--- title: Number of College Students That Drink Alcohol and Smoke Pot description: A new report looks at how many college students drink alcohol and smoke marijuana on a given day. canonical: https://time.com/4349298/pot-alcohol-college-students/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-26T15:34:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:52:10.061Z article:section: Health og:title: Number of College Students That Drink Alcohol and Smoke Pot og:description: A new report looks at how many college students drink alcohol and smoke marijuana on a given day. og:url: https://time.com/4349298/pot-alcohol-college-students/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2900438998f18944/69889522a988cad4636b8032/binge-drank.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2464 og:image:height: 1386 og:image:alt: Friends Raising Toast og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Number of College Students That Drink Alcohol and Smoke Pot twitter:description: A new report looks at how many college students drink alcohol and smoke marijuana on a given day. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2900438998f18944/69889522a988cad4636b8032/binge-drank.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This is How Many College Students Drink Alcohol and Smoke Pot > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin May 26, 2016 3:34 PM UTC  Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin May 26, 2016 3:34 PM UTC On an average day, 1.2 million college students drink alcohol, [according to a new report](http://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/report%5F2361/ShortReport-2361.html). The study, which surveyed about 25,400 full and part-time college students ages 18 to 22, also found that on an average day 703,759 college students used marijuana. The point of the report, which comes from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is to understand the prevalence of drinking and drug use among American college students. The study authors surveyed the students from 2011 to 2014 and found that nearly 10% of full-time college students say they drank alcohol for the first time in the past year, and 6% said they used illicit drugs for the first time. In total, on an average day, 2,179 full-time college students drink alcohol for the first time, 1,299 start using marijuana, 649 start using hallucinogens, 559 start the non-medical use of prescription pain relievers, and 447 start using cocaine. “College is a time when young people transition to adulthood, with many living independently and making behavioral health decisions without direct parental oversight,” the study authors write. “Substance use constitutes one of the most serious public health issues for young people in the United States.” You can read more about college students’ substance use, [here](http://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/report%5F2361/ShortReport-2361.html). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4349298/pot-alcohol-college-students/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4349298/pot-alcohol-college-students/"},"headline":"This is How Many College Students Drink Alcohol and Smoke Pot","datePublished":"2016-05-26T15:34:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:52:10.061Z","description":"Lots of students try alcohol and drugs for the first time","url":"https://time.com/4349298/pot-alcohol-college-students/","keywords":["Research","Marijuana","Alcohol","Drugs","College Students"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2900438998f18944/69889522a988cad4636b8032/binge-drank.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2900438998f18944/69889522a988cad4636b8032/binge-drank.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Friends Raising Toast","caption":"Friends Raising Toast","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4349298/pot-alcohol-college-students/","name":"This is How Many College Students Drink Alcohol and Smoke Pot"}}]}] ```