BAER: DRUGS NOT HUGE PROBLEM ON CAMPUS

On the evening of Feb. 24, Ricky Jackson, 26, stood inside the Michel
Student Center foyer with almost half a pound of marijuana, a hitter
pipe and a scale in his backpack.

There was no one else in the building when University Police
approached Jackson and found the paraphernalia on his person, but
police said the evidence was clear -- Jackson intended to sell the marijuana.

Few drug deals are documented in University Police reports, and
University Police chief Dave Baer doesn't view it as a pervasive problem.

"Have we had it? Yes," he said. "Has it been an extensive situation?
I would say no. It tends to be less than 1 percent [on campus]."

Most students caught with drugs tend to get them from their
hometowns, Baer said.

One student, who wished to remain anonymous, said she agreed.

"I don't know Peoria very well," she said. "So I'm more comfortable
getting stuff from home. I don't get, like, hard drugs either. I
usually just get pot."

But she vehemently disagreed with Baer's statistic of student drug users.

"Less than 1 percent? No," she said. "That's ridiculous. There are so
many people I know who smoke weed. Maybe they don't do harder drugs
than that, but with the 6,000 kids on this campus, that can't be right."

Marijuana seems to be Bradley students' drug of choice, Baer said.

"It's the most common one that we've found students use and they get
caught [with]," he said. "We have had, on rare occasion, heroin or
cocaine but that is so infrequent. It has not been something that
comes to our attention."

Baer warned students to be careful about carrying drugs from home
because if University Police have reason to suspect anything, they'll
alert police with the appropriate jurisdiction.

"If we hear that [a student] says every Friday they're bringing stuff
from home, then we do our homework, gather as much information as we
can," he said. "Then we share it and say, 'Here's where they live, so
their corridor route is maybe [Interstate] 74 or 55.'"

Some students have chosen to obtain marijuana from farther away --
across the country, in fact.

"We've had maybe two situations over the years where they've had it
mailed to them from California," Baer said. "In cases like that, then
we bring in the [U.S.] Postal Service."

A buffer exists between University Police and suspected drug users on
campus -- the Residential Life staff. In many cases, the Res-Life
staff members are the first to catch drug users.

Executive Director of Residential Living and Leadership Nathan Thomas
said students face certain consequences depending on the number of offenses.

"The student isn't dismissed from school in the first case unless
it's egregious," he said.

The student may be subject to various intervention programs through
the Wellness Center, Thomas said, costing the student $80.

On second offense, however, students may face dismissal from the school.

Another student, who wished to remain anonymous, was caught smoking
marijuana through an "eliminator," or a toilet paper tube lined with
Febreeze dryer sheets in the dorms a few years ago.

It was his third offense.

"I'm just lucky I had a good lawyer," he said. "I would have for sure
been kicked out, but the circumstances were weird, so I didn't. But
still -- it was a dumb idea and it cost me so much money."