Loyola Greyhound

Issue date: 11/13/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Grehyound Photo Illustration According to the DEA supply of cocaine nationally has decreased over the past 18 months. Prices have risen by 15 percent per pre gram, making a typical purchase of cocaine well over $130.

Matthew Lindeboom contributed to this story.



"I wouldn't say cocaine is prominent on this campus right now," says an upperclassman from Loyola College who wishes to remain anonymous. "It is in a down period. We need more dealers on this campus. There doesn't seem to be many."

He leans over his coffee table, plugs one nostril, and snorts in a line of crushed Percocet through a rolled-up dollar bill.

Five minutes later the user receives a phone call and within 15 minutes a fellow student --a dealer-- enters the room. Twenty dollars is handed to the dealer as they sit down at the table to measure up the half gram of cocaine to be sold. Few words are exchanged and soon enough, the dealer is out the door.

"I bought an 8-ball [3.5 grams of cocaine] about a month ago," he says. "That [expletive] was gone in two days. I killed a [gram] this Saturday alone."



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Cocaine is finding its way onto the college campuses of North Baltimore. Colleges like Towson University, Loyola College, and Johns Hopkins University have become markets for drug traffickers who bring cocaine into that region -- its final destination.

"Most trades are dealer to dealer, that's usually larger quantities, but in terms of final destination it's headed north to the suburbs and the colleges. They're the only ones who can afford the habit," said an officer in the Baltimore City Police Department with knowledge of Baltimore's drug trafficking.

"The students on those campuses have the money to finance that kind of habit," he said.

Director of Public Safety Tim Fox commented that he thinks there is a small population of cocaine users on campus, which stays inconspicuous.

"In the last two to three years we haven't seen much in terms of cocaine. The last major bust took place three years ago, and that came from a silent tip," Fox said.

The cocaine seizure Fox mentioned occurred in Campion Tower in 2004, but Campus Police and Student Life found only enough to classify the amount as for "personal use." They did not find any indications of distribution, such as large amounts of cash or bookkeeping information.

Continued...

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