Pubdate: Wed, 23 Jan 2008
Source: State Press, The (AZ Edu)
Copyright: 2008 ASU Web Devil
Contact:  http://www.asuwebdevil.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3961
Author: Matt Culbertson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?233 (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition)

AN EVEN EXCHANGE

With a gun to his head and duct tape around his feet, mouth and eyes, 
Jake* was told he'd be killed.

"They could have easily just popped it, walked out the door and 
gotten away with murder," Jake says.

On that day several months ago, Jake was robbed for thousands of 
dollars in drugs, cash and valuables from his apartment.

Jake was a target because of his business: drug dealing. Jake, who is 
young enough to be an underclassman but is not attending college, has 
profited thousands of dollars from selling mostly marijuana and 
sometimes other drugs to ASU students and Valley residents.

"'Put your nose to the floor, I'm going to blow your fucking head 
off,'" Jake says one man repeatedly threatened as the others 
ransacked his apartment for money, valuables and marijuana.

ASU and other college students are a valuable part of his customer 
base, Jake says.

America's addiction

Demand for illegal drugs is high in the U.S. About 25 percent of the 
world's supply of illegal drugs are consumed here, according to the 
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

More than 10,000 ASU students, or 19.5 percent of the student 
population, will use illegal drugs this month, if the 2007 report on 
college drug use by the Center is accurate.

Other studies have produced similar drug use estimates for college students.

Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug in the U.S., with nearly 
17 percent of American college students using marijuana last month 
and 30 percent using the drug last year, according to the 2006 
Monitoring the Future survey.

In the general population, 8.3 percent of people 12 and older have 
used an illegal drug in the past month, according to the 2006 
National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

In 2000 -- the last year numbers were available -- Americans spent an 
estimated $64 billion on illegal drugs, according to a report by the 
Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Jake claims he made approximately $10,000 in profit during the month 
of December. It is clear Jake can easily make well above the average 
income, just by dealing marijuana.

Jake's lucrative business

Jake says he started out as a small-time dealer in high school. He 
now sometimes sells several pounds of marijuana each week, for a 
profit of over $1,000 per pound.

Jake says he buys medicinal-quality marijuana for cheap prices in 
California and brings it to Arizona to sell for high profits. He says 
he often receives up to 100 phone calls a day relating to drug sales. 
Dealing marijuana doesn't concern him as immoral, Jake says.

"It's not like I'm selling crack, you know what I'm saying?" he says. 
"It's supply and demand."

He lives a luxurious lifestyle and smokes about two ounces of 
high-grade marijuana every week.

"I'm planning on doing this the rest of my life," Jake says of his 
dealing. "It's a job; I couldn't even explain how easy it is."

Deputy Chief Bill Knight of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office 
Criminal Investigations Bureau says drug dealing is similar to other 
professions from a business standpoint.

"Most of the time we run into people that don't have legitimate 
jobs," Knight says of his encounters with drug dealers. "They've got 
a business to run. As money increases, lifestyle tends to increase."

Jake says he makes more money than many of his customers who work 
harder than him, and his customers sometimes resent him for it.

"People will hate you for it," he says of his income.

But the profit doesn't come without a price, Jake says.

"I've been robbed four times," he says.

Jake's customer base

Sarah*, an ASU underclassman, is one of Jake's approximately 50 
regular customers.

"[Jake] is a phenomenal example of a businessman," she says. "When he 
got robbed, he just bought a small amount of pot and worked his way back up."

Sarah smokes marijuana daily and estimates her monthly use to be 
about two ounces, amounting to about $360. She says she usually buys 
marijuana from Jake and two other dealers.

"I've got a pretty good disposable income," she says.

While many studies show the use of marijuana and other illegal drugs 
is linked to bad grades, Sarah is enrolled full-time with a GPA above 3.5.

"Pot doesn't hinder me from learning," she says.

Sarah says drug laws have never stopped her from doing drugs. She has 
experimented with harder drugs like heroin, methamphetamines and 
cocaine. For the past two years, she has rarely used anything but 
marijuana and occasionally hallucinogenic drugs like psilocybin mushrooms.

