According to a study just released by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA), 3.8 million full-time college students (49-percent) binge drink or abuse drugs, both prescription and illicit. Of this number 22.9-percent meet the criteria for addiction.

According to CASA chairman Joseph A. Califano, Jr. “It’s time to get the ‘high’ out of higher education.” According to the report, binge drinking is up 16-percent, injuries from drinking are up 38-percent and alcohol-related arrests are up 21-percent.

One of the biggest barriers to change is the perception that drinking and drugging by college students is a rite of passage into adulthood. Who can forget the famous movie “Animal House” starring John Belushi where the theme of the film was the partying of the students. Drinking and drugging by college students has been glamorized in the media for years.

If the substance abuse problems on college campuses is to get under control anytime soon, then the public perception of colleges and universities as a place for partying will have to change. Grooming young adults to be addicts instead of community leaders for the next generation is not only a moral issue, but a practical social issue of how we intend to care for one another in our society. Hopefully, publicizing awareness of this issue as an epidemic is a good place to start.