DRUG TRAFFIC THROUGH N.C.  STATE

Greg Behr The smoke fills the room as the "potheads" pass the purple and blue bowl of blown glass.  It passes around the room in a constant rotation as high tolerances are met and eyes redden.  Seating becomes improvised.  The bed and desk chair are completely filled so they sit on the mini fridge and lean against the bookshelf.  They keep passing the bowl, repacking from different cellophanes that they are "matching." Or maybe they are cutting lines with the credit card their parents gave them onto a faded and cracked CD case or mirror.  Vast amounts of money are spent as fast as the white powder can be sniffed or rubbed onto gums.

While only a portion of N.C.  State students have been there and done that, the majority of them have certainly seen similar scenarios.  College students find themselves coming into contact with drugs more and more every day.  It is quickly becoming easier for students to walk in on their roommates or best friends using illegal drugs.

Pushing Weight

Drug dealing is an occupation that college students have been adopting more and more.  Steve*, a drug dealer who attends NCSU, has a three-pronged response to exactly why he has chosen to sell drugs.  "It is an easy way to make extra cash in college," he said.  "I don't only make money, but I can also support my own habits for free.  And it is an opportunity to meet cool and interesting people that I probably would never meet otherwise," he said.

Yet, for all prospective marijuana entrepreneurs, be aware of the downsides to this career.  "It is really easy to get "narced" out by people who are interested in saving themselves," Steve said.  "I never seem to have a free moment because I always have people coming over trying to get s* from me."

Steve is fulfilling his own American dream, where he is doing what he wants to do, making large sums of money for doing small amounts of work, and uses and loves the products he sells.  But there is a reason why most college-aged drug dealers do not stay in this profession.  Steve confessed with honest sincerity that, "dealing drugs is all fine and good now, but when I am older and have a family I don't want to be doing something that is morally wrong."

The Fuzz Perspective

According to Chief of Campus Police, Charles Tittle, NCSU has a no tolerance policy on illegal drug use and traffic on campus.  The campus police Web site has figures available to every student regarding the amount of arrests, citations and judicial actions administered to students for illegal drug use on campus.

The figures are accurate; an average of 38 arrests and 38 citations were given for illegal drugs over the last six years.  Yet, these figures don't realistically indicate the number of people that really use drugs on campus.  Each student can probably name handfuls of others living on campus that use illegal drugs on a regular basis.  This raises more questions to the skeptical student.  How are students getting away with using drugs on campus? Why would a student risk selling and/or using drugs on campus when the minimum penalty for such action is probation for possession; and suspension for the distribution and/or producing of illegal drugs ( Health, Safety, and Welfare Policy Sections 3.2.1-2 3.3.1-3 )?

The answer can easily be illustrated by Dan*, a junior in CHASS, when asked if he would continue to use drugs if he lived on campus he responded, "Yeah, I would.  In fact it would probably be easier to get drugs on campus."

When asked about the consideration of selling drugs on campus despite the high risks, he quickly said without hesitation, "Probably.  You wouldn't even have to leave your room.  Everyone would just come to you and you would bank hard."

Completing the Transaction

Deviance is the divergence from society's accepted norms and ideals.  But upon looking at the norms of college society, it is clear that the use of drugs such as marijuana is not as deviant as it was before.  Even though average students do not use illegal drugs, they really don't care if people around them do.  "It bothers me for a couple of moments but I don't feel passionate enough about it to say anything or make a big deal about it," Mike, a student in psychology, said.

That is the reality for most NCSU students when attending parties in the many apartment complexes around campus, Brent and other party roads or any other notorious places for partying.  Seeing someone smoking various types of paraphernalia is a reality that is inescapable and thus, as it seems, quite excusable.  Through this turning of a blind eye, and the fact that drugs are everywhere within pop culture, drug usage is more acceptable today than it has ever been--including at NCSU.

*Names have been changed to protect anonymity.