Narcoticson college campuses have become a prevalent issue among college studentsnationwide. At Southern University marijuana seems to reign supreme as theproblematic drug of choice and is in a class of its own.
Accordingto Robert Bennett, dean of student life, marijuana is a big issue at theSouthern University at Baton Rouge campus.
‘You mightsee at some predominantly white universities, alcohol and other high classdrugs are more of a problem, but here our biggest problem is marijuana,’ Bennettsaid.
TheNational Institute on Drug Abuse described marijuana as, ‘a dry, shreddedgreen/brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves of the hemp plant Cannabissativa.’
Its main activechemical is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC.
‘Themembranes of certain nerve cells in the brain contain protein receptors thatbind to THC. Once securely in place, THC kicks off a series of cellularreactions that ultimately lead to the high that users experience when theysmoke marijuana,’ the NIDA states.
Marijuanadiffers from narcotics mainly because narcotics are made from chemicalsubstances, whereas marijuana isgrown naturally.
Bennet saidnarcotics do not pose a real problem and that efforts are made to catch campusdistributors as well as users.
“We rundrug dogs,” Bennett said. “Students don’t know when the dogs are coming so theyhave no way of trying to prepare themselves for that.’
The SUpolice department oversees the use of drug dogs and is considered a stateagency with full arrest powers if police find someone to be in possession ofillegal substances or being in violation of state law.
“Anyonethat is arrested is booked and placed in the parish prison unless it is amisdemeanor crime,” said Corporal Don Kelly, spokesman for the Baton RougePolice Department. “If it’s a misdemeanor they might be issued a summons,depending on the number of circumstances.”
Louisianalaw states, ‘possession of any amount of marijuana is punishable by up to sixmonths in jail and a fine of up to $500 for a first offense. For a secondoffense the penalties increase to up to five years in prison and a fine of upto $2,000. A third or subsequent offense increases the penalty to up to 20years in prison.’
ByLouisiana law, ‘cultivation or sale, or possession with intent to distributeless than 60 pounds of marijuana is punishable by 5 – 30 years in prison and afine of up to $50,000. For greater than 60 pounds of marijuana the penaltyincreases to 10 – 60 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000 – $100,000.For greater than 2,000 pounds the punishment aranges from 20 – 80 years inprison and a fine of $100,000 – $400,000. For greater than 10,000 pounds thepenalty increases to 50 – 80 years in prison and a fine of $400,000 –$1,000,000.’
Accordingto Bennet students don”t realize the SUPD has real authority.
“Moststudents don”t realize it but the SU police are a real state agency and they dohave the power to make an arrest.” Bennett said. “Our police can leave thiscampus and go out in Scotlandville and make an arrest; this is a state agency.”
Theuniversity has not caught a whole host of users and distributors, only a fewstudents have been caught and prosecuted, Bennett said.
“Once wefind out about it we deal with it according to the code of conduct,” he said.”The student is administratively suspended, they go to jail, and a hearingtakes place.”
Bennett seesthe drug problem mainly as one that originates from students who come fromlarge cities as well as outside area influence.
“We haveour students that come in from big cities, and some of these outside people(people who aren’t SU students) come in and set them up with drugs todistribute,” Bennet said. “Then we have those that think that they have theupper hand because they come from large cities and we county folk don’t knowany better.”
Upperclassmenare thought to most likely be distributors as opposed to freshmen, because mostfeel they know the system.
“In mostcases the freshmen would be the buyers and the upperclassmen the distributorsbecause freshmen just getting in don’t really know where to get it from andmost of the upperclassmen think they know how the system works,” Bennett said.
BrittneyMontgomery, a freshmen political science major from Natchitoches sees thedistribution of drugs on campus as a way for dealers to detour blacks fromgetting an education.
“Thedistribution of illegal substances on this campus is a plot to redirect blackstudents from pursuing higher education,” Montgomery said.
Accordingto Bennet 90 percent of the students that are victims of robberies on campusare students that either people know have drugs in their possession or areinvolved in some type of drug related activity.
“It’s adangerous operation that they are doing and they don’t realize that,” Bennettsaid. “We’ve lost two students in the past behind drugs.”
