Scott Schwartzwelder made his purpose very clear in the first five minutes of his lecture. “I am not a motivational speaker. I am not a preacher or a police officer. I am not here to search your dorm rooms. I am a scientist. I’m here to give information. I’m not here to change your life.”

Information is exactly what he gave on Tuesday night in Dana Auditorium with his lecture entitled “The Science of Partying.”

Schwartzwelder, professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center and co-author of the book Buzzed, spoke to roughly 250 students about the short- and long-term effects of drugs and alcohol.

He stressed the idea that the brain is still developing well into a person’s twenties and how drugs and alcohol can disrupt this process.

“Some of the things that make us most uniquely human are still developing at this time,” Schwartzwelder said. “The young brain is very plastic and built to learn.”

Schwartzwelder’s slide show displayed statistics and graphs based on experiments he had conducted.

He also made sure to add some comic relief.

“You take this stuff and everybody thinks they’re Barry White,” he said, referring to ecstasy.

Schwartzwelder started speaking to college students 25 years ago and has been consistent with his purely informative method.

He has always used an entirely non-judgmental approach when discussing drugs and alcohol with college students.

His technique proved to be effective on Tuesday night.

The audience found Schwartzwelder’s speech to be very informative and eagerly asked questions.

“I thought he was very engaging,” said freshman Dana Di Maia. “The students listened attentively for more than two hours.”

Although Schwartzwelder is aware of the difficult task of trying to inform college students on drugs and alcohol, he is not fazed by the fact that some choose not to listen.

“If I talk to a group and 50 percent of them really hear what I have to say, then I’ve done my job.”