This is just sad and weird at the same time.

Cocaine use up at Ole Miss



Officers Say Cocaine Use is Up on Ole Miss Campus
Reported by: Tenikka Smith
Email: tsmith@myeyewitnessnews.com
Contributor: Adrienne Phillips

Narcotics officers in Lafayette County, Mississippi say more and more students at the University of Mississippi, or Ole Miss, are using and selling cocaine. Officers say in the past three or four years, they have seen an increase in the use of the drug.

"They feel coke is one of the drugs they need to have to experience the partying feeling," said Narcotics Commander Searn Lynch.

Lynch says officers have arrested about 100 students in the past year for drug distribution for marijuana, cocaine and prescription pills.

When it comes to the cocaine market, Lynch says, "It's such a big need for it among individuals, plus you got your dealers competing for prices."

Narcotics officers say even though the price of cocaine is decreasing, dealers are still making a big profit. For 13 ounces of cocaine, officers say a dealer can make over $25,000.

Lynch says they are able to make their arrests because, "at any given time, undercover officers and confidential sources are on campus, blending in with students and gathering information."

He also says most of the students caught during the drug busts are first-time offenders who bond out of jail and get in trouble again. He says the narcotics team's goal is to build strong cases against those users and distributors, so they will receive jail time when they appear in court.

Students at Ole Miss have varying opinions of the cocaine statistics at the university.

"I think [the cocaine use] is true, but I don't think it's that big of a deal on campus," said freshman Robert Martin. "Unless you're looking for it, then you really don't get involved with it."

Senior Justin Rush says he feels Ole Miss "gets a bad rep" for being a party school. "I personally don't know anyone that has a cocaine problem. I don't know anybody who sells cocaine." Rush also says it is disheartening to know that people are at the school who have a chance to get a good education, but are using cocaine.

"We don't need any negative publicity. Ole Miss has a lot to offer educationally, socially, outside of doing alcohol and drugs and I would just ask please stop what you are doing, because it's bringing the entire school down and bringing quality people down."

Lynch says he made his last large undercover bust in October and arrested about two dozen students. He says nearly 80 percent of the people taken into custody by his team get most of their cocaine supply from Memphis.

Vandy is still #1 in that in the SEC.

The kid from Memphis who killed the policeman when he was stopped in Oxford had coke in his system....even aside from that, this report doesn't surprise me at all.

Also please do NOT think this is a problem unique to Ole miss or the SEC. Coke remains very popular right everywhere. Unfortunately, I see the bad consequesnces of it, bleeds in people's brains. You would all be shocked where most of them live!!

wanna know the really sad part...most of those kids are from memphis private school.....u think the first time the do coke is in college.....try high school.....and they think drug testing at these private schools is keeping kids from doing drugs....its all about the parents involvement in the kids lives im 23 and my parents are still all up in my business gues thats the reason im not on drugs that and i fear my father

I always knew you had to be a real DOPE to be an Ole Mess fan.

Memphischeer, you apparently have an excellent father. And you are right about drug testing in high school. In my opinion, it does nothing more than drive the students into much heavier alcohol use, for which the schools do not test.

cocaine is freaking everywhere, most people have no clue how bad it really is.

TigerChick Wrote:Also please do NOT think this is a problem unique to Ole miss or the SEC. Coke remains very popular right everywhere. Unfortunately, I see the bad consequesnces of it, bleeds in people's brains. You would all be shocked where most of them live!!

Actually, probably not. I'm sure most of them live in the wealthier neighborhoods of the city. Cocaine is and has been the drug of choice for the upper middle class. It's fairly expensive, and it really doesn't sell much in the lower class neighborhoods, except in the form of crack.

Hence why you see more cocaine use at private schools, where kids have the money to afford the drugs. And also why it would probably be more prevalent at schools like Vandy and also popular with a segment of the fraternity population at Ole Miss, since a good portion of the fraternity population at Ole Miss is that same group of private school kids.

There is definitely a segment of people at Ole Miss that are heavily involved in the coke culture, so to speak, but like many of the students said it's not that prevalent. Most people could probably find it and get involved with it if they want to, but it's not that hard to avoid. I went to Ole Miss obviously, and I was in a fraternity. I had a handful of fraternity brothers that were into coke, but to be honest with you I never actually saw anyone with it, and I never even saw anyone using it during my 4+ years at Ole Miss. And it's not like I missed very many parties.

21-17 Best Time I Ever Ha Wrote:Memphischeer, you apparently have an excellent father. And you are right about drug testing in high school. In my opinion, it does nothing more than drive the students into much heavier alcohol use, for which the schools do not test.

CBHS tests for alcohol at school-sponsored events.

TiggerFan Wrote:

21-17 Best Time I Ever Ha Wrote:Memphischeer, you apparently have an excellent father. And you are right about drug testing in high school. In my opinion, it does nothing more than drive the students into much heavier alcohol use, for which the schools do not test.

CBHS tests for alcohol at school-sponsored events.

i went to a shelby county school and back in my day (98-02) they spot tested now i heard they test the student sections and at prom...i have a feeling my sr class caused the test to become more present....humm wonder if they will ever test the memphis student sections? we never drank at games (moves out of the way of the lighting) u couldnt walk around the student section at the memphis games without stepping on a jack mini bottle

We don't need this in our extended metro region, and despite the athletic and even academic rivalry, they are a part of our region. They seriously need to crack down on this, step up, and become a legit premier competitor at all levels, just like we are aspiring to be.

My junior year at CBHS we had two kids in my homeroom get busted for snorting coke in the middle of our homeroom period.