College Cannabis Use Is Rising While Alcohol Use Drops: What Campus Leaders Need to Know

Before diving into this discussion on how cannabis legalization affects students’ academic performance, it’s helpful first to understand my role in this context. I am the Vice President of Educational Partnerships at Mountainside Treatment Center, and my goal is to ensure that no student loses their education to substance use disorder. Students should not have to choose between getting help and staying in school. I believe that recovery and education can and should go hand in hand.

When “Legal” Meets “Overwhelmed”: The Spring Semester Reality

Right now, the spring semester is in full swing at colleges and universities across the country. Students who returned from winter break energized and excited are now sitting in academic advisors’ offices, overwhelmed and anxious. Wellness and Academic Success Centers are seeing the predictable pattern: nearly a quarter of Americans report feeling depressed in winter (APA, 2024), and when you add in a few weeks of adjusting to new professors, syllabi, and mounting expectations, waiting rooms fill up fast.

Over winter break, students may have spent time in environments where cannabis was readily available. As of today, 24 states have legalized recreational marijuana, with 40 states legalizing marijuana for medicinal use. The difference between recreational and medicinal use is not a barrier for most cannabis-seeking individuals. In students’ home communities, cannabis is available.  Students may have spent the time away from campus watching older siblings, cousins, and sometimes even parents use cannabis casually. The message they’ve absorbed, often unintentionally, is that cannabis is basically like having a beer, maybe even healthier. In fact, cannabis is now packaged and marketed in ways that resemble healthier options, such as in energy drinks and gummies.  A 2024 YouGov study reported that three in five Americans view marijuana as safer than alcohol. (YouGov, 2024)

Students return to campus facing immediate, intense academic pressure. If you attended college on campus for your undergraduate years, I am sure you may remember that the spring semester syllabi do not ease you in gently. Students are provided with expectations on day one, with deadlines often arriving quickly, and frequently only a few weeks before midterms, projects, and tests are due.  For freshmen, this is their second semester. They can’t coast on their high school study habits anymore, and empathetic professors who were giving them grace as they acclimate to college life expect them to be performing at top speed from the start. For seniors, this is often the moment they recognize how much their final semester GPA can influence graduate school opportunities or job prospects.  Overall, this may feel like a lot of pressure. 

The anxiety is real. In 2024, Harmony Healthcare IT reported that 73% of college students find school overwhelming (HarmonyHit, 2024).  In the same year, the American College Health Association reported that 76% of college students reported moderate to high stress levels (ACHA, 2024). Over 60% of college students meet criteria for at least one mental health problem. This is a nearly 50% increase since 2013 (Healthy Minds Study, 2023-2024). These students are not exaggerating.  College students are experiencing real challenges and have the courage and (thankfully) support to name them.  Why is Gen Z drinking less than previous generations? Studies show that college students born between 1997 and 2012 (Generation Z) face higher levels of environmental stressors, including economic uncertainty, global crises, and political polarization.  A report from TimelyCare found that 52% of their college student users say political dialogue on campus affects their mental health.  

And here’s where the impact of cannabis legalization on campus culture is felt. When a college student is lying in bed at 11:00 pm, heart racing about an exam, thoughts spiraling about whether they’re smart enough, good enough, or going to make it, and they know that taking a gummy will quiet their mind and let them sleep, the choice appears easy.

And they’re going to tell themselves it’s legal, it’s self-care, it’s a natural solution, and it’s safe. 

Except it’s not. At least not in the way they’re using it, not at this frequency, not at these THC concentrations, and not at this developmental stage. And that is where things get problematic.

What Today’s Cannabis Actually Does to College Student Brains

What makes me so passionate about this topic is that most students, and honestly, most campus administrators, coaches, and parents, don’t fully understand modern cannabis: it is not the marijuana of previous generations. The marijuana that the masses are supporting is a sophistically evolved version of the marijuana we once knew. What are the risks of high-potency cannabis on campus?

The cannabis available today, whether from dispensaries or dealers, has THC concentrations averaging 15-20%, compared to 3-5% in the 1990s (THC is the active ingredient in cannabis that produces the high).  Some concentrates and vapes even contain 90%+ THC. Cannabis is a substance that is fundamentally different in its neurological impact from what many parents of college students remember from their own college years. This is particularly concerning because many parents’ acceptance of their young adults’ use, along with their own, is often shaped by outdated experiences and information.

