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About 200 students, faculty members and invited guests attended the nationally broadcast program entitled "The War Within." Dobbs, who called illegal drugs in America "weapons of mass destruction," spoke with experts and other guests, including University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, about the causes of substance abuse and its prevention and treatment.
Dobbs cited many statistics, including the fact that though the United States comprises only 4 percent of the world's population, it consumes two-thirds of the world's drugs.
"I think that this is the largest health crisis we face in America today," said Joseph Califano, chairman of the National Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. "We have seen incredible damage, loss of productivity, tragedy in terms of tearing families part, people being incarcerated, and people losing everything they have because of their struggles with addiction."
Program guests said binge drinking and underage alcohol consumption are serious problems. Nearly one-fourth of college students would clinically qualify for alcohol or drug abuse, Califano said.
"(We) tend to treat drinking as a rite of passage for college students," he said. "The trouble is there is the increasing of the intensity of drinking."
Other experts cited peer pressure on college campuses and at high schools as a main impetus for alcoholism, illegal drug use and prescription abuse.
Trachtenberg received several rounds of applause from the audience upon coming onstage as a guest. He addressed the issue of substance abuse prevention at universities.
"Society puts a lot of stress on young people, and many use drugs as an escape," Trachtenberg said, adding that schools should try to feature more alternative events that do not offer alcohol, so that students are less prone to activities such as binge drinking.
