Thursday, May 8, 2008

The Drug Enforcement Administration announced earlier this week that agents have arrested nearly 100 people in a sting operation at San Diego State University in California over the last several months. Officials arrested 75 students and 21 non-students on a variety of drug charges, including possession and sale of marijuana, Ecstasy and cocaine. The drug probe came in response to a student’s overdose in 2007.

In response, students, parents and drug policy reformers organized a demonstration Wednesday to call attention to the need for more effective, more sensible responses to overdose.  Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, DPA's deputy state director in Southern California, said, “Overdose deaths are tragic and preventable—but not through sensationalistic drug busts and raids. After the raids, SDSU students will be no more knowledgeable about how to prevent a deadly overdose."

Demonstrators called on the university to enact a life-saving Good Samaritan Policy that encourages students to call for help during a drug overdose emergency. The demonstration, which was organized by Students for Sensible Drug Policy, A New PATH, and DPA, was a mock graduation for the 75 students who were arrested and the two SDSU students who recently died of preventable drug overdoses. One of the overdoses, which took place in May 2007, was the impetus for the DEA investigation--while the other occurred while the investigation was underway. Dooley-Sammuli said, "Even when numerous DEA agents were on campus, they could not prevent this needless death. A Good Samaritan Policy could have kept the student alive."

Good Samaritan Policies protect students who call for help during overdose emergencies, and colleges across the country are enacting them in increasing numbers. Researchers found Cornell University’s Good Samaritan Policy to have dramatically increased the amount of  911 calls related to overdoses, while drug use at the school remained relatively constant. Close to 100 colleges nationwide and the entire state of New Mexico have enacted Good Samaritan Policies, and similar legislation has been introduced in Illinois, Maryland, Rhode Island, and Washington.

In contrast, the show of force at SDSU is counter-productive to the mission of saving lives. Dooley-Sammuli said, “To prevent overdose, the school should encourage students to know how to monitor their consumption, be aware of the signs of an overdose and know what to do if they or someone else appears to be overdosing. Following these raids, it’s very likely that SDSU students will actually be less likely to call for help if someone is experiencing an overdose, for fear of prosecution.”

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