And it’s especially important to remember that we’re talking about college-age brains, which are still developing. The prefrontal cortex, responsible for executive function, decision-making, impulse control, and working memory, doesn’t fully mature until the mid-twenties. Regular cannabis use during this critical developmental window interferes with that maturation process.  What does that interference look like in practice? It looks like students who:

• Can’t focus in class or on activities the way they used to (professors, advisors, and/or coaches seeing measurable change)
• Need to read material three or four times before retaining it
• Miss deadlines, not because they don’t care, but because they genuinely forgot 
• Struggle to think critically or process complex information
• Find themselves in a constant mental fog that feels normal because it’s been their baseline for months

How does cannabis use affect student academic performance? The research on this is clear. College students who used cannabis nearly every day were almost four times more likely to earn grades of C+ or below, grades that can trigger academic probation, financial aid ineligibility, and increased dropout risk. 

They also may have significantly lower GPAs, not because they’re less intelligent, but because cannabis is biologically impairing their ability to learn and remember information.

Are more college students choosing cannabis over alcohol? What makes this particularly insidious is that cannabis use disorder can develop gradually and quietly, often in ways that look nothing like what most people typically associate with addiction.  A college student doesn’t wake up one day with their life in ruins.  Instead, they may slowly realize they can’t sleep without it, manage stress without it, or socialize comfortably without it.  They’ve built their entire coping system around a substance, and they often don’t even realize it happened. 

Here’s what we’re seeing at Mountainside: For the first time in our 27-year history, young clients under 25 are coming to us primarily for cannabis, not alcohol. And they’re struggling with significantly higher rates of anxiety, depression, ADHD, and psychiatric hospitalizations than previous generations.

Nearly 40% of college students used cannabis in the past year (Monitoring the Future, 2024), and one in three who use cannabis regularly will meet the diagnostic criteria for cannabis use disorder (CDC, 2024). Because college students may see cannabis as not a “real” drug, they don’t seek help until their academic performance has already suffered significantly, and it begins to seep into their personal lives.

Why Students Turn to Cannabis: Executive Function Myths and Mental Health Self-Medication

Shifting patterns in student substance use show college students are turning to cannabis as a solution to academic struggles. They’re using it because they genuinely believe it will help them succeed in school. They’re self-medicating for executive function challenges, and the myths that tell them that cannabis is a solution. Let’s explore four of the most common cannabis myths as they relate to academic and college culture.

1: “Cannabis helps me focus.” College students use cannabis and experience what feels like hyperfocus. They feel that they can finally sit still and work for hours. They think they’ve found their productivity hack. While cannabis may create the feeling of hyperfocus, it impairs working memory, selective attention, and the ability to filter out distractions. Students spend more time on tasks but retain less information and produce lower-quality work.

For students with ADHD, the situation is even worse. Students with ADHD are 7.9 times more likely to use cannabis than their non-ADHD peers, and 33-38% develop cannabis use disorder (Suerken et al., 2016).  College students using cannabis are hoping to improve focus (because somewhere along the way, they heard it was a natural alternative and could improve their ADHD symptoms), but research shows cannabis impairs the exact cognitive functions ADHD already compromises: attention, concentration, memory, and information processing.

A French study of over 4,000 university students found that those with higher ADHD symptoms were 24% more likely to use cannabis occasionally and even more likely to become frequent users. Further indicating that cannabis worsens or has no positive effect on ADHD symptoms. 

The tragic irony: Students with ADHD use cannabis hoping to improve their academic performance, but college cannabis use causes the same academic challenges ADHD does, disruptive behavior, learning difficulties, time management problems, and poor grades. They’re compounding the very problems they’re trying to solve.

2: “Cannabis helps me sleep.” Stressed, overscheduled college students use cannabis and fall asleep within 20 minutes. They wake up convinced it’s the only thing that works. It’s become alarmingly common. Nearly one in five young adults (18%) now use cannabis to fall asleep, and among those who use cannabis at all, 41% say helping themselves sleep is one reason they use it (University of Michigan, 2025). 

Cannabis may help you fall asleep faster because it has sedating effects. Those effects also disrupt REM sleep and deep sleep cycles, which are critical for memory consolidation and learning. College students wake up feeling groggy, not restored.  As University of Michigan researcher Megan Patrick warned, “Using these substances to get to sleep can backfire because they can interfere with the ability to stay asleep and with the quality of sleep. They appear to actually disrupt sleep in the long term.” (University of Michigan, 2025) Courtney Hulse, Director of Outpatient Services at Mountainside Treatment Center, explained the fundamental problem: “It’s a quick fix, and we get instant gratification because we need sleep. I would say, if it’s a pattern, seek some degree of a professional, whether it’s a therapist or a medical doctor.” 

