A look into all things "Operation: Ivy League." Operation Ivy League is over. The dangerous element is removed from campus, and we can spend these last few work-filled, sleepless nights at ease, free from the menace of illegal drugs. Like many of my peers, I've spent the past week obsessively reading articles about the bust. And after reading countless Spectrum updates and snarky Gawker posts, I realized that this grand Columbia scandal was perhaps not so grand at all. [continues 740 words]
After on-campus drug busts, a group of students hope to raise at least $11,000 -- a number they chose because police say they bought this amount worth of drugs from the five students they arrested. Four students have started a project dubbed "Operation Ivy League: The Legit Deal," an effort to reduce substance abuse at Columbia in light of the recent drug arrests. The students -- Wilmer Cerda, SEAS '11, Carmen Marin, SEAS '11, Elizabeth Pino, CC '11, and Slav Sobkov, SEAS '12 -- are selling T-shirts for $15 each, and they plan to use the proceeds to start an anti-drug abuse campaign next semester. They said that they are not yet sure how exactly they will do that, but that they are brainstorming and have been in contact with a few outside organizations. [continues 316 words]
If a new student-driven proposal passes, Columbia students calling for help in emergencies related to drugs or alcohol will no longer have to fear punishment. The Columbia chapter of the Students for Sensible Drug Policy-an international organization that pushes for reforms in drug policies-is currently circulating a proposal through the student councils that would allow students to ask Columbia University Emergency Medical Services-commonly known as CAVA-for support in drug-related situations without the threat of Dean's Discipline. [continues 472 words]
Afghanistan produces 93 percent of the world's opiates and 90 percent of the world's opium. Not only does this trade exacerbate a global drug crisis, but it also provides Taliban and insurgent groups between $100 million and $400 million per year. It is estimated that 80 percent of personnel at the Ministry of Interior benefit from the drug trade, and Afghan officials even believe that 100,000 members of the Afghan government gain from the trade--whether it be from transportation fees, bribes or profits. [continues 730 words]
In 2006, the United States witnessed close to 800 identifiable drug-related murders. Since January 2008, 7,000 Mexicans have died in a brutal drug war between rival cartels. In Afghanistan, NATO forces continue to be killed and maimed by Taliban insurgents financed primarily by opium production. Following the inception of the War on Drugs in 1969 , hundreds of billions of dollars and countless lives have been poured into an unwinnable enterprise-one that America must strongly reconsider. Of any tactic employed against organized crime (and the terrorism it often supports), legalization is certainly the most potent and the most controversial. Currently, the War on Drugs serves to cut back on supply, thereby inflating prices and allowing criminals to profit. [continues 660 words]
Lawsuit Seeks To Repeal Federal Law Denying Aid To Convicted Drug Users Anti-drug policies often stress the importance of avoiding drugs for health reasons. For potential financial aid recipients, however, drug use can lead to scholarships going up in a puff of smoke, an issue the American Civil Liberties Union plans on addressing. The ACLU intends to represent the Students for a Sensible Drug Policy in a South Dakota case regarding the legal status of a 1998 amendment to the Higher Education Act. Specifically, the two groups hope the class-action case will lead to the repeal of the law which makes a student convicted of any drug offense ineligible for federal aid. "We believe that the current harsh drug policy hurts our generation more than helps it," said Tom Angell, the campaign director for the SSDP. "We are the DARE generation. We grew up with the War on Drugs." [continues 407 words]
"One night, Jackie woke up past her bedtime. She smelled something funny in the air, so she walked down the hall to her parents' bedroom. "'What's that, MommyUKP' asked Jackie. 'Are you and Daddy smoking a cigaretteUKP' "'No, baby,' said her mother. 'This is a "joint." It's made of marijuana.'" So begins It's Just a Plant: A Children's Story of Marijuana, written and illustrated by Ricardo Cortes, CC '95, who read his book Tuesday night to an audience of about 50 Columbia students. The book relates a simple story of a mother's effort to explain marijuana to her young daughter. After Jackie stumbles upon her parents using the drug recreationally, her mother introduces her to a farmer, a doctor, and police officers who explain the drug's history, positive and negative health effects, and criminalization. [continues 629 words]
