽Freeman, of The College of New Jersey, says that even if the numbers of students who would benefit from recovery programs is small, it鈥檚 an investment worth making.
鈥淔or the students who are involved with them, they鈥檙e absolutely life-changing,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 pay now to help people recover and lead productive lives, we will pay later.鈥澛犅�
Cherise, who started down the path to addiction when she was just 11, says she probably wouldn鈥檛 have made it through college without the recovery house. She says she 鈥渓earned how to be part of a family鈥� in the dorm.聽
鈥淭his is a priceless place,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 unconditional love.鈥�
This story about 聽was produced by聽, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on聽inequality and innovation in education.
