<p>I am a father from the East Coast, and have a daughter who will be matriculating into college next year. Columbia is her first choice. I am wondering about the drug and alcohol use at the school. I understand that kids drink at college, I was no exception, but what about harder drugs like marijuana? What about crack and acid?</p>
<p>I know for a fact my daughter has never touched either alcohol or any drug, because we buy her a lot of things and she would tell us if she did.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if I would count marijuana use as a “harder” drug than alcohol, but it’s probably the second most-used drug behind alcohol. Coke, acid, shrooms, and ecstasy probably round out the list of the rest of the most commonly used drugs, although they’re significantly less common.</p>
<p>I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone smoking crack at Columbia.</p>
<p>Alcohol is obviously present at most college parties, marijuana is present as some, but you can definitely go a whole year socializing without ever coming across marijuana. There are many social activities that do not involve alcohol or drugs. College will be a big shift in terms of exposure, but Columbia is definitely a school where you don’t have to be a drinker or a pot smoker to socialize and have many good friends. Between Columbia and new york city there are more than enough social options. Your daughter probably already has exposure to alcohol and drugs depending on the high school she goes to, if she has not had much exposure she will have to be responsible, if she has had exposure, she shouldn’t have too much of a problem. I have many classmates from both public and private schools who say Columbia is much safer in terms of alcohol and drug usage than their high schools.</p>
<p>Is buying things the way to win your kids’ trust nowadays? No one told this to my parents when I was growing up…</p>
<p>FYI: In the city of New York, marijuana use/possession (small amounts) is punished by fine (misdemeanor), and one is rarely given a hard time about it. It is virtually legal. The police have bigger problems to worry about.</p>
<p>I feel bad because, even as the father of two college students, I read the OP as a ■■■■■. Apparently I was wrong, given the more refined ■■■■■-dar of the the other posters, so I apologize to the OP.</p>
<p>Having said that, my younger son is a first-year at Columbia. He joined a frat, and my wife and I got to see him drinking Natty Lights (light beer) at a tailgate during family weekend, and were quite able to enjoy our time with him. The fact is, in our community, familiarity with alcohol is a social norm. (I suspect that familiarity is common throughout most of the country.) Whatever you did to raise your child is in the past; now is the time for trust.</p>
<p>I agree with pbr in the reading OP as a ■■■■■. S/He’s either a ■■■■■ or an overbearing parent. Seriously, crack? OP has absolutely no experience with any drug (and probably gets all of his/her information from some reputable source like Fox News) if that is a serious question.</p>
<p>Fact of the matter is that if your child is unable to use control in drug/alcohol use then your child will fail. There are plenty of kids here who use one, neither, or both and do just fine.</p>
<p>by the way, this guy’s name on here is Wonderingfather and he signs as Concernedfather. possible reference to other account names he has on other sites?</p>