Why Bust Us for Drug Use? Collegians Ask

Federal drug czar Bob Martinez, acting in the wake of federal agents’ unprecedented seizure of three University of Virginia fraternity houses last week, urged 200 representatives of fraternities and sororities Friday to expand their public service efforts to combat drug abuse.

But many of the students argued that law enforcement should concentrate on inner-city drug users. “I don’t see why they had to target these guys,” said Ted Licastro, a student at Penn State and a member of Alpha Sigma Phi. “These were intelligent, affluent kids at a good school.”

Martinez, who was sworn in two weeks ago as national drug control policy director, told the students: “You will often hear it said that the so-called ‘real’ drug problem isn’t on our college campuses--college campuses used, in this case, as a misleading shorthand for middle-class white kids.” He called that opinion “arrogant nonsense.”

But interviews with students indicated that many believe the problem is being exaggerated.

“I don’t really see why they had to target these fraternities. There’s certainly enough of a problem in more obvious places, like in the cities,” said Andrew Spellar of George Mason University, a member of Pi Kappa Phi.

Larry Cluff, a senior at Virginia Commonwealth and a member of Kappa Delta Rho, blamed the problem on the Virginia fraternities’ connection to the “low-income people” from whom they got their drugs.

The University of Virginia raid “was an isolated event,” said John Mumford of George Mason University, a member of the national chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon, one of the three fraternities raided. “It was in no way representative of the Greek system or of our national frat.”