I'm not sure how big a story this is nationally, but here in San Diego it's the biggest story in months. About 100 people were busted in a drug sting that had undercover officers posing as SDSU students to infiltrate the party culture and "eliminate" drugs from the campus. The media is portraying it as a major bust of a sophisticated ring of drug dealers, but they aren't really aware of how it really works. There is no pyramid, the dealers only exist because of the demand. On a college campus, there are certain needs, and one of the most common needs throughout the country is the use of mind-altering substances to have a good time. SDSU is no different from Tulane, Oregon or U-Penn, there are kids who do drugs and there are the ones who supply them. Most of the suppliers are actually the harder-working and more entrepeneurial kids who realize that they can support their lifestyle without having to put in much effort. The so-called "kingpin", the kid who has had his name dragged through the mud in a way where people might confuse his operation with that of Tony Montana's...is merely a kid, a frat boy who watched Scarface or Goodfellas and saw the kind of luxury and fun that can come from the profits associated with selling drugs. The bust will do nothing but hurt the economy in the long term because instead of 100 independent businessmen making money, spending it and providing a service, we will now have 100 criminals to pay for. The bust was a failure because it was initiated for the wrong reason, it was a futile method to stop drug use on campus, and it will actually increase crime and danger in the long run.
First of all, the only reason why the bust even began was because some dumb sorostitute (sorry for the term here, my sister was the president of a good sorority, but just like there are FRAT BOYS and guys who were in fraternities, there are SOROSTITUTES and girls who were in a sorority) named Shirley 'Jenny' Poliakoff snorted some coke while she was getting drunk at a party. She died because she snorted cocaine while drinking alcohol, hmm, we all learned that could happen back in health class, so that was nothing new. But for some reason, her parents were able to bully the police department and SDSU to allow this wasteful sting operation to take place. Instead of taking blame for their own failure to raise a daughter who could say "NO" (imagine how much she said "YES" to drunken frat boys offers if a rich, pretty girl like her was willing to do some blow), they tried to blame her stupidity on other students "pushing" drugs on her. Just like MADD and other stupid parents groups that try to bring back their dead child through fascist laws, the Poliakoffs have contributed to the ruin of dozens of lives, if not hundreds. Simply put, the stupidity of Jenny Poliakoff has caused 100 fellow students to have their lives ruined. Good job ho.
Anyone who thinks that drug busts like this one actually curb usage or sales of the drugs is just a fool. The only thing that happens in a bust like this is the increase in prices, which leads to higher profits, which leads to more sales again soon. Only 20 of the 100 arrests were actually for dealing, the rest were possession, meaning that out of 34,000 or so students, they nabbed 100 of the drug users (assuming only 5% of the campus uses drugs, a CONSERVATIVE estimate, that means there are still at least 1,600 more users, and I would assume at least a few dozen dealers...) and left the rest alone. So basically those kids will be gone, but what about the other users/dealers? They stay and now have less competition. Drugs have been illegal for decades, they have been doing busts for decades, where have they gotten us? NOWHERE!
Anyone who follows the Mexican drug cartels knows that when the Arrellano-Felix cartel was brought down, the DEA called it a major victory and a step in the direction of eradication of drugs and drug-related violence on the border. Instead, the Mexican frontier has become a warzone, dozens of people are being murdered each week in battles for turf, supplies, and simple kidnappings and murders for cash. If you go back in history and look at every major bust of drug kingpins, you will see years of lawlessness and rampant murder until someone else emerges as a strong leader. There was no murder involved in the SDSU case, so why was this a target of such a major operation when there are drug-related murders every day in other parts of the city/state? But even so, now that the main dealers in that group are gone, the kids will have to find new dealers because they obviously wont just stop because they lost a connection. Sending these kids to find a new dealer, whether it be one of the dishwasher's friends at work or some shady gang-banger on a street corner, is much more dangerous than allowing them to continue going to the frat house for an eight-ball. Or even worse, the 20 dealers will just be replaced by other students, causing twice as many kids to get involved in drug dealing than would have been without the bust.
The story brings attention to college campuses as drug dens, where shady dealers gain experience to take over the drug game and dominate on the streets, but that's not really how it works. First of all, they aren't pushing the drugs to people who don't want them, the drugs are selling themselves and the dealers are just smart enough to profit from the demand. My old roommate was in a fraternity at UCSD, a top-50 university where every student has a legitimate future, and his brothers had a drug selling operation that helped them live the life in college and now they all work full-time, some as scientists. A family friend helped support his medical school bills by selling weed and now he's an incredibly successful doctor who has saved many people. Even Dr. Dre started his empire on funds from drug money. Simply put, selling drugs is one of the few ways someone without any resources can make significant money. Busting the good dealers (you know, the ones who don't have hitmen on speed-dial or the ones who are getting a MASTERS DEGREE) is only hurting society. If this bust isn't a sign of how dumb our drug laws are, I don't know what is.
The next day after the SDSU Drug bust a story came out about my alma-matter involving fraternity hazing. Just based on my experience at Tulane, I knew it was the PIKEs before I even read the story. The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity was suspended my first two or three years at Tulane due to some date rape issues, so they were obviously a group of good guys. The FRAT still recruited guys, but basically only guys who they had seen in a fight or hooking up with a hot chick. My friend Whitney and I were both recruited by this idiot in my Drama class who had picked a fight with Whitney and gotten his ass kicked. I tell this story because the guys in the frat were the type of guys who give frat boys a bad name. They always start fights, usually with strangers, and take advantage of girls any chance they get. Anyone who is in PIKE is guilty of being an asshole. Even if you weren't involved in the hazing incident, the reputation of Pike was bad enough that anyone with respect for others would simply not consider an invitation from Pike. All Pike members should be expelled from Tulane and the Pike house burned to the ground. No Pi Kappa Alpha chapter should ever be allowed on Tulane's campus ever again.
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