DRUG ABUSE AND THE LAW

The Department Of Public Safety And Student Judicial Affairs Work Together
To Rehabilitate Students.

Illegal drugs have become a growing problem at universities nationwide and
at least part of the problem can be tied to the university environment, said
Aaron Graves, chief of USC's Department of Public Safety.

"Once you get into an environment where there's more people, there's a sense
of anonymity," Graves said. "(The mindset is) 'everyone's doing it, I should
do it because no one's going to see me doing it now because everyone's doing
it.' That's a part of that culture of the campus environment."

According to DPS, statistics released in October, there were 19 drug law
arrests made for the 2002-2003 school year, up from five arrests the year
before.

This figure can include violations from people outside the USC community, as
long as they were reported to either DPS or local police, and occurred
on-campus, off-campus or on public property.

The increase in drug law arrests was also felt at colleges nationwide,
according to the most recent study by the Chronicle of Higher Education. The
Chronicle reported that drug arrests went up by 5.5 percent in 2001 - up for
the 10th straight year.

Disciplinary referrals at USC also rose, from 17 in 2001-2002 to 43 this
past school year.

Unlike drug law arrests, disciplinary referrals for drug law violations
involve the campus judicial system.

Disciplinary referrals are made when the situation does not rise to the
level of a criminal offense. Possessing drug paraphernalia, for instance,
would merit a disciplinary referral but not necessarily an arrest. The
referral would be made to Student Judicial Affairs, or Student Conduct.

Graves said some of the drugs that students are caught with include Rohypnol
and GHB - commonly known as the date rape drugs -, ecstasy and marijuana.

There are also some drugs that Graves said he has not come across, like
cocaine.

But just because some of the more serious drugs are not reported do not
indicate that they do not exist, Graves said.

"It does not mean that there is not use, misuse and abuse," Graves said. "We
can only account for what we actually get involved in."

He said he suspected that serious drug offenses are reported less frequently
because of the severity of the punishment.

"If you're in possession of cocaine, you're going to jail, whereas with
marijuana, you might get slapped on the wrist," Graves said.

Because the more serious drugs are often the most addictive, Graves said
people are less willing to report it because it may symbolize a personal
flaw.

Marijuana is the campus' most commonly used illegal drug. DPS accounts for
possession of marijuana as a separate category.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has reported that marijuana is the most
widely available and abused illicit drug in California. And in its most
recent study, the Bureau of Justice found that in 2001, 20 percent of all
college students had used marijuana within the last month.

The first case of a student found in possession of marijuana this school
year was reported Oct. 5. In that incident, DPS officers responded when a
student at Pardee Tower complained of difficulty breathing after smoking
marijuana. He was referred to Student Judicial Affairs for use and
possession of illegal drugs.

There are two possible explanations for the rise in drug arrests and
disciplinary referrals, Graves said.

One is that more people are reporting drug offenses. The other is that more
people are using illegal drugs.

Enku Gelaye is the interim director of Student Judicial Affairs, which hears
between 500 and 700 cases a year. A small number of those cases involve
illegal drugs, Gelaye said.

Judicial Affairs acts on referrals from DPS.

"The university has already thought about this and articulated standards for
the (university) community," Gelaye said.

Students can face both disciplinary referrals from USC and prosecution under
state and federal laws, Gelaye said.

Even if a student is not prosecuted, he or she will have university-imposed
sanctions. This is because USC holds its students on a "higher standard of
conduct," Gelaye said.

The school's drug policy is outlined in the SCampus, the university
handbook.

Depending on the nature of the violation, violators may face educational
intervention, mandated community reparations, suspension or expulsion.

Suspensions and expulsions are rare because of the weight of the punishment,
Gelaye said.

Instead, most sanctions are intended to "help students take responsibility
for their behavior and deal with the consequences," Gelaye said.

More often, students are referred to either Health Promotion and Prevention
Services or Student Counseling Services. The referrals are mandatory.

The residential community also plays a role in the disciplinary process.

If a student in the residential community is found in violation, the housing
staff can handle the situation. Gelaye said the housing staff knows its
students well and are the most appropriate people to intervene.

"It's a bifurcated system," Gelaye said. "They have the ability to handle
certain cases on their own."

Graves said many students' exposure to illegal drugs started before arriving
at USC.

"We're finding more and more that of those that come here, it's not their
first exposure," Graves said

"We've got a student population of 30,000 students, a large proportion of
them between 18 and 22 years of age, and so with that mindset, problems
going into our colleges and universities are not being created on our
colleges and universities," Graves said.

Part of the problem, he said, is in getting people to come forward with
information.

They must sign an affidavit because DPS must have credible probable cause
before pursuing the tip.

"It's not as simple as someone calling us to say, 'Hey, my roommate's
smoking dope' and they don't want to cooperate or work with us," Graves
said. "We take that info and we try to use that info as best we can but it
may be limited in scope in that we can't go in and make a bust on that. The
law just won't allow you to do that."

DPS' primary concern is life safety.

The goal is that "any time a student is in a situation that life safety is
an issue ... they feel confident in calling us for assistance, for getting
the proper resources in to help them," said John Matthews, program manager
of DPS' Crime Prevention and Community Education Unit.

However, that's not to say a violator will not face consequences, if they
are deserved.

"If necessary, we will affect an arrest. We don't have any problems with
that, whatsoever," Graves said.

In the end, Graves said law enforcement is doing a battle with society.

"Fundamentally, we're competing against the entities that promote (drugs)
and glamorize them," Graves said.

"A university is a mini city, in and of itself. Any problems that are
present here is a reflection of society at large, so the problems of society
at large is present here as well," Matthews said.