OBERLIN — A survey by the student newspaper at Oberlin College shows that 38 percent of the students interviewed said they have used cocaine.
The survey of 123 students who filled out a questionnaire showed half had used the drug for the first time while at Oberlin College, said Rani Molla, who helped distribute the survey and wrote a story about the results with another student, Maya Curry.

College officials are discounting the results as unscientific because the newspaper did not question a larger number of the 2,765 students who attend the college.

But Molla said she thought the anonymous survey was “representative” because only a few students declined to fill them out. She said students were given surveys at on-campus cafes, computer stations in the library and other high-traffic areas.

Several students wrote that they used cocaine every day or several times a day, she said.

A senior from California told the paper he did cocaine about three times a semester.

“I wanted to feel happy when I was going out and wanted to feel energized despite fatigue,” he told the paper. “And I was intrigued. I had seen a lot going around and wanted to know what it was about.”

Molla said she also interviewed a student who told her he initially supplied his own habit by selling cocaine he bought from a dealer in Oberlin, who in turn purchased cocaine from a dealer in Columbus.

The student told Molla that he would sell up to $600 of cocaine a day. He eventually quit dealing, but he said he knows of at least 10 students who continue to sell, according to the story in the student newspaper.

A 2006 study of 717 Oberlin College students conducted by The Journal of Proper Thought, now the Wilder Voice, showed that 16 percent had used cocaine while 84 percent never had, Molla said. Wilder Voice is a literary journal written by Oberlin College students.

Linda Gates, dean of students, said the Oberlin Review’s survey and story helped raise awareness about drug use on campus. But, “I didn’t take it as seriously as if it had been done scientifically,” she said.

College spokesman Scott Wargo said he doubted that 38 percent of Oberlin students have used cocaine.
“These numbers aren’t representative of our student body,” he said.

Colleges are required to report arrests, and in the past three years there were only two drug arrests: one in 2005 for marijuana possession on the campus and one in 2006 for marijuana possession in a dorm, Wargo said. 

Oberlin police Capt. Clifton Barnes said detectives have seen no evidence that would reflect cocaine is on the rise, but he doesn’t question the results.
“As far as where they’re getting it from, they may be going to nearby towns making their connections,” Barnes said.

Barnes said the more overt cocaine problem in Oberlin was in the 1980s and 1990s, when dealers sold the drug on the corner of Pleasant and Groveland streets.

The police actually see more evidence of marijuana use because the college’s Safety & Security periodically turns in bongs and pipes with marijuana residue, he said.

Gates said the college prohibits illegal drug use. She said the office of Health and Life Skills Education works with students to show them that substance abuse could negatively affect their lives.

“We don’t go into a preachy mode – don’t do this or you’ll get hurt,” Gates said.
Molla credited the health and life skills counselors with making a good effort to help students deal with substance abuse issues.

“They try – they really do try,” she said.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.
 

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