When the students attempt to stop their cannabis use, withdrawal symptoms may appear, including severe insomnia.  When the student alleviates the symptoms by using cannabis again, a dependency cycle is created. In her study, Ms. Patrick stated that 67-73% of adults report sleep difficulty when discontinuing college cannabis use, and sleep difficulty is consistently rated as the most severe withdrawal symptom. “High-quality sleep is critical for mental health and regulating mood,” Patrick emphasizes. “Young adults told us that they are using cannabis to try to get to sleep, but doing so may make their sleep problems even worse. They need to know the potential risks.” (JAMA Pediatrics, 2025)

3: “Cannabis helps me understand complex material.” College students may open their textbook while using cannabis, and suddenly, the dense material makes sense. They’re seeing patterns, making creative connections, having those ‘aha!’ moments that feel like real intellectual breakthroughs.  That “deep understanding” that students feel when reading while using cannabis? It’s a perceptual illusion. Cannabis impairs the ability to encode new memories and integrate information. Students think they’re having profound insights, but they can’t recall the material the next day or apply it on exams. It is not unsimilar to how young children learn to read. They master phonetics first, but comprehension is the real milestone. Cannabis short-circuits that second step. Students feel like they’re comprehending, but the actual learning never happens.

According to a longitudinal study published in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, cannabis use is associated with impairment in attention, concentration, memory, verbal fluency, processing speed, planning, and decision-making. Cannabis use reduces brain volume, affects brain metabolism, alters brain circuitry, and restricts blood flow to the brain, thereby reducing cognitive performance. Essentially, every cognitive function is required for college success, academically and socially.

4: “Cannabis helps me manage my anxiety and depression.” Students dealing with mental health challenges use cannabis for emotional relief. They report that cannabis makes their racing thoughts slow and their body relaxes. They think, “This is helping. This is managing my symptoms.” The problem? Every single one of these beliefs is contradicted by research. 

While some students use cannabis specifically to manage depression or anxiety, the research shows this backfires dramatically:  Cannabis users are 17% more likely to develop depression compared to non-users.  Heavy cannabis users face a 62% increased risk of depression. 

Student mental health and recreational marijuana use become cyclical for students. Students feel depressed or anxious, they use cannabis for relief, cannabis worsens their symptoms over time, they use more cannabis to cope, academic performance declines, stress and depression increase, and college cannabis use escalates further. Meanwhile, while cannabis provides short-term anxiety relief, it increases baseline anxiety over time. The brain’s natural anxiety regulation system becomes dependent on external intervention. What started as “I use on weekends to relax” becomes “I need to use every night to sleep”, and then, “I’m using throughout the day to manage.”

The Bottom Line for Campus Leaders

Adapting campus safety plans for the cannabis surge and updating university drug policies for 2026 should be considered. College students struggling with ADHD, depression, anxiety, or executive function challenges who turn to cannabis are not being careless or reckless. They’re trying to cope with legitimate challenges using a substance they are led to believe is safe, natural, and helpful. A generation that gets most of its information directly from 30-second clips of “health influencers” taking their advice for face value is at a severe disadvantage. 

Why Campus Mental Health Services Aren’t Set Up for This

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: most college counseling centers are not adequately prepared to address college cannabis use as a mental health issue. Not because they don’t care, but because we’re all working from outdated playbooks. As a colleague often reminds me, “What I’m telling you today is already old news when it comes to substances.” Evidence-based prevention for college cannabis users should be a consideration.

The challenge is multifaceted. Cannabis falls into this weird middle ground in both campus culture and clinical practice. It’s not seen as serious as “hard drugs,” it’s often legal or decriminalized, and there’s significant debate even among mental health professionals about its risks. Here’s the interesting thing: the THC content and addictive potential changed dramatically with legalization, but the cultural perception of cannabis as “natural” and relatively harmless? That hasn’t budged.

The screening gap is real. When a student presents with anxiety, attention difficulties, or depression, counselors may not probe deeply about cannabis use. And even when they do, students often underreport because they don’t view their use as problematic. A student smoking daily will say “I use occasionally” because in college culture, “occasionally” often means daily or multiple times per day, versus all day. It feels weird to write that, but in a college student’s mind, there’s a meaningful difference.

