<p>hey guys</p>
<p>how prevalent are drugs and drug use at MIT? i know at some college everyone drinks, but what is it like at MIT?</p>
<p>by drugs i mean everything like: caffeine, alcohol, marijuana, LSD, tobacco, speed, etc, etc</p>
<p>Thanks,
JollyStNick</p>
<p>Good questioon</p>
<p>As far as whether drugs are used, which drugs are used, and how much they are used...varies widely by subculture and individual.</p>
<p>While alcohol use, as with other drugs, varies widely, I've seen stats to the effect that MIT has less binge-drinking than the average school.</p>
<p>Caffeine use always struck me as high, but I have nothing to compare it to.</p>
<p>The only drugs I see round my parts are caffeine (think lots of Mountain Dew or coffee) love and hosage..</p>
<p>(but yea.. what jessiehl said. i personally think drugs are not really prevalent, but then again i haven't searched.)</p>
<p>I think the biggest/most important thing is that there is very little peer pressure. I don't drink much, and never drank at all while I was in season for sports. I went to a bunch of parties freshman year, and people always offered me something, just to be polite. I would say no thanks, and that was the end of it. After awhile, people caught on to the pattern, and if I showed up to a party they would say, "Hey Laura, there's juice and soda in the fridge, help yourself." </p>
<p>Drug use around here is what you make of it. Some people do, some don't, and the question is not a noticeable part of the culture, if that makes sense.</p>
<p>Laura what kind of drugs do the people that do do drugs do? (Lol a lot of "do"s but the sentence makes sense!)</p>
<p>Uh, depends where you live.</p>
<p>Can you give some examples? Like X-house has a lot of drinkers, and in Y-house there are a lot of pot smokers.</p>
<p>I don't think that's wise. On the other hand, it's very easy to get a sense of an MIT dorm by visiting. And they're all quite distinct.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I think the biggest/most important thing is that there is very little peer pressure.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I second this, and it applies to both alcohol and other drugs. Oddly, I think the drug that I've seen the most peer pressure for is caffeine. :)</p>
<p>People don't make a big deal of your personal choices as long as you don't give off the impression that you think you're better than them in the process of your answer.</p>
<p>MIT is a community of more than 20000 souls including some 10200 undergraduate and graduate students, and some 11100 faculty and staff. These 20000 are set in an urban environment. Given those figures, virtually all drugs are inevitably available to those who seek them out. </p>
<p>But given that MIT students tend to be brighter than the average, I would suspect that there is less drug abuse (excepting caffeine) than at the hypothetical "average" school.</p>
<p>Beyond that, I do not understand the question. Is there a student somewhere on campus who uses Heroin? Given the numbers of students and the US percentages for heroin usage, then the answer almost certainly is yes. Is there widespread heroin usage on campus? Certainly not. </p>
<p>If the OP is asking if MIT is a drug-free environment in which they can ensure that they are free of temptation, no. Try to avoid all urban campuses if that is what you want. If they are asking if they will be pressured into drug use at MIT, almost certainly not. Can JollyStNick clarify what they are asking and why?</p>
<p>Uh, I went to visit a frat that my sister had a friend at, and I walked into a room filled with smoke from pot...but it was a frat.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Uh, I went to visit a frat that my sister had a friend at, and I walked into a room filled with smoke from pot...but it was a frat.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>...your point?</p>
<p>If you're going to be alarmed by pot use, you probably shouldn't look at colleges anywhere in Massachusetts, considering that it's been recently decriminalized.</p>
<p>I would agree with previous assessments - if you don't want to do drugs at MIT, no one is going to force you to (although you will probably find yourself pretty miserable during all-nighters without caffeine) but if you're looking for a temptation-free environment where everyone has sing-alongs and holds hands, MIT isn't for you.</p>
<p>I personally don't have anything against drinking, but I've been here for more than 3 months and I haven't drank even once. I've just found more fun things to do. That's not to say I haven't been to parties, but at the ones I went to I never felt pressured to drink in the least, and I consistently felt like I would have more fun if I stayed sober. I understand that my experiences are BY NO MEANS the norm here, but I know of several other people in my dorm who feel the same way as I do. However, if you want to drink/do drugs, there are most certainly places and opportunities for you to do so if you look.</p>
<p>Caffeine use, on the other hand, is EXTREMELY widespread. =]</p>
<p>On west campus/frat houses you'll mainly come across alcohol and a bit of marijuana (but this is not my area of expertise). On east campus/places that are east-campus like there are definitely areas where drugs are much more prevalent (from marijuana to cocaine to acid). This could be partly attributed to the fact that east campus dorms allow smoking and room painting and in general a more liberal culture.
But generally you're not gonna find many drugs unless you're interested in finding them.
Really depends on your living group and social circle.</p>
<p>
[quote]
On west campus/frat houses you'll mainly come across alcohol and a bit of marijuana (but this is not my area of expertise). On east campus/places that are east-campus like there are definitely areas where drugs are much more prevalent (from marijuana to cocaine to acid).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Um, this is 1) a gross stereotype, 2) not particularly accurate, and 3) probably not the wisest thing to post in a public forum (it is one thing to say that yes, like everywhere else, there are people who use illegal drugs at MIT, and another to specify areas of campus).</p>
<p>Also, not all east campus living groups allow smoking. A few halls of EC and most of Senior Haus do, but one hall of Senior Haus, most of EC, and all (I think) of Random do not.</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, as an EC-er, I was under the impression that west campus/frats were much more into the heavy-drinking culture than EC. Just goes to show that generalizations and stereotypes like these are really not to be trusted.</p>
<p>why are people into fermented sugar and whack organic molecule chains....</p>
<p>Massachusetts officially decriminalized pot?</p>