ATOD Seeks To Improve Sexual Wellness, Drug Awareness

By Praise Ayeni
Spectrum Staff Writer 

In a wide-ranging interview with The Spectrum, ATOD Vice President Allen Blake discussed the organization’s strategies to improve students’ overall wellness.

Spectrum: What is ATOD? 
AB: ATOD basically stands for “Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs.” 

Spectrum: What is ATOD’s mission? 
AB: Our mission is not to eradicate the use of alcohol and drugs, but to lessen it around campus. There has been heavy usage of drugs like marijuana and fentanyl. We make students aware of the effects, hoping they use it less. We participate in sexual wellness we do outreach on Wednesday to handout free condoms, promote safe sex. Lastly, we also do classroom presentations to ensure interactive awareness. 

Spectrum: What do you do for ATOD? 
AB: I’m the vice president of the organization, I’m a peer educator. I help with organizing the events we have. I try to do as much promotion as I can to shine light on the work we do here. 

Spectrum: What do you think is the biggest drug problem on campus? 
AB: The biggest drug problem we’ve noticed is the use of marijuana and fentanyl, especially when we have major events like homecoming. 

Spectrum: Does ATOD talk about sexual wellness? 
AB: Yes, we do! When we do outreach on Wednesday, we do more than pass out condoms. We educate those who are interested in knowing more about sexual health. We have pamphlets with tons of information. This is a more one-on-one experience than the class presentations 

Spectrum: Do you think people are comfortable expressing their sexual opinions? 
AB: I would say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ We do get students who aren’t comfortable, but they are open-minded. We try to break the ice and make everyone comfortable around the sex conversation. Those one-on-one sessions helps us know how to reach out to different audiences and personalities.

Spectrum: What is the biggest issue you hear about on campus? How is ATOD trying to combat that? 
AB: Heavy drug usage and sexual abuse. We have had incidents within the BSU community, and outside as well. We try to circle around the rising issues. We reached out to the board to assist with rule- and regulation-making to help end these issues [and] to prevent it from occurring again. 

Spectrum: What would you like us to know about ATOD? There is a stigma around it, with people thinking they are “missionaries” [or] “telling people to be nuns.” 
AB: Nah! Nah! Nah! We don’t tell people not to have sex, we teach protective sex. But the biggest takeaway is I want people to know we offer free HIV testing. You can always schedule an appointment on our Bowie website “ATOD”. Select a convenient time and location. This is all confidential. In a case, where the test comes back positive, we have multiple resources available to you. 

Spectrum: Where can we find ATOD for people who would like to join or find out more information? 
AB: We are located on the second floor of the Thurgood Marshall Library.