COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State University has a new educational requirement for all first-year and transfer undergraduate students targeting drug, tobacco and alcohol misuse.
The online educational modules will cover alcohol and other drug misuse prevention, mental wellness and prescription drug abuse.
"We're always looking for ways to improve the support we provide to our students. And we've done a number of different things on campus going back years. We run workshops, we send emails, you want students to be aware of the risks that are out there," said Ben Johnson, a spokesperson for The Ohio State University. "This seemed like a very logical next step."
According to a release from the university, the 2022 National College Health Assessment showed that 72% of Ohio State students drink alcoholic beverages, 25% report using cannabis, 3% report misusing prescription stimulants such as Ritalin or Adderall and 1% report misusing prescription opioids.
"The access is pretty easy for people to get it so and, like, not from a reliable source. So, they get it like through people that could lace it with fentanyl or something like that," said Ethan James, an incoming freshman.
"Coming from high school, personally, I can say it's a big issue. I know for a fact that at least 50 percent of my graduating class was smoking and drinking. Definitely more that I don't know of," said another incoming freshman, Julian Korschke.
The new requirement comes after two OSU students died from fentanyl overdoses at an off-campus house in May.
"There were people who were worried about it, for sure, and talked about it, but I don't think anyone really changed their habits, I guess," said Colin Freshcorn, a fourth-year student.
"The overdose deaths in May were such a heartbreaking tragedy. This is not in response to that, this is really in response to a growing issue that we see here in Ohio, we see in Columbus, we see nationally," Johnson said.
The program will be used on all Ohio State campuses and will begin this fall. Ohio State is making the program available to any student who wants to take part by summer 2023.