Feds penetrated drug culture easily at San Diego

Undercover agents who posed as college students to bust more than 100 suspected drug dealers at San Diego State University never had to crack a book to gain acceptance on campus. All it took was cash and a little bit of outside work. The Federal agents that did this went to a few parties but never had to show their faces in class or even around the dorms. In place of this, there strategy was to simple arrange meetings with the drug dealers and ask about buying the cocaine, ecstasy, methamphetamine marijuana and other drugs that were being sold around the San Diego State campus. San Diego County prosecutor Damon Mosler said that things were as simple as saying "Hey, I go to State, can you hook me up?". Dealers made handoffs in front of dorms, in parks, behind frat houses and even in broad daylight in full view of surveillance cameras. It was stated that they never thought that there could possibly be an investigation going down. At least 75 people arrested during the five-month sting were San Diego State students, and 13 of them were from seven fraternities. All together, there were 128 arrests, 61 on Tuesday. Theta Chi had the highest number of students arrested, with five. Campus police were forced to start this action a year ago after the tragic death of a freshmen sorority member due to a cocaine overdose. University President Stephen Weber defended the decision to bring federal authorities onto campus. "Some have asked what we think this publicity has done for SDSU's reputation. I have told them I am proud of the action taken by SDSU to proactively address this serious threat to our students," Weber said in a statement Wednesday. "As a parent I would want my son or daughter to attend a university committed to providing the safest possible environment." On the other hand some students and parents complained that the bust was heavy-handed. Parents joined students at a campus rally Wednesday calling for more drug-abuse treatment instead of tougher enforcement. Overall, I was very interested and entertained by this piece of news. Being that I am a college student I felt that this article had a direct correlation to the atmosphere that I live in currently. I began to realize how this incident could be taking place at any university including the one I attend now. Personally, I find that this practice that the police used may be helpful as it will keep our campus clean of the unnecessary "rift-raft" that we already deal with living in Cincinnati. As long as this can be conducted in a safe and organized manner I find that this can be a very useful tool to keep our universities safe and in an overall clean state.