"It's really difficult to talk to people about having done drugs like 
that because it very much categorizes you," she says. "Who I am was 
always more prevalent than the drugs."

Sarah says she would never want to be involved with drug dealing, but 
she says it is profitable.

"You definitely make good money," she says.

ASU student-dealers

Chris*, an upperclassman at ASU, uses, sells and distributes illegal 
drugs. He occasionally makes money from drug deals, but usually just 
helps his friends get illegal drugs, he says.

"Once every week, people call me," he says. "Usually, I don't make a 
profit."  His current source of income is not dependent on drugs.

Last year, Chris says he sold marijuana and a small amount of cocaine 
with a friend out of his ASU residence hall. While dealing last year, 
he sold about an ounce a week, but says he let his friend keep the 
money while he smoked marijuana for free.

In December, a friend paid him $300 to pick up a kilogram of cocaine 
from a house in Phoenix for distribution by a larger drug-dealing organization.

"Just a week ago, this guy called me up for his mom's birthday. He 
wanted to give her two ounces of marijuana," Chris says of a recent sale.

He claims he has sold almost everything at least once, from cocaine 
and hallucinogenic mushrooms to methamphetamines and heroin.

"My roommate and his girlfriend wanted to have sex on ecstasy, 
because they heard it was great, so I got them ecstasy," Chris says.

Chris has profited significantly from the drug trade, though he has 
never made money by violence or manipulation, he says.

"It's possible, with minimal involvement, to make thousands every 
month," he says.

Chris estimates he uses about $180 a week worth of mostly marijuana 
and sometimes other illegal drugs. Lately, he is concerned about 
studies that show smoking can cause hearing damage, he says.

"I'm planning on cutting back [on] hard narcotics, but I'm trying to 
phase out marijuana," Chris says. He says if he uses a drug, it is 
moral for him to sell or distribute it. If he stops using marijuana, 
he will stop distributing it as well, he says.

But Chris says he'll probably use other illegal drugs for the rest of 
his life. When he starts a family, he'll quit drugs, he says.

"Harder narcotics are just a part of the culture that I'm in, that I 
choose to be in," Chris says. Over winter break, he says he went on a 
"massive" cocaine binge, at one point snorting about 20 lines of coke.

But, like Sarah, his grades don't reflect his drug use. Chris is on 
the Dean's List for his college. His ASU transcripts show more than 
100 credit hours at ASU with a cumulative GPA above 3.9.

"I'm an academic star," he says.

Campus violations

Last year, ASU police arrested 181 people on three of the ASU 
campuses for drug law violations, according to campus crime 
statistics. No arrests were made on the Phoenix campus for drug law violations.

"The most common drug-related crime at ASU is marijuana use," ASU 
police spokesman Cmdr. Jim Hardina says in an e-mail. Most drug 
arrests on campus are for possession of marijuana, and usually are a 
result of students smoking marijuana in residence halls, he says.

There is a zero-tolerance policy for drugs on campus, and students 
receive the same penalties for drug-related crimes from ASU police as 
they would from Tempe police, Hardina says.

Detective Parker Dunwoody of ASU police is part of a continuing 
partnership between ASU and Tempe police, and drug-related crimes are 
his primary responsibility. Currently, he is on assignment with the 
Tempe Police Department Special Investigations Bureau.

Dunwoody investigates ASU-related drug cases, he says in an e-mail. 
During his five years at ASU he has "seen them all," including 
heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine, he says.

ASU has undercover officers to deter drug-related crimes, but the 
best method for stopping drug use is educating the public on the 
dangers of drugs, Dunwoody says.

"Some students coming from other states and countries with more 
lenient drug laws aren't aware that all controlled substances...are 
felonies in Arizona," Dunwoody says.

Drug laws deterring dealers

Eric*, an ASU upperclassman, says Arizona's drug laws caused him to 
stop dealing when he moved to the state.

