SU to provide drug testing kits to students upon request
Category: Welfare
Voting closed
Thank you for your Big Idea. It was discussed at Student Council on 8th December 2020 where unfortunately it did not pass.
This year has presented unprecedented challenges for NTSU as for the rest of society. The Union is engaged in representation activity on many issues directly related to the current crisis and how it is affecting our members' education and their student experience. We don't know when we will be able to re-open our bars or run events for students, or what adaptions will need to be made as regulations change and we better understand how to keep students safe. Working on all of these things will be a priority as we move into term 2, and it was argued at council that distracting the focus from this work would not be productive, given the volume of work required for each of these projects.
Whilst Student Council did acknowledge that students may still be taking their own drugs in private, it was felt that simply providing drug testing kits doesn’t do enough to keep students safe, and that the challenges we would face distributing kits or encouraging students to make use of them would mean that it likely would not be an effective strategy.
This does not mean that the SU will not do anything in response to this Big Idea; Your VP Community and Welfare, Zoë Mallett, will be working further next term on improving the University's response towards drug use among students and how we, as your students' union, can better support students' welfare and keep them safe. This vote has not ruled out NTSU providing drug testing kits or equivalent in the future as part of wider response to this issue, only that council did not believe now was the best time to introduce them.
If you have any questions about this Big Idea, please email Zoe.Clifton@su.ntu.ac.uk.
If you would like to get involved in any future work on this topic, or have any ideas for her campaign, please email Zoe.Mallett@su.ntu.ac.uk.
The NUS state that ‘2 in 5 (39%) students’ have found drug use common during their time at university, based on the latest figures of students at NTU, this would mean almost 13,000 students at this very university are left without accessible testing kits, potentially leaving many students at risk.
This is why I suggest that NTSU take a progressive approach towards student welfare and provide drug testing kits at all main SU buildings across the many NTU sites with an optional donation box so that students can ensure that they are safe, whatever they choose to do.
This policy will not encourage drug use like some critics may say, rather protect those that have already made the decision to take something in the first place and a Durham university led study has found that testing at festivals and similar events are “lifesavers”.
The University of Nottingham have already adopted this policy, and it is time Trent step up and protect their students by adopting this life saving policy.
Comments
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Pollyanna Grayson wrote, 03-12-2020 - 17:39This is a great idea!
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Leila Jones wrote, 03-12-2020 - 20:10
Yes
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Ralph Houston wrote, 03-12-2020 - 23:25
This is a great idea!
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Hollie Williams wrote, 05-12-2020 - 11:36
Great idea!
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William Hallowell wrote, 05-12-2020 - 13:38
this encourages a culture of drugs and criminality should not be endorsed.
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Elouise Kearney wrote, 05-12-2020 - 23:08
I think it’s important that the university recognise there are many different reasons why students choose to take drugs and at a time in their life when they’re more isolated from established support networks at home, uni should be filling that gap. Young people away from home are vulnerable and uni has a duty of care towards them. Drugs and alcohol professionals have been advocating for more effective harm reduction methods at universities since Leah Betts in the 90s and support the decriminalisation of drug use. Let’s start listening to professionals.
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Joshua Taylor wrote, 06-12-2020 - 02:26
Rather than taking an ideologically informed stance on this, we should take the advice of non-biased experts and professionals. Stating that prohibition alone is successful in protecting people from drugs misses the point that many will still use them, regardless of rules. The University should therefore support this large group of its students by adopting a policy that protects them. This doesn't come in the form of condemnation, but recognition, education and testing. A drug culture is formed when the group partaking in drug use is forced to collaborate, through hiding their activities from society, forming a stronger a potentially more toxic fellowship. This also makes it more dangerous for them when acquiring drugs. A simple policy like this will also help to destigmatize drug users and, in doing so, breaks/disperses the separate culture they are forced to confine themselves to. So that they become more interconnected with 'non-drug' cultures.
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