Why drug policy reform should be a high priority for universities.

Today I am heading off to the sector haunt, Woburn House, for the Drug and Alcohol Impact awards – and it looks promising.

Two years after the launch of the Drugs and Alcohol Impact pilot – a scheme to help universities and student unions work towards better drug and alcohol practice – this event will discuss important work on higher education drug policy from organisations including Universities UK and Students For Organising Sustainability UK.

It will also recognise groundbreaking and progressive work carried out by the students’ unions and their parent institutions at the University of Leeds, University of the West of England (UWE), and Keele University in enshrining in policy a life-saving principle – that a student found in possession of illegal drugs should be given wellbeing support rather than face punitive action.

Are we human?

This harm-reductive approach acknowledges that students are human and that being human is messy. And sometimes, humans with messy human lives make messy human choices to deal with these messy human life experiences.

This is sound at an individual behaviour level. Lots of illegal drugs are relatively easy to conceal. I have always believed that if a student has managed to get caught with something so easy to conceal – whether inebriated or just apathetic – that is indicative that they are not really functioning properly. They should be helped.

Just the price to pay?

And if higher education is supposed to truly transform lives, are some institutions’ heavy-handed expulsion tactics the right thing to do to an individual who would otherwise benefit from institutional wellbeing support, a ready-made community, the opportunity to complete their qualifications, and ultimately better employment outcomes?

If you found yourself on the end of a substance use issue – which we know can be provoked by traumatic and stressful life events – would losing your place at university, and any associated help, spur you to kick the habit? I’m not so sure.

It also acknowledges students’ behaviour in a group. A group of friends at an institution which threatens students with expulsion – or even state prosecution – may choose not to call for help when one of their housemates overdoses. With seven years to life in prison, maybe – they decide – she will just sleep it off? …Right?

Will your system be alright?

Naturally, the work here goes beyond disciplinary reform. It also involves increased wellbeing provision, staff training, access to advice, and the initiation of peer support schemes.

And while the sector as a whole has, at a snail’s pace but nonetheless, been moving towards a harm-reductive stance on student drug consumption, the strength of Universities UK hosting these awards and endorsing harm-reductive principles is that it may give universities the confidence to face the issue. That’s especially true if they have previously been concerned about the reputational risk of harm reduction initiatives, which are often portrayed in the media as actively encouraging drug consumption.

I see an open door

Much of the current stance is framed around a prerequisite of pathologising student drug use. And I get that – we want to reduce harm, and substance misuse is very harmful. We need to frame intervention and policy change in such a way because many of the decision-makers will only see drug consumption in this way.

However – and yes, I know this is radical and not in keeping with baby steps – but there is a slight danger that students who are pressured to disengage with drug taking because it has been framed solely as a negative coping mechanism may withdraw altogether in order to maintain their use. We know outreach service users can react like this.

And the reality is that a lot of students who take drugs at university go on to lead healthy, successful lives. Implicit in this policy is the acknowledgement that students – outside of the institution’s control – do, always have, and always will take drugs. We must also acknowledge that will include non-problematic ways, too. For every inebriated, beyond-caring student caught, hundreds will slip by unaffected and unnoticed.

Do only those with addiction receive help? Do we waste institutional time and resources putting students into classes and wellbeing sessions who do not need them? I am not sure what the policy looks like, but there are almost certainly more steps to take.