SOUTHERN ILLINOIS U STUDENTS USE THE PATCH TO QUIT SMOKING POT

The drug bust numbers in residential halls on campus have declined by
almost 50 percent since last fall. Every week The DePaulia publishes
the local crime reports of the Lincoln Park and Loop campuses, and
almost every week there seems to be at least one drug bust. However,
reports show that compared to last year at this time, the number of
cases has declined.

Reports from Public Safety show that so far this year, DePaul has seen
four suspicions of marijuana cases and two official arrests for
possession. Last fall Public Safety made six arrests for possession of
marijuana and filed four suspicions of marijuana cases.

"We are definitely seeing more suspicion cases than arrests this
year," says Sgt. Maureen Greene of Public Safety. In a suspicion case
a Public Safety Official is called to inspect the premises for drugs,
but for it to remain a suspicion case, when they check the room they
do not find any illegal substances. Although the four suspicion cases
in which Public Safety performed a search did not result in an arrest,
a report is made by Public Safety.

So far, all the suspicion and possession cases have been
marijuana-related. "The smoke is a dead giveaway seeing as all the
resident halls are supposed to be smoke-free.Public Safety will
respond right away," says Greene.

Greene commented on how Fall Quarter has proven to be much slower than
last fall in terms of drug busts. A freshman resident of Clifton
Fullerton Residence Hall says she hasn't heard of hardly any drug
busts on campus. "If anything there has been more alcohol problems,
people are getting strikes for alcohol a lot."

Because freshmen are the primary inhabitants of residence halls on
campus, the majority of violators are first year students. In
orientation freshman are informed that an incident put on their
permanent record in their first year will follow them post graduation.
This information session at the beginning of the year strives to teach
incoming students responsibility and outline the consequences
concerning Public Safety matters. The bulk of the content addressed in
the info sessions concerns alcohol and drug abuse.

However, despite the recent decline in drug busts Officer Greene, who
is also lecturer of the orientation safety briefing, thinks that there
could be a few beneficial changes made to the seminar.

Currently, the lecture is given by both Officer Maureen Greene and the
Dean of Students. The seminar is mandatory for students but optional
for parents.

Greene feels that the lecture should be mandatory for parents, and
that she be the only speaker. Greene says that she is very straight
forward with the students, and that her speaking without the Dean
would be more effective.

At the lecture, students are reminded that if found in possession of
illegal substances a report will be filed with DePaul Public Safety
and an arrest will be made by the Chicago Police. The incident could
result in prevention of receiving financial aid and a permanent record
from the Police Department. DePaul Public Safety makes a court
appearance and the student is usually put on probation by Residential
Education. Officer Greene commented on how most students don't take
these incidents seriously until post graduation job searching when
employers come across the incident on the student's record when
running background checks.

In addition to the orientation briefings, new security cameras have
been installed in all Residence Halls on campus in an attempt to deter
illegal activity, "We are not constantly viewing the camera footage,
it's just good because when something does happen it is the only way
to pin point that did what," says Greene regarding the new cameras.