The tools themselves are outdated. Many screening instruments weren’t designed for today’s high-THC cannabis products. A student using a vape pen with 85% THC concentrate is having a fundamentally different experience than someone smoking a joint with 15% THC flower, but our assessments often don’t differentiate.

Then there’s the medication complication. One in four college students arrives at college already taking psychiatric medication, a rate that has doubled since 2007. Campus health centers may prescribe antidepressants or ADHD medications without realizing that cannabis is interfering. Cannabis inhibits the enzymes that metabolize common medications like Zoloft, Lexapro, and Celexa, potentially doubling medication levels and increasing side effects (Strawn et al., 2021). 

More problematic still, cannabis itself can worsen anxiety and depression, making it nearly impossible to assess whether prescribed medications are working (Sznitman et al., 2022).  Students conclude their medication isn’t effective and request higher doses or different prescriptions, when the fundamental issue, unaddressed cannabis use, remains hidden. Given that, rather than psychiatric specialists, many campus health centers lack the training to recognize these complex interactions (Psychology Today, 2021).

The service gap is enormous. Students who recognize they have a cannabis problem often find that campus resources can’t provide the level of support they need. Weekly outpatient counseling isn’t sufficient for someone who’s developed physiological and psychological dependence. But these students aren’t “sick enough” for inpatient treatment, and they’re terrified of taking medical leave because of the academic and financial implications.

We’re caught in this strange moment: cannabis is increasingly legal and accessible, more students are arriving already medicated for mental health conditions, and our clinical infrastructure hasn’t caught up to either reality. Students deserve better. They deserve accurate information about how cannabis interacts with their medications, evidence-based screening tools that account for today’s high-potency products, and treatment options that don’t force them to choose between getting help and staying in school. 

If we’re serious about supporting student success this semester, we need to radically change how we approach cannabis on campus. This is no fault of universities or mental health centers; I can’t praise the work they do enough, often under-resourced. But the target has not only moved, but it has also completely morphed post-legalization.   I have identified the following four main initiatives to support our students.

Honest Education About Today’s Cannabis

Education. Education for college students and education for adults is our first initiative.  I am a D.A.R.E kid. My kids are growing up on L.E.A.D. (If you haven’t heard of L.E.A.D, it is an evolution of D.A.R.E to include mental health awareness and a less punitive approach). We need to educate about contemporary cannabis: the THC concentrations in today’s products, the impact on developing brains, the difference between occasional use and dependence, and the specific academic consequences. My teenagers hear a lot about fentanyl (as they should, and a huge thank you to their schools for the awareness they’ve brought), but when I ask about cannabis, they are less versed on the risks. And this is where my passion seeps in; this isn’t just education for our youth. I may sound like a broken record, but legal 2026 cannabis is different from 1990 cannabis, and educating adults is just as important.  

Peer support.  The other critical piece of education is who it is coming from. Before working with schools about substance use, my career was based in peer-to-peer academic support, resources, and mentorship. What I bring from that experience is the understanding and supporting data behind peer-to-peer influence. Peer-to-peer support works. Studies of college students show that those with peer mentors have higher attendance rates, increased engagement, and lower dropout rates compared to students without peer support. These benefits extend across academic, social, and mental health domains. Some campuses are bringing in young adults in recovery from cannabis use disorder to speak to students. That peer perspective, “I thought it was harmless too, here’s what actually happened”, resonates in ways that administrator presentations never will.

Integrated Screening in All Mental Health Assessments

Screening. We need staff trained to recognize cannabis misuse, even when it doesn’t look like what they’ve been taught “addiction” looks like.  In addition to updated screening tools for high-potency THC products, schools can start the conversation by asking non-judgmental questions. Every single time a student presents with anxiety, depression, attention difficulties, or academic struggles, we can also ask, Have you ever used cannabis? Have you used cannabis in the past 30 days? On a typical day when you use cannabis, how many times do you use it? What forms do you typically use? When do you most often use cannabis? What are your main reasons for using cannabis? Do you use it alone or with others? Do you use it before or during classes or studying?

Accessible and Non-Punitive Support for Students Who Want to Cut Back or Quit

Mental health support and reduction of stigma. Students need to feel heard and supported. Trust is important in managing substance misuse.  With nearly 40% of college students having used cannabis in the past year, the need for direct, efficient, and empathetic support is there (Monitoring the Future, 2024).  Identifying campus policies on substance use (alcohol, cannabis, etc) is important to start the discussion on any changes that need to be made.  If campus substance use policies are punitive, students will not feel comfortable disclosing their substance use. A college student told me recently that when they asked for support from their professor (the student was in early recovery and struggling), the student disclosed use and was immediately suspended. As such, harm reduction strategies should be employed.

