Many students who use drugs have the attitude that college is the best time to experiment, and they will quit immediately after college, but that kind of thinking is flawed.

People who are on drugs do not realize how difficult it is to suddenly stop using them. Students run the risk of becoming dependent on them and letting drugs into their lives after college. Other issues, such as alcohol consumption and unhealthy sex practices, get a lot more attention on campus. These habits are dangerous, but drug usage also is an issue the university should acknowledge.

According to MSU’s 2010 National College Health Assessment, 18.6 percent of students surveyed admitted to using at least one kind of unprescribed prescription drug within the past 12 months.

These statistics are surprising, but they don’t even touch on the amount of students who use illegal drugs that do not fall under the prescription category. It might not be a number as alarming as the amount of students using alcohol — more than 80 percent — but it arguably is just as dangerous, if not more.

Between Jan. 1, 2009, and Jan. 1, 2012, MSU had 314 total drug citations, including four crack, 266 marijuana and six hallucinogen violations. The numbers and drugs are alarming, especially when many students don’t realize drug usage is so common in East Lansing.

Recently, the autopsy and toxicology reports of two MSU students were released, and drug overdoses were the cause of both untimely deaths. It shouldn’t take the passing of students to make others alert to the dangers of drug use. Some people don’t grasp how habitual drugs are for some students until numbers are released or specific instances are reported.

Part of the reason many students might be unaware of the severity of drug usage is because some universities don’t pay enough attention to the dangers of drugs. The number of students who consume alcohol is greater than the number of students who do drugs, so some universities might think it’s more important to tackle the issue affecting more students.

If colleges did a better job of warning students about the effects of doing drugs in college, perhaps there would not be as many students who did them.

Drug usage is a serious issue on college campuses, and universities should not wait for worst-case scenarios to occur before addressing the severity of using drugs. Students might come into college thinking they are invincible to poor life decisions, but if students are informed about the repercussions those decisions can have, maybe some will choose to not partake in doing drugs, and lives can be saved.