Drug Bust Nets 75 San Diego State Students

SDSU Drug bust

The DEA did exactly what it does best: catch low level dealers and use them to work its way up the food chain. Mid-level drug dealing students are an ideal target. They are easier to catch than street dealers, and students with promising lives ahead of them are more likely to role over on their sources in return for reduced sentencing. I understand the cry for treatment rather than punishment, but let's be realistic. These students not only had distribution level quantities of almost every drug that 18-25 yr olds crave, they also had distribution level 'tools of the trade' such as digital scales and...wait for it...handguns! I'm not saying that these men (no they are not kids or children, they are Grown Men) are as bad as the 'dope pushers' of the Nacy Reagan Just Say No campaign who persuade junior high students to shoot heroin. But, the truth is that if you have drugs and guns then you are a Dealer and a menace to society. The fact that these men are white and affluent does not make them any less guilty or dangerous than the gangbangers in the same trade who live in the poor neighborhoods only a few miles from SDSU's campus. These men do not need treatment because they are not pathetic drug addicts crying for help. Rather, they made a very conscious decision to be the Big Drug Men on Campus. That is the reason why they were targeted in the sting. I can't speak for them, but I would not doubt that they enjoyed the position of power, prestige, and reputation that the drug trade afforded them in the University's sub-culture. I also don't think that they really needed the money in order to buy books and Ramen noodles. The cavalier nature of their operation clearly indicates to me that these are young men of privilege who wrongly believed that they were untouchable simply because of who they are. Given the DEA's strategy of sweating the small fish so that they give up the bigger fish, I doubt that these young men will serve much 'hard time'. More than likely, the Courts will reduce sentencing in exchange for co-operation in nailing the distributors whom the SDSU students bought from. As students, they have a future that they want to protect and that Society also wants to protect, which makes them an easy sell for the DA. Hopefully this will serve as an appropriately painful learning experience from which they will eventually become healthier members of society. While these men are criminals without a doubt and should be treated as such, they are not the true villains. Ironically, they ultimately may end up providing a service to society through their actions, if their involvement in this operation leads to bigger arrests. It is not unlikely, and I hope with all my heart, that some good can eventually come from this otherwise foolish and sad situation.

Our next president took drugs

There's an implicit assumption here that if you take drugs while in school (even alcohol) you are somehow not performing at the level you otherwise would. I would disagree with that assumption.

There are "party schools" and "party counties". San Diego is a party school. The US is a party country. I for one am glad about that.

Higher Learning

Yeah I (university) just own the crack house. I have no responsibility for what happens there. We don't run the number one party school for noth'n.

AMERICA IS DEAD

Stupid people with stone thowing pseudo Christian "values" . Chattering Monkeys wringing your hands at the media's spin. WAKE UP you Idiots, you are SLAVES in a Police State run by Neo-Con Christian Prohibitionists that have sold America to the Highest bidder. DARK DAYS are here and it will get much much worse. STUPID STUPID AMERICA, WHILE YOU SHOPPED IN NORMALCY, YOUR FUTURE WAS STOLEN FROM YOU by Republican Evildoers. Drugs are BAD unless you buy them from a Pharmaceutical company that make large campaign contributions.

College is college

You cannot blame the universities for the stupid things the kids do. If that girl died of an overdoese, she deserved it for being a dumbass. WE ALL NEED TO STOP BLAMING SOMEONE ELSE, SHE DIED BECAUSE SHE TOOK DRUGS. WHAT A MORON, JUST DON'T DO DRUGS! IF SOMEONE WANTS TO DO DRUGS, STOP BITCHIN ABOUT IT, THEYLL GET WHAT THEY DESERVE SHEESH

Education System is for Profit

Very interesting reading the comments here. In the end the university must be responsible for the party reputation and what that has meant in terms of students lives. Time for the University of Higher Education to change the image of higher from drugs to ideals. A zero tolerance for drug violations, or a similar policy might add some semblance of integrity to the University. Better to get suspended than lose a career or a life over a bad choice. Forget the argument about the laws and the morality of the DEA etc. and focus on the fact that should be evident, be caught with possession of drugs can ruin your life. If you need an SAT score of 1500 to get in, you ought to be able to grasp that fact.

Prevention is Useless

Prevention is useless when authorities deal with peer pressure. DARE is ineffective. The only things that can convince students to be drug free are positive peer pressure in the opposite direction, strong personal resolve, and experience with drug addicts. Telling five year olds that pot is bad won't do anything.

Um....

Frat's are for tools anyways. I feel sorry for you guys who have to pay for your friends. Being an SDSU student, I have to say that I get the "Player Hater of the Year" award cause I'm glad to see all these homos get busted, simply because they are chumps.

stupid is- stupid does

As a graduate student in engineering I see a different side of SDSU. What I see are some 27,000 full time students struggling with their studies, most serious some merely dilatants. Seven of which have earned Fulbright Scholarships.

Not all students will graduate, and smoking a little weed does not improve your odds. However this not just a little weed, it was meth, ecstasy, and hash oil. I watched by niece lose an entire decade of her life due to meth. Not just the three years of use, and two years in prison; but an additional 5 years of struggling with sobriety, and overcoming a felony conviction. She wanted to be a primary school teacher and that will never happen now.

SDSU has been known as a party school for decades, with a highly publicized and hyped up media, SDSU has just announced to the world that our image is changing, that it is an academic institution, and the party stops now.

Me personally I think we should legalize and tax drugs, natural selection will due the rest in a single generation.

Re: Stella

Your perception of why people do drugs is somewhat skewed. Certainly drugs can be used to alleviate pain and to self-medicate but just because it is a type of recreation that you don't seem to enjoy doesn't mean it's "dumb". Many highly educated people encourage drug use as a way of learning how the mind works and for spiritual gains. Why is it okay to take away physical pain with Advil or have a couple of drinks at a bar and yet so unacceptable to relax with marijuana? There is enough literature out there on drugs for a college student to make an educated decision on them.

If a community is protecting its drug dealers, chances are either it is out of fear or out of indifference. Seeing as how the Montezuma Road isn't exactly flooding with gangsters, I would venture to guess it is the latter. Indifference stems from either apathy or belief that the law is unfair. Again, just because it's a law does not mean it is a fair law.

As far as peer pressure goes, if a student is willing to abandon his morals because he so desperately wants to fit in, then he probably would have had many other problems in his life if drugs weren't there in the first place. Frats aside, drug culture is rarely coercive and most people try them out of pure curiosity. Anti-drug preachers have usually never tried them and go completely off the government sponsored propaganda of simplistic: "Drugs are bad! You will be instantly addicted!" College students are adults. They need to take responsibility for their "desperate need to fit in".

Also, why is it so much better to have made the grades while staying sober through college? Not everyone who does drugs are junkies and many come out with excellent grades. Drugs, when used responsibly, really only affect the person who is using them. They do not hurt anybody else and are certainly not a good indicator of character.

P.S. Incidentally, volunteering to be a narcotics officer may reveal questionable values. Befriending people who trust you by lying about your intentions and then betraying them seems a little fucked up to me.