RESEARCH BLOG #2: SCOUTING THE TERRITORY

1. Update us where you stand on your topic idea.

I have decided to alter my topic idea and focus more on the drug culture and how it comes into play with partying and addiction. I want to further discuss the availability of drugs on campus. I think it is also important to highlight addiction on campus and the support/treatment available. I decided to redefine my topic to make it more specific and center on the school's responsibility to offer support to the student. I wanted to discuss this side of drug use because I believe this issue is consistent among schools across the country, but there still needs to be more work to be done to fix this problem. 

2. Tell us what you find online.

The key words that I found through my google searches were "prevention professionals," "cocaine," "illegal drugs," drug use trends." The material that I found were research done on college campuses, a campus guide to avoiding drugs and alcohol, news articles describing the drug culture on campus, etc. The issues discussed focus on how easy it is to find drugs on campus and what to do if you suspect a friend to have an addiction. Wikipedia explains more about substance abuse prevention which I also was thinking about discussing in my paper.

3. Tell us what books and scholarly articles seem important.

These are the sources that I found important:

 Cooper, Melinda.  “In Loco Parentis:Human Capital, Student Debt, and the Logic of Family Investment.”  Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism.  Zone Books, 2017.  215-257.(used in class)

Lipari, R.N., & Jean-Francois, B. A Day in the Life of College Students Aged 18 to 22: Substance Use Facts​. The CBHSQ Report: May 26, 2016. Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, MD.

Pino, Nathan W., et al. “Nonmedical Prescription Drug Use by College Students for Recreational and Instrumental Purposes: Assessing the Differences.” Journal of Drug Issues, vol. 47, no. 4, Oct. 2017, pp. 606–621, doi:10.1177/0022042617714459.

4. What ideas about your topic did you get from this search?

 Some of the issues that seemed important to my topic was how likely a college student is to have a drug abuse problem and how often students use drugs/how available these drugs are. 

5. What resources did you uncover? Give at least two specific references or links to things you found:

I have included the specific links above. The first article that I found is about 

college and how illicit drug use has become very popular on campus. This article also discusses the long-term consequences of these drugs. The second article focuses on the purposes of the use of drugs on campus. This highlights where the students are getting these drugs and what can be done to prevent students from abusing these drugs.

6. Did you find any controversies over your topic?

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the use of medical marijuana and whether or not it should be allowed to students or not. Also, the debate of functional use vs recreational use  is also very popular that I will discuss in my paper.