Counseling center staff and providers provide meaningful mental health support. They will benefit from understanding the trends in substance use, including cannabis. They need to know the latest information to provide the best evidence-based practices, such as motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy.  And the mental health providers cannot do this alone.  They will need support from the campus leaders and staff.  Education for the staff and implementation of non-punitive policies are key initiatives that should be reviewed.  For schools already maxing out their mental health and wellness support budgets, or even those just looking for education on cannabis and other substance use, partnerships with private organizations or non-profits should be made to extend the reach of the school resources. This is a community assignment; we all need to work together as this landscape changes.

Academic Support Integrated with Wellness

Academic support. How should campus leaders respond to rising college cannabis use? Students whose cannabis use has impaired their academic performance need more than just addiction treatment. They need academic recovery support: tutoring, mentorship, study skills coaching, and time management training. We must acknowledge the connection between academic success and excessive cannabis use to prevent substance use from becoming the reason a student drops out. Education shouldn’t be what students forfeit when they need help; it should be what motivates their recovery.

The most successful interventions I’ve seen integrate mental health treatment, substance use support, and academic coaching into one comprehensive program. Because you can’t address the cannabis use without addressing the anxiety, and you can’t address either without addressing the academic consequences.

Unfortunately, It All Must Tie Back to ROI

Let’s talk about something campus administrators care about: return on investment. I have spent over a decade working within the education system. Private schools, public schools, third-party support, it all takes money to make it happen. I am neither naïve nor critical regarding this reality; therefore, as we consider school-led initiatives, it is important to examine how they directly impact the financial health of an institution.

There are correlations between cannabis use and academic retention, and student retention is expensive. If you are in higher education, I am not telling you anything you don’t know. When a student leaves your institution, you lose not just their tuition for the remaining years but also the lifetime alumni giving potential, the reputation impact, and the community loss. Student dropouts cost colleges more than $16 billion annually (Uni-Life, 2025), and replacing each student costs an additional $2,800 in recruitment expenses (Verse.AI, 2025). Colleges aren’t just thinking about four (4) years of tuition (while even that is a significant loss), they are thinking about the total LTV of a student.

Students struggling with college cannabis use (or any substance use) are retention risks. They’re at higher risk of academic dismissal, of taking medical leaves they never return from, of quietly transferring to less demanding institutions, or dropping out entirely. Around 87.5% of students in Collegiate Recovery Programs had no relapse after graduation (AMC, 2024), and CRP participation is associated with increased college retention and higher GPAs. Research shows that marijuana use significantly impacts degree completion. Students who used cannabis just five times in a month were 30-44% less likely to complete their degree than non-users.

The investment in comprehensive cannabis education and support programming as part of a higher education health initiative pays for itself many times over in improved retention, better academic outcomes, reduced crisis interventions, and fewer emergency room visits.

What Your Campus Can Do This Week

I know this might feel overwhelming. The problem is big, the stakes are high, and you’re already stretched thin, and budgets are tight. And yes, cannabis is legal in 24 states, so this might feel like old-fashioned pearl-clutching. This isn’t about demonizing recreational use or telling adults what to do. It’s about acknowledging that legal doesn’t mean harmless, especially for developing brains. And cannabis is everywhere. Students who don’t drink alcohol have doubled since 2016, while cannabis use has tripled (Campus Safety, 2025). Dispensaries are within walking distance of campus. Vape pens are odorless and discreet, and are sold in many locations.  The barrier to access has essentially disappeared.

Here are steps you can take right now, this week, to start supporting students differently with substance misuse in 2026.

Immediate Actions:

• Update your screening questions. If your counseling center or health services aren’t asking detailed questions about cannabis use frequency, method, and impact, change that today. Provide a simple script: “I’m going to ask some questions about substance use because it can affect the concerns you’re presenting with. How many days per week do you typically use cannabis? What form do you use: flower, vape, or edibles? How long has this been your pattern?”
• Train your front-line staff. Residential and academic advisors, faculty, coaches, and peer mentors who work closely with students all need to know what cannabis misuse looks like in high-functioning college students. Hint: It doesn’t always look like someone who’s failing out.
• Create a simple resource guide. Students need to know where to go if they’re concerned about their cannabis use. One page: who to call, what services are available, what happens when you seek help, and confidentiality information. Make it available online and post it in residence halls.
• Reach out to treatment partners. Most campuses don’t have the capacity to provide comprehensive substance use treatment on campus. That’s okay. But you need to know who in your community provides these services, what their approach is, how students can access them, and how to make warm handoffs.
• Start a conversation with student health insurance. Many students don’t seek help because they don’t know if it’s covered by their insurance. Work with your student health insurance provider to clarify coverage for substance use treatment and make that information easily accessible.

