Alcohol and Drug End of Year Report 2023 – 2024 Academic Year & Drug Free Schools and Communities Act Yearly Report: Summer 2024

Stanford Alcohol and Drug Program

Vision

A Stanford community that fosters inclusion by promoting a safe, lively, and responsible social living and learning environment, taking into account the diverse population of students and varying levels of student development.

Mission

Mitigate high-risk alcohol and other drug usage and their related harms among Stanford students by utilizing health promotion principles through collaborative, cutting-edge, empirically-proven educational strategies and programs.

Objectives

1. Deliver impactful alcohol and drug education and risk reduction program across campus.
2. Consult, advise and offer resources to campus partners on substance use issues.
3. Create outlets and space for students that deemphasize substance abuse and promote resilience and recovery.
4. Shift campus culture away from binge drinking and drug use.
5. Collect data to assess trends and evaluate needs on an ongoing basis
6. Empower students to build a campus culture encompassing safety, flourishing and wellness.

SUPER Is a Comprehensive Office That Manages:

• 5-SURE on Foot Safe Walks Bystander Intervention Program
• 5-SURE Safe Rides Program
• Party Planning Education and Training
• Cardinal Recovery Program
• Well House Substance-Free Programming
• Parent Education and Outreach
• Peer Health Education (PEERs Program)
• Education and Outreach Services
  • 1:1 sessions
  • High-risk group education
  • Trainings and workshops
  • Online education

Policies and AOD Efforts

Comprehensive information on policies and AOD efforts is sent to all Stanford students, faculty, staff and affiliates via the Stanford Department of Public Safety Annual Safety, Security, and Fire Report.

Copies of the DFSCA Biennial reports are housed with the Stanford Office of Substance Use Programs, Education & Resources within the Division of Student Affairs.

The reports contains

• AOD program vision, mission and goals
• Outline of AOD programs and outreach services
• Program evaluation data
• Program usage and impact figures
• Trends and high-risk concerns tracking 
• Health effects of alcohol and drugs

Alcohol & Drugs Effects

Alcohol & Drugs Effects and Resources

• Alcohol & Drug Info: A comprehensive catalog of alcohol and drug effects, information and safety concerns
• On-campus and off-campus resources 

Framing the Issue

• Stanford continues to address the concerning issues of binge drinking and drug use in a proactive and expansive manner with dedicated programs, education and resources. The university approach includes prevention, early intervention, treatment and recovery services.
• For alcohol, the university is most concerned with mitigating binge drinking and its related consequences such as blackouts, hangovers, and regretted actions.
• Considerable attention and education has been placed on drug education including fentanyl and  prescription drugs - including campuswide naloxone trainings, fentanyl test strip distribution and harm reduction programs and services.
• The university has put recommendations from the 2019 Alcohol Solutions Group (ASG) report into action in various areas.
• Surveys on alcohol and drug use behaviors and attitudes are conducted regularly with undergraduate students and the 2019 and 2022 data is publicly available here.

Progress and Initiatives

• The Office of  Substance Use Programs, Education & Resources (SUPER), which is staffed by five full-time professionals and four paraprofessional staff is doing increased education, substance-free events and direct service programming. The office also employs about 70 student workers across its various prevention programs.  This year SUPER employed 25 student peer health educators to conduct alcohol and drug education and recovery services. 
• A revised Student Alcohol and Other Drug policy was launched on September 1, 2022 and includes a detailed implementation process, protections for Good Samaritans, and a sexual violence provision.
• Stanford offers a substance-free and wellness living option for upper-class students in a house called The Well House. The house is a popular living-learning option for students.
• SUPER manages the 5-SURE Safe Rides program and service hours were expanded this year to start at 8pm (previous starting time was 9pm) and included rides to the Palo Alto Caltrain Station.
• SUPER continues to manage the widely utilized 5-SURE on Foot program, which offers safe walks home and in-the-moment check-in on weekend nights in high-traffic party areas of campus.
• Cardinal Recovery, collegiate recovery community, is providing support and services to students in addiction and recovery. Recovery meetings, sober events and support services anchor the program.
• Over 90 percent of first-year students completed online alcohol, drug education the summer before they matriculated.
• SUPER is proactively training broadly on and distributing naloxone and fentanyl test strips.

Substance Use Policies and Processes

Student Alcohol and Other Drugs Policy

Launched: September 1, 2021

• Contains a Good Samaritan provision 
• Expands policy on other drugs
• Articulates sexual violence reporting and exemption from disciplinary action
• Outlines process for implementation and consequences

Stanford Group Accountability Process

Launched: January 2022

• Defines collective responsibility for groups
• Outlines due process and levels of review
• Expands jurisdiction to residences

Substance Use Programs and Services Impact Reports and Data

5-SURE Safe Rides Program

The 5-SURE Safe Rides program maintains a fleet of 3 cars and two golf carts and continued to see strong ridership numbers. Student staff continued to offer safe rides 7 nights a week, 8pm-2am (service ran 5pm-2am winter and spring of 2023 as a pilot).  Ninety-five percent of passengers are female and ridership continued to be heaviest Wednesday to Saturday.

5-SURE Safe Rides numbers are taken from call logs, online reservations and driver reports.
* Service did not run 2020 -2021 academic year due to COVID-19.
^ 2021-2022 impacted by several weeks of limited activity periods due to COVID-19.
** Service operated 5pm-2am for winter and spring quarters as a pilot.
^^ Hours expanded to begin service at 8pm, instead of 9pm.

5-SURE on Foot Bystander Intervention Program

The 5-SURE on Foot Bystander Intervention program student workers offered safe walks, snacks and water in high-traffic party areas every weekend during the academic year. Program evaluation results show strong support and positive community impacts related to safety, trust and student well-being. Utilization numbers continue to show strong participation and the program remains very popular among students.  

