Fourth Estate Newspaper

Issue date: 3/11/10 Section: News

Photo by Brendan Best Vogel encourages students to know what type of drugs they are taking and to be in a safe environment with familiar people.

Thirty faculty members and 60 students picked up clickers and participated in a discussion of drug education in the Phoenix Rooms on Feb. 23.
Matt Vogel explained the importance of knowledge and drug education through an interactive program.
The programed titled, "Weed, Speed and Beyond," was presented to faculty and students discussing safety, not avoidance with drugs. "I come from a very non-moralistic perspective, but I try to not get completely academic about it either," Vogel said.
Amy Henniges, director of the Counseling and Health Center, thinks it's important to bring these types of programs to campus.
"There can never be enough education," she said. "I think Matt's style especially was all about providing information so that people have facts."
Providing facts only, Vogel believes in a harm-reduction approach. Similar to providing condoms to students or clean needles to drug users, providing facts about drugs is important.
"Clearly if you tell someone you cannot do something, they want to do it," Vogel said. "When you empower people with knowledge and information that is factual and real, I feel people use (drugs) less, and if they do use, they use in a much safer way."
Vogel concentrated much of his presentation on drug safety. Many students, he said, are unaware of where their drugs come from, what affects they have or even the dosage.
"There's no safe drug," Vogel said. "There are drugs on a continuum, but anytime you put something in your body you're developing a risk. Whether that drug comes from your doctor, from a dealer or from a supplement at GNC, it's a risk, and I think that should be widely understood."
Vogel also explained many college students do drugs while drinking and the effects the substances have when used together.
Tyler Rindo, a sophomore music major, said, "I didn't know if you take drugs and alcohol it multiplies the effects together."
These synergistic effects, as Vogel called them, simply means alcohol will multiply the effect of a drug that has been taken. This can lead to a lethal overdose or other medical implications that a person may not realize when they are consuming both at a party or with friend.

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