by Leah Bloomberg & Grant Margeson
STAFF WRITER & GUEST WRITER

N.B. This article is meant to provide a glimpse into the drug use on campus, not to either condone or condemn it. The views expressed by those interviewed in no way reflect the views and opinions of the Whitman College Pioneer.

On a typical Friday night, some students may be studying in the library, others watching a movie, others still drinking at a party or in their dorm room. But there are also students who are snorting cocaine, rolling on ecstasy or dropping acid.

Many are aware that drug use occurs on campus: casual marijuana use is no mystery: but some may be surprised to find out to what extent “harder” drugs are used.

The types of illicit drugs used within this underbelly on campus include cocaine, ecstasy, OxyContin (a pain killer that has wide street distribution) and experimental research drugs, such as 2C-I and 2C-B.

Jim*, a senior, said, “Yes, I use drugs on a regular basis.… 2C-I and 2C-B.… They’re research chemicals. They’re not well-studied. Most of them aren’t illegal yet. Most of them make you trip similarly to acid or mushrooms.”

These drugs, including ecstasy, are sometimes bought online from undisclosed websites that offer discounts for large quantity purchases. Jim said about the Web sites that “sometimes buying in bulk [off the Web sites] is just a lot cheaper … but with things like coke, it’s just whenever you can get ahold of it.”

The reasons for drug use are manifold. “On some level it is a coping mechanism, but I don’t think it interferes with school. I won’t do anything the night before a test or anything,” Jim said.

Whatever the reason, drug use can be expensive. Jim spends anywhere from $200 to $500 a month on drugs, using moderately to heavily a combination of the aforementioned drugs. “I’m sure I’ve spent a few thousand dollars,” he said.

Jim is of the opinion that few people on campus would be comfortable with drug use. “I don’t want to make people uncomfortable with it ever, you know?” he said.

He has chosen to surround himself with those who share his views on drugs, and share in the use of the drugs as well. “I probably only do drugs with five other people outside my house.…”

When asked how Whitman’s drug use compares to other schools’, Jim confirmed Whitman’s normalcy: “The ratio of people that I’ve run into at parties that have done the drugs that I have done on this campus versus other campuses is pretty much equal.”

Despite popular culture’s negative spin on drugs, Jim pointed to some positives of doing drugs, namely their effect on social and mental aspects: “With ecstasy, it makes you a lot closer to people. It can kick-start a relationship. It’ll kind of fast-forward the friendship so you’ll end up a lot closer than you were a day before. When I do acid, I’ll be able to breakdown all these mental processes. I realize things that are normally common sense, but I’ll see it differently than I did before.”

Drugs can be used both responsibly and irresponsibly. Responsible drug users research the drugs they have purchased and consider both other user’s experiences and the effects of the drugs. James*, another drug user, said, “It is so easy to research. There’s just a huge library of information online.” James also mentioned that he can’t remember ever doing drugs without researching first.

The Internet has the effect of both informing drug users and connecting them. “The internet has brought together people who want to experiment with psycho-actives,” James said, “There is a subculture that is a pretty powerful group to be a part of.” This subculture helps dispel myths and misconceptions about drug use, which are partially created by the government’s drug agencies.

The result of this research and forethought is a positive one. Drug use, as James said, becomes “something that you’ve done responsibly. You know your source, you know your substance, and you know what you’re getting into. The nights that we put more effort into are a lot more fun. They are a lot more satisfying.” James added that, as a result of responsible drug use, “I have zero regrets about my drug use.”

It is impossible to discuss drug use without a consideration of the criminal element of it, and how that relates to campus drug policy. While James mentioned that a college campus is “a more forgiving place to do drugs than probably the rest of the world,” he also said, “Walla Walla is a horrible place to buy drugs.”

On the terms of drug policy, James said, “It is important for the peace of mind of parents to have everything that is illegal to be against the rules. It should be important to Whitman that it has law-abiding students, but not necessarily that it have drug-free students. Those two things have nothing to do with each other.”

The school’s enforcement of what is written should reflect the fact that abiding the law and drug use are not philosophically connected. James said, “Whitman’s drug policy is currently totally ineffectual, but that is the way it should be.” Regardless of enforcement, the impact of Whitman’s drug policy on student’s lives is minimal. “This college’s policies have no effect on my drug use or the drug use of anyone I know,” James said.

Ultimately, James hopes that he can de-stigmatize drug use, through his relationship with both drugs and academic pursuits: “I like to think that what I say in class, which is in part who I am a person, which in part is defined by drug use, removes from them the idea that I am an idiot or junkie or don’t have anything worthwhile to say.”

* These names have been changed to protect the identity of those interviewed.