5-SURE on Foot numbers are taken from student staff nightly reports, snacks/water distributed and head counts.
* Service shifted to COVID-19 health advocates in 2020 -2021 academic year handing out masks.

Highlights from this past year included

• Offered 4,262 in-person and online trainings with 2,229 students being educated and trained on alcohol and drug issues.
• Trained nearly 500 student residential leaders on alcohol and drug education and emergency response, including dedicated training on fentanyl and naloxone. 
• Met individually with 254 students for alcohol and drug educational sessions using BASICS and other harm reduction modalities.
• Worked with the Dean of Students Office to provide expertise in case management of Student Alcohol & Drug Policy violations.

Highlights from this past year included:

• Offered 61 educational workshops and outreach events across campus on a variety of health and well-being subjects and had a total of 14,915 contacts.
• Provided 1,453 direct service hours to the community for outreach education, training
• Ran Fentanyl Awareness Day activities (including naloxone training) to over 200 participants. 
• Co-hosted Dry January Pledge campaign with Cardinal Recovery with 85 students participating.
• Launched a 3-unit academic training class (PEDS 116: Peer Education & the Campus Culture) offered in the Spring 2024 quarter.

ChemX/SUPER Partnership

ChemX is a student-led initiative addressing the fentanyl epidemic among young adults and college students, aiming to keep friends alive by promoting drug safety and testing. ChemX provides innovative and proactive fentanyl test kits in a community-first approach, coupled with harm-reduction education and a larger architecture centered around creating a supporting community of risk-educated drug safety champions.

• This past year SUPER partnered to bring fentanyl testing kits and naloxone to a larger swath of the Stanford community via harm reduction shelves in residences on campus in an anonymous and inclusive manner. Shelves are being installed across campus residences. 
• 1,041 ChemX harm reduction kits were distributed.
• Feedback was positive and well received by the student body.

More About The Well-House Substance-Free Social Program

• The house offered over 60 substance-free events for residents and other students during the year providing a safe and substance-free space for thousands of attendees (non-unique).
• The house presented the Annual Addiction Science Keynote on nicotine addiction in co-partnership with Cardinal Recovery. 
• Residents report high levels of satisfaction, increased levels of connection and reduced stress levels.

Cardinal Recovery

Cardinal Recovery is Stanford’s collegiate recovery community for students in substance and other behavioral/process addictions. It provides support, community, sober events and resources across campus. 

• Cardinal Recovery has community of nearly 1000 who get weekly communications about meetings, support, sober events and resources.
• Weekly recovery meetings are offered multiple times a week across campus with some offered at the Well House. 
• Held 68 outreach events that directly reached 3,227 students while providing 852 direct service hours to the community including the Dry January Pledge campaign co-sponsored with the PEERs program with 85 students participating. 
• Hosted 101 sober events that benefited 1,306 attendees including the popular Sober Super Bowl and Sober Tailgate events. 
• The 3rd Annual Addiction Science Keynote sponsored by Cardinal Recovery and the Well House was held in May with Michael Ostacher, MD as the featured speaker. The title of the talk was “Nicotine & Tobacco: Changing Risks and Changing Public Health Policy in Addiction.”

Stanford Party Registration and Approval Figures 2023-2024 AY

Stanford Parties Historical AY Data

• Total Parties AY 2023-24: 509
• Total Parties AY 2022-23: 504
• Total Parties AY 2021-22: ^613
• Total Parties AY 2020-21: No registered parties held due to COVID-19 pandemic 
• Total Parties AY 2019-20: *624
• Total parties AY 2018–19: 975
• Total parties AY 2017–18: 831
• Total parties AY 2016–17: 811
• Total parties AY 2015–16: 695
• Total parties AY 2014–15: 876

^This academic year includes six weeks of restricted gathering periods (two weeks at the beginning of each quarter) where no parties were held. Also includes seven Greek organizations being placed on party suspension beginning on April 29, 2022.

*At the end of Winter Quarter 2020 policies around COVID-19 began to take effect. Some parties at that time were cancelled by the hosts or denied by the administration, along with input from Environmental Health & Safety and Santa Clara County public health guidance.  Additionally, due to COVID-19 there were no parties in Spring quarter 2020.

Stanford Parties 2023-2024 AY

Student Alcohol and Drug Cases 2023 – 2024 AY

Stanford Alcohol & Drug Cases By Category by Academic Year (AY)

Alcohol Transport to ER by Academic Year

• 2012-13: 54
• 2013-14: 61
• 2014-15: 60
• 2015-16: 49
• 2016-17: 39
• 2017-18: 65
• 2018-19: 58
• 2019-20: 37 ^
• 2020-21: 0 *
• 2021-22: 64
• 2022-23: 51
• 2023-24: 60

^ = COVID-19 Campus Closure in March 2020 (no spring quarter)
* = COVID-19 Campus Closure (remote and no gatherings)
Stanford Case Management Tracking

Alcohol Medical Call, No Transport By AY

• 2012-13: 16
• 2013-14: 16
• 2014-15: 11
• 2015-16: 11
• 2016-17: 13
• 2017-18: 27
• 2018-19: 29
• 2019-20: 29 ^
• 2020-21: 0 *
• 2021-22: 36
• 2022-23: 59
• 2023-24: 70

^ = COVID-19 Campus Closure in March 2020 (no spring quarter) 
* = COVID-19 Campus Closure (remote and no gatherings) 
Stanford Case Management Tracking

Student Alcohol and Drug Group Accountability Cases 2023 – 2024 AY

• Greek Org: 12
• Residences: 4
• Sports Team: 3
• VSO: 2