This Semester Actions:

• Host honest conversations about cannabis and academic performance. Not scare-tactic presentations, but real discussions. Bring in a neuroscientist to talk about cannabis and the developing brain. Bring in students in recovery to share their experiences. Create space for questions without judgment.
• Start a support group. Even if it’s just once a week, facilitated by a counselor or peer educator, create space for students to talk about their relationship with cannabis and get support for making changes.
• Integrate cannabis education into existing programming. Stress management workshops should acknowledge that many students use cannabis to manage stress and offer effective alternatives. Academic success coaching should address how substance use impacts study effectiveness.
• Partner with student organizations. Student government, residence hall associations, peer leaders, athletic captains, mental health advocacy groups, these students can be powerful voices for culture change. Support them in creating peer education initiatives.

This Year Actions:

• Develop a comprehensive cannabis education and support strategy. This needs to be campus-wide, involving student affairs, health services, counseling, academic affairs, and residence life. Appoint a task force, assess current gaps, and create a three-year plan.
• Launch a collegiate recovery program or recovery-friendly campus initiative. Even a small program makes an enormous difference. Start with recovery support meetings, peer support, and connection to community resources.
• Revise policies to emphasize support over punishment. Students don’t seek help if they think they’ll be kicked out of housing or suspended. Your policies should encourage students to get help when they need it.
• Create faculty and staff training. Everyone who interacts with students should understand the signs of cannabis-related academic struggle and know how to make appropriate referrals. This shouldn’t fall only on the counseling center staff.
• Build data collection into your efforts. Track how many students are seeking support, what outcomes they’re experiencing, and what gaps remain. This data will help you refine your approach and make the case for continued investment.

If you’ve read this far, you care deeply about your students. So do we. At Mountainside, we partner with colleges and universities not just as a treatment provider, but as a true thought partner, and you don’t have to figure this out alone. Because the students you’re trying to reach deserve both.

Better Together

Changing the Culture: Campus Substance Trends

• Partner with conduct offices to shift the response to student substance use from punitive to supportive — because students who feel safe asking for help are students who actually get it
• Train faculty, staff, and peer leaders to recognize the signs of substance use disorder and respond with compassion, not judgment
• Design evidence-based education that meets students where they are — honest, engaging, and built for the world they’re actually living in

Supporting the People Who Support Your Students

• Approximately 76% of faculty and staff say supporting students’ mental health has become a job expectation, and more than half have considered leaving because of burnout (TimelyCare, 2025). They are showing up for your students every single day, and they deserve to be shown up for, too.
• Equip faculty with practical tools and language to recognize when a student is struggling with substance use, and just as importantly, help them understand where their role ends and where ours begins, so they can set healthy boundaries and still feel confident they’ve done right by their students.
• Because when faculty feel supported, students feel it too.

Walking Alongside Your Students

• Work consultatively with your team from the moment of the incident through assessment and support plan development, so students get the help they need without losing their academic footing
• Serve as your on-call substance use experts, filling gaps when your counseling center needs specialized assessment tools, crisis intervention capacity, or additional bandwidth, as a true partner to your existing staff, not a replacement
• Develop screening protocols designed specifically for today’s high-THC cannabis products, because the tools built for a different era of substance use aren’t enough anymore

Building the Bridge

• Create a seamless continuum of care that connects your campus to the right treatment options, so students never fall through the gap between “needing help” and “getting help.”
• Establish student support groups and recovery-friendly initiatives that make staying in school feel possible, not out of reach
• Measure outcomes together, so we can demonstrate impact, make the case to leadership, and keep refining what works

Here’s the good news: when students get the right support, recovery and academic success go hand in hand. Early intervention works. Honest conversations work. Meeting students where they are, without judgment, works.

If you’d like to talk about what targeted substance use support could look like on your campus, reach out. We’re here to consult, collaborate, and help you build systems that work for today’s students.

Every student struggling with college cannabis use came to college with dreams and potential. Let’s make sure they have the support to reach it.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, Mountainside can help. We offer individualized and comprehensive treatment that meets people where they are. Speak with an admissions specialist today to discover your options!