"I wouldn't do it in Arizona because it's not worth it," Eric says. 
"A seed is a felony in this [state]," he says.

He says he smokes marijuana regularly but hasn't sold any since a 
six-month stint in jail last year. He says he stopped dealing when he 
moved to Arizona, partly because of the state's harsh drug laws.

Eventually, his friends started to expect to get marijuana for free, 
which cut into his profits. Eric says this was another reason to stop dealing.

"The problem is you don't go into dealing to smoke for free," he 
says. "If you start to give freebies to your friends, the turnaround 
profit isn't very good."

Eric estimates he sold about 10 pounds when he was dealing, which he 
bought for about $8,000. He walked away from selling marijuana with 
$1,200 in savings and spent the rest of his profit, he says.

"It doesn't sound like much, but it [was] like having an extra 
paycheck," he says.

Alcohol Prohibition revisited

The rationale for keeping drugs illegal is similar to the failed 
experiment of alcohol prohibition in the 1930s, says ASU professor 
Kyle Longley.

"If your measure is stopping the use of drugs, they've failed," 
Longley says. Longley, a Snell Family Dean's Distinguished Professor 
of History, specializes in U.S. Foreign Policy and Domestic Politics.

Longley says the reason why drug use is still common in the U.S. is 
similar to the reason why alcohol prohibition failed.

"When you tell people they can't do something, they often respond by 
doing it," Longley says. "[Alcohol] prohibition is probably the best 
example of the failure of the government to stop the use of an illegal drug."

Alcohol was engrained in American culture, so prohibition of the 
substance failed miserably, Longley says. Drugs are not as embedded 
in American culture as alcohol is, he adds.

But historically, governments have been ineffective at limiting drug 
use, he says. "The illegal drug trade is always going to exist -- it 
has for thousands of years," Longley says.

An alternative approach to drug policy

There is a small but vocal group of people who disagree with the drug war.

Former police officer Tony Ryan is part of it. Ryan served for 36 
years in the Denver police department, and now lives part-time in Tucson.

He is a decorated veteran of the police force, having received awards 
such as the Medal of Honor and the Purple Heart for his service. Now, 
he is an advocate for the legalization of drugs.

"Maybe a third of the way through my career, I realized that we 
should be trying a different approach," Ryan says.

He says laws against drugs have done more damage than drugs ever 
will. Ryan says he wants to see illegal drugs legalized and regulated.

"Regulation would include something like we do with tobacco," Ryan 
says. "You control the quantity, the purity, who can buy it."

Ryan is on the board of directors for the international organization 
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, or LEAP. The U.S.-based group, 
made up of thousands of current and former law enforcement and 
justice officials, says the war on drugs has failed in its goals and 
worsened the drug problem.

Drug legalization would be "less harmful, less costly, more ethical 
and [a] more effective public policy" than current U.S. drug policy, 
according to LEAP's Web site.

Ryan, who is also a spokesman for LEAP, says drug laws are 
counterproductive and result in increased crime, criminal profits and 
user deaths.

Legalizing drugs would force dealers to stop selling and make the 
country safer, Ryan says.

"The United States is spending $69 billion a year on the war on 
drugs," he says. Drug laws have failed to make the population safer, 
or to even have an effect on drug use, Ryan says.

"They haven't slowed it down one iota," he says.

Detective Dunwoody says his personal views on U.S. drug policy don't 
impact his job.

"My opinion can't come into play, [but] the fact of the matter is 
that there are laws that the public voted on and I was hired to 
enforce [the laws]," he says. "If the public doesn't like drug policy 
the way it is, they have the power to change that."

However, Dunwoody warns of the dangers of drug use.

"I will tell you that I have seen drugs ruin people's lives, from the 
elderly to infants," he says.

Jake says the drug war keeps him in business, and his customers agree.

High demand for drugs and especially their illegality "is how you 
make the money," Jake says. "If the laws weren't there, I wouldn't be 
making the money."

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* SPM changed the names to protect the privacy of these sources
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom