Photo credit: (Middletown police / AP) via the Baltimore Sun
In wake of a string of club overdoses at Wesleyan University, a battle wages in terms of how to address the growing crisis.
Officials at Wesleyan University are struggling manage the growing crisis of drug overdoses on the college campus. Even with stricter policies in place, it didn’t curtail the “open secret” drug dealing and use of MDMA pills aka Molly, which led to nearly a dozen students being hospitalized last weekend. Not surprisingly, four suspects arrested for the “bad batch” of drugs were Wesleyan students, this according to an ABC News report.
Administrators and trustees at the liberal arts college are at an impasse over ideology and practical solutions to manage the drug culture that is threatening to erode the educational experience of students and the school’s reputation. Like other campuses, Wesleyan has policies in place that the use and distribution of narcotics on its campus. However, officials are accused of merely labeling the problem as a health care issue. Additionally, they are under fire for the lack of partnership with local law enforcement.
Back in September, a young student at the university was hospitalized for overdosing on what was found to be a “cut” form of Molly. Months later on February 22, at least 10 or more students at a club suddenly fell ill and were rushed to a local hospital. There, four were listed in critical condition and fighting for their lives. The culprit again was the ecstasy-like drug that was likely mixed with other designer products.
Luckily, police had enough information from students who came forward to point out the drug dealers who were responsible for the mass overdoses. Three of the four arrested in the OD case were actually students majoring in neuroscience at Wesleyan College, citing information from NBC Connecticut.
“According to the warrants for their arrest, investigators searching the homes of Lonergan, Kramer and Nakib didn’t find MDMA – but they did find other drugs, including 610 Xanax pills in Nakib’s room, 516 pills of 16 types at Lonergan’s home and 197 nitrous oxide cartridges at Kramer’s residence.”
Wesleyan trustee, Tucker Andersen, weighed in on the drug overdoses and disturbing culture. He admits being in the throes of a struggle to strike a balance.
“This is an issue where there is no disagreement on the board. You want a policy which keeps students safe. You don’t want them to experiment with all this sort of stuff. You want to get the message out loud and clear that nobody in a position of authority is in favor of addictive and dangerous substances, but that doesn’t mean you have to close your eyes to that it’s going to occur anyway.”
Luckily, all but one of the students who suffered Molly overdoses at Wesleyan have been discharged from the hospital. The condition of the last victim is hopeful.