The Christian Science Monitor probed the state of drug use on college campuses after 96 suspects were arrested during a drug bust at San Diego State University last week. The paper says:
"The drug problem on American campuses has become so extensive that
more and more university police are finding they don't have the
manpower to fight it by themselves," says Joseph Califano, founding
chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at
Columbia University (CASA). He says the stakes have risen in recent
years with so many more hard drugs being used and sold. Local
university police have noticed a big uptick in the numbers of related
crimes, such as fights, robbery, property damage, and vandalism.
While the proportion of students who drink and
binge has remained constant from 1993 to 2005, rates of daily marijuana
use have more than doubled during that period, and use of other illegal
drugs like cocaine and heroin have risen 52 percent, according to a
CASA study. Just under half of full-time college students indulged in
illegal drugs, the study found.
The story points out that because of the growing sophistication of campus drug and crime networks, campus police are increasingly building bridges with city police forces in ways they have not done before. In the San Diego State case, the campus police called in the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration to conduct the undercover work that led to the arrests.
It would be interesting to talk to the campus police near you. What kinds of crime are they investigating these days? What kind of relationship do campus police and local police have?
See the latest crime statistics for more than 6,000 higher ed institutions.
Investigative Reporters and Editors also makes campus crime data available to journalists.
Instead of talking to police, campus or the real ones...
