UC BERKELEY CO-OPS BEGIN NOVEL CAMPAIGN ON DRUGS

Early in the morning of March 18, 2010, UC Berkeley student John
Gibson slid into bed, his head spinning from the booze, cocaine and
pot he'd consumed at the campus co-op where he lived. Instead of
sleeping it off, the 21-year-old suffered a heart attack that left
him brain-damaged when no one called 911 until hours later.

The tragedy inspired a closing of ranks within the already insular
group of 150 students living at the Cloyne Court co-op on UC Berkeley property.

It transformed the lives of the Gibson family of San Diego, which
filed an insurance claim against the Berkeley Student Cooperative
that manages Cloyne to recover some of the thousands of dollars they
spend out of pocket each week on Gibson's medical care.

And for the Berkeley Student Cooperative, which runs 20 properties
housing 1,275 students, Gibson's overdose - with its unwanted
publicity, university scrutiny, and possible insurance liability -
set in motion a public relations campaign this semester to teach
students the dangers of drug abuse: not to their health, but to their
bottom line.

"We live under the constant threat that another overdose on BSC
property will cause the university to terminate one or more of our
leases," the co-op board's new Community Harm Reduction Outreach
Committee told residents in a seven-page letter on Jan. 14. Second overdose

What the letter didn't say was that another overdose had already
happened at Cloyne on July 23, The Chronicle has learned. The victim,
a man visiting Cloyne, was treated at a local emergency room,
confirmed Jan Stokley, the cooperative's executive director and one
of six co-op officials who signed the letter.

"We have to prove to the world that we haven't ignored what happened,
and that we're doing what we can to prevent it from happening again,"
the letter went on. "Because if we don't, it will be difficult for us
to obtain the affordable insurance coverage we need."

Indeed, another overdose would be "apocalyptic," the letter said,
emphasizing the point in stark financial terms:

- -- The co-ops paid $200,000 in legal fees in the 1980s after
Barrington Hall neighbors sued over "large-scale drug dealing" at the
co-op. Barrington was closed, and the loss of housing for 150
students caused rates at other houses to rise 25 percent.

- -- The co-ops paid $232,000 after a "similar fiasco surrounding
drugs" at Le Chateau in 2004. That co-op closed, and reopened as
Hillegass-Parker House for graduate students. But the number of
residents dropped, so membership rates rose 12.6 percent.

The letter, followed by meetings with residents to discuss harm
reduction, may be a first attempt to combat drug abuse by appealing
to students' monetary instincts rather than to their health risks.

The financial incentive to stay clean is real: Co-ops charge $6,600 a
year. Dorm living costs $14,000 to $17,000.

"Many of our members would not be able to stay in school if they
didn't have access to our housing," Stokley said.

Yet it's a message that angers Gibson's mother, Madelyn Bennett, and
other parents who accuse the private, nonprofit co-op and UC Berkeley
- - landlord at Cloyne and three other co-ops - of tolerating drug use
except when it threatens their finances.

The harm reduction committee's letter says it was prompted by
Bennett's insurance claim, and asks: "Why in the world should the BSC
be held responsible for the harm this member suffered as a result of
his own illegal acts?"

It's a stunning question to Bennett, who says the delay in calling
911 transformed her son from a popular student with a social
conscience into a bed-ridden invalid unable to speak or feed himself.

"I would like to remind all co-op members that as a community, you
should be responsible for what happens within that community,"
Bennett told the Daily Cal newspaper in an unpublished letter.

"Last year, a man whose daughter overdosed at Casa Zimbabwe begged
the university to step in and do something about the rampant drug use
at the co-ops so that no other family would have to go through what
his did," Bennett wrote.

"The university did nothing, and now my family is reliving the
tragedy of his family. And why? Because (the co-ops) won't take
responsibility for drug use."

Bruce Clark of Carmel Valley agrees. His 21-year-old daughter was
living in Casa Zimbabwe in 2009 when two residents shared their LSD.

"She took this acid trip and has never been the same since," said
Clark, who asked that she not be named. "Our daughter told us that
she also received many other substances there, you name it." Buckets of pot

While his daughter was in the hospital, Clark snapped photos of
dozens of buckets of marijuana plants growing at the co-op Casa
Zimbabwe, which is not owned by UC as Cloyne is. He expected outrage
from co-op management, but said he was told simply that the plants
had been destroyed.

Unable to return to school, Clark's daughter relies on state
disability. Clark feels "angry and frustrated" at the co-op houses and at UC.

"Had they heeded the warning, had they taken real action, the
(Gibson) tragedy may not have occurred," he told The Chronicle,
unaware of the overdose at Cloyne in July, or that two months earlier
police arrested someone else at Cloyne for narcotics possession, records show.

On Aug. 1, The Chronicle told Gibson's story for the first time in an
article about drug abuse on campuses.

As the fall semester began, UC Berkeley and co-op leaders met to
discuss university concerns about the "persistent, negative
perception of a problematic culture of drug abuse, most recently
connected to Cloyne Court," Vice Chancellor Harry Le Grande wrote in
a follow-up letter.

They agreed to strengthen the co-op's relationships with UC police
and the campus health center. University concerns

On Sept. 23, Vice Chancellor Edward Denton wrote Stokley that the
university "is increasingly concerned about incidents at Cloyne Court
involving drug overdoses." He invoked a lease requirement that a
residence manager move in, which was done.

In December, the Berkeley Student Cooperative adopted a new substance
abuse policy with a "Good Samaritan" clause letting students call
police or paramedics for someone in trouble without fear of being
disciplined by the co-op board. Gibson's mother wants a more drastic
measure taken.

"I would like to close the co-ops," Bennett said. "They're just
saying you won't be punished if you do the right thing - but you
don't have to. Berkeley, as a school, should say, 'If you don't call
911, you're out of here.' "

That's unlikely, said Le Grande. Even after the overdose in July, UC
Berkeley did not move to shut Cloyne. "The problem is you displace
150 students, and what would you do with them?" Le Grande asked.

Meanwhile, the co-op's website introduces its revised drug policy
with this comforting assurance: "It's definitely NOT zero-tolerance."