A total of 669 students from a mid-sized public university were selected to participate in the survey. A four-page anonymous questionnaire was used to collect data on student attitudes and behavior related to alcohol and other drugs. Items that measured sociodemographic variables, motivation to avoid specific drugs, frequency of drug use, and stage of drug acquisition were included. Motivation was defined as willingness to avoid drugs and was determined from items that asked students how willing they were to avoid or continue to avoid smoking cigarettes daily, using smokeless tobacco daily, taking one or two drinks of an alcoholic beverage every day, having five or more drinks once or twice each weekend, trying marijuana once or twice, using marijuana regularly, trying cocaine once or twice, and using cocaine regularly. The college students differed in their stage of habit acquisition across five drugs. Stage status for a particular drug was associated with motivation to avoid that drug, with less motivation generally being related to greater stage advancement. Stage of acquisition for certain drugs was also found to be related to the frequency of use of other drugs, with alcohol and marijuana stage status being associated with the consumption of the greatest number of drugs. The results suggest that an acquisition stage heuristic holds promise in increasing understanding of important developmental stages of drug use. 3 tables, 1 figure, and 21 references