Shocked at uni drug culture

I think you need to stop worrying about your dd. Sounds like she's got her head screwed on. She's talking to you about it. She's probably not going to do drugs. Plenty of people don't.

I think you needs to wise up a little. Partying is normal amongst the young. Whether alcohol or drugs. As long as she knows the health risks of both leave her to make her own decisions.

You've got a long time to be boring and responsible. Nice to live a little.

I'm curious about where they find the money for all these expensive habits.

I'm assuming she's in first year. It's not uncommon to just end up in accommodation with the wrong crowd and find you are the party person among the studious group or vice versa. She should request a move. She'll be fine when she finds her crowd.

I finished uni in 2005. All of the halls had dealers, mostly pills, mushrooms, weed and ketsmine. Nobody could really afford coke.

It was pretty common to do pills once or twice a week. At 6th form loads of people smoked week or that minging hash that burned holes through your clothes.

Friends at other unis were the same when I visited, it was completely normalised.

Im now in my 40s and don’t do anything like that anymore, but at uni it didn’t seem like a big deal. I have no idea how we’d go out on a Tuesday, do pills, smoke a few joints and have a kebab at around 7am, then go straight to a lecture on no sleep 😂

It sounds like she is really unlucky to be in a party flat and it's so in her face in the communal areas. There were plenty of drugs around when I was at uni in the late-90s, but people were generally reasonably subtle about it/ keep it to individual rooms/ go to the loos etc unless it was a big party house where everyone was into it.

Is it that big a deal for her if she cuts her losses and tries to find another flat? She won't be the only person who can't cope with those sorts of hours - she doesn't have to say its drugs, just that the noise is too much for her. It sounds like she's got other friends and has just been unlucky in her flatmates.

I’m genuinely confused about the prevalence though. I would have reported anyone in my halls if they were dealing/taking drugs.

There is no chance I would have felt comfortable in shared accommodation with anyone involved in drugs at all.

Im clearly super square. Just hate the drugs chain and the harm it causes nationally and internationally.

Well they are illegal for a reason. Weed should be illegal just for the pure smell of it!

I went to a RG university in the late 90s and saw zero drugs. I’m sure they were around but it was so not my vibe. Actually I do remember one boy on my course took drugs (not in my presence) and I avoided him like the plague. I just hated drugs. Still do.

Like others, I went to a university in a large city well known for its nightlife, and there was a significant drug scene, mainly among the upper middle class students. However at large universities there is a degree of diversity in the student body, and you absolutely can find your people. I'd contact the accommodation office and request a swap. A good number of people drop out during term one and she may be able to transfer without penalty into an accommodation vacancy created by a leaver if moving from one university managed accommodation to another.

Weirdly I live in one of the well-known party cities and drug use, weed aside, is not at all in the local sixth form colleges. I blame the more money than sense incoming southerners .

I was thinking the same. RG = more likely to be the presence of drugs in my experience.

I think it's more ridiculous that some drugs are illegal personally

I went to uni in the mid-late 90s, also RG (not that it makes any difference). Drug taking was rife then. My closest pals and I didn't take E, though we did on occasion get drunker than was sensible and I twice smoked a spliff. I only drank for the first time at university because I didn't want to be sat there stone cold sober one whilst my friends were as drunk as lords.

What drugs are you talking about? Weed and ecstasy? Totally common, huge part of uni culture when I was there 27 years ago, as well as heavy drinking. Most people calm down on them by mid year and she will find her people in time. Most dealers will be older uni students, not hardened criminals. If you're talking about harder drugs like cocaine, ketamine etc that would be a bit more worrying but it doesn't sound like she's interested in trying them anyway.

I think drugs are pretty rife at Year 11 and sixth form parties, not just unis. My children are not into hard drugs, but tell me all about everything. My eldest was at one of the unis mentioned on here, but he was mainly into alcohol and I think only the odd friend was into anything more than weed (my son also liked to smoke weed sometimes). My son is very strong in his views but doesn't mind being in the environment.
However, partying until 4am in her flat so often is bound to be an issue if your dd doesn't want to do the same thing. If it's a real issue I would see if she can move as next year is still a way off.

What year is she in? Most of the heavy drug users at my uni were gone by the second year. If she has a tenancy then she’ll likely just have to tolerate it until next year when hopefully she’ll find a different group of people to live with. I doubt it’s everyone though. It’s probably just the group she’s found herself in.

This - mine has even said some of the posh kids parents also do cocaine! The wealth of some of these kids is unreal

It’s shocking OP. The stories mine has told me about the open drug use. We are very rural so think this has been a bit of a culture shock to mine. I was too was soo naive at Uni that I didn’t actually notice the drug taking. Had a convo with Uni friends at a recent wedding who told me they all took stuff at Uni, I was there and I never noticed as they knew I hated drugs. But now I think it is so open. Ridiculous as drugs are illegal.

I know of a student, who moved halls to avoid the first lot of druggy flatmates. She doesn't have to stay there.

When I was a mature student (1980s) I lived on a very tough council estate. There were shabeens every weekend and drugs were part of the culture. Often you could hear gun shots coming from a notorious club. Break ins and muggings were common. It was a huge culture shock for a middle class woman like myself but I just got used to it. I lived there for 5 years before I moved to a tower block which also had a resident drug dealer.

I was at Durham and there was a lot of weed, and plenty of cocaine too. It was around the time when ketamin first became popular but that was largely reserved for summer festivals etc. RG is no barrier and actually where you have students with more money, it's more likely if anything.

If she's finding halls too noisy she can speak to student services and ask if there is a quieter hall with spaces, Freshers halls are often raucous but the university might have accommodation for mature students or finalists that will likely be much calmer.

russell group uni = more middle class, privately educated students = more drugs.

I teach in private schools (have done for years) and the amount of drugs they do is shocking at first. So it’s only going to step up at uni.

your dd just needs to find new friends.

It won't be everyone but unfortunately it sounds like her flatmates are into the drug scene. Has she met others on her course or through societies who are not?

My son is at uni (not RG) and hasn't mentioned anyone taking drugs. I am pretty sure he would tell me if he were offered them or tried them or even if he were around people taking them regularly/socially. It was something we spoke about before he went and he is very open. Thinking about it I am surprised it hasn't been mentioned. There have been parties and gatherings and a lot of alcohol although it's not every week. He is sharing a flat in halls with 3 friends and they sometimes just socialise together as a 4.

I don't think RG is relevant to whether students take drugs or not.