COCAINE CASE IS THE BUZZ OF UNC

CHAPEL HILL - In a college town where booze is king and pot is popular,
the recent arrests of seven current or former UNC-Chapel Hill students
on cocaine charges created a stir.

The charges were unusual -- particularly because two people were
charged with felony drug trafficking. But experts say all this is not
likely an indicator of a surge in cocaine's popularity.

"I haven't noticed a huge problem with it," said Scott Gallisdorfer,
who, as the university's undergraduate student attorney general,
evaluates students charged with crimes to decide which will face the
student honor court. "We don't get a ton of cocaine cases. The vast
majority are marijuana."

During the past four years, the number of students facing honor court
charges for alcohol violations has outpaced all drug charges,
according to the most recent honor court data available.

And a 2008 survey of UNC-CH students revealed a wide disparity in the
use of these vices: 69 percent of respondents said they'd consumed
alcohol in the last 30 days, about 20 percent had used marijuana in
that period and just 2.5 percent had used cocaine.

Still, the cocaine busts last month at a local apartment have been a
hot topic among students and parents. Several students arrested were
in fraternities or sororities, including two women who lived in the
Chi Omega house -- a detail the student newspaper The Daily Tar Heel
pointed out repeatedly in its reporting.

That led to debate about drug use and the Greek system.

"It's not confined to the Greek community," said Winston Crisp,
assistant vice chancellor for student affairs. "I don't think the
Greek community gets excused, but more generally, drugs and alcohol
are problems that go throughout the student body."

Crisp issued a stern warning to Greek organizations recently, saying
the university would no longer tolerate drug and alcohol abuse and the
destructive behavior it spawns.

UNC-CH officials have not created new drug policies or regulations,
but they say the recent busts have provided an opportunity for
introspection.

"We continue to look into what the culture is on our campus," said Bob
Winston, chairman of UNC-CH's Board of Trustees. "We don't think we
have a pervasive drug issue."

On Sept. 15, Chapel Hill police raided a Church Street apartment and
confiscated 75.6 grams of cocaine broken into one-gram packets, a
clear indication of intent to sell, police said.

In the raid, [redacted]
were charged with trafficking, cocaine possession and intent to
distribute the drug. Police subsequently found an additional 121 grams
of cocaine when they searched [redacted].
The street value of all the cocaine is about $7,500, police said.

[redacted].

"It's not normal for us to catch students with trafficking amounts,"
said Sgt. Jabe Hunter, head of Chapel Hill Police Department's
narcotics division. "That's definitely unusual."

While other drugs are more popular, cocaine has been a consistent
presence on this and other college campuses for decades, experts say.
But it has a stigma that others do not and thus is generally consumed
out of public view, students and health experts say.

"It's such an undercover thing," said Jasmin Jones, UNC-CH's student
body president. "It's condemned so much and there are such
repercussions, people know to hide it."

The university's honor court takes it seriously. Consider: A
student's first sanction for marijuana possession is a semester of
probation; for cocaine possession, a semester suspension. If you're
caught dealing cocaine, you get expelled.

Second Shock

The September arrests were another blow to the Greek system, already
shaken by the recent death of fraternity president Courtland Smith.

Smith, president of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, was shot dead
by Archdale police last month after a bizarre evening that began at a
fraternity party and ended after Smith, while driving on I-85, told a
911 operator he was drinking, had a gun and was trying to kill himself.

The fraternity was subsequently sanctioned by a Greek judicial board
for serving alcohol at events, including the party the night before
Smith died. The fraternity was put on social probation for a year and
prohibited from hosting parties; it is now under review and could lose
its official recognition by the university.

Wes Minton, a Raleigh real estate broker, said this fall's events have
forced parents to acknowledge that there are substance-abuse problems
on college campuses. Minton, a 1978 UNC-CH graduate, has two children
at UNC-CH. He's had the drugs-and-alcohol talk with them plenty of
times, starting when they were 11 or 12, Minton said.

He hopes it sank in.

"I'm doing the best I can with a very difficult culture out there,"
Minton said recently.

"It's not just in Chapel Hill, and it's not just a Greek [system]
problem. It's campus-wide and all over this country. It's scary."