AN INSIDE LOOK AT BU'S DRUG TRADE

The following story was based on interviews with a drug dealer who
spoke on condition of anonymity . He will be referred to as "M"
throughout the article.

A generic telephone ring chimed twice. "Hello?" said the gruff,
groggy voice on the receiving end of a cell phone. "Yeah, how much do
you want? An eighth? ... OK, be right there."

Another successful transaction complete, M made his way down the
steps of Warren Towers to greet another satisfied customer.

The previous scenario is an approximation of the kind of deals M
makes all the time. Such is the life of a student-turned-pot-dealer,
who sells his goods to make a modest profit to combat the cashless
existence that is college.

M, a freshman computer science major at Boston University, wants to
buy an Xbox, a television set and a plane ticket to Florida. Like
many other college students, he spends a substantial amount of money
on liquor, food and concerts. But M is different. He dabbles in the
rather unconventional world of marijuana dealers - lightweights in
the drug world - to make some pocket money and fulfill his material desires.

Concealed in the swarm of about 1,800 students living in Warren
Towers, M said he found many students who come to him looking for
marijuana and other illegal substances, and this demand keeps him in
constant business.

"I deal to at least five people a day on a weekday and as many as 20
people a day on a weekend," he said in a phone interview. "I live in
Warren Towers but I feel that if I lived in West [Campus] I'd have an
even bigger clientele. It's a lot of freshman clientele."

M, who occasionally deals hallucination mushrooms as well, said he
knows other students in "all the major freshman dorms" and elsewhere
on campus who deal drugs and said drug dealers will sell to students
because young people are the most likely to use drugs.

"[I deal to] at least 50 or 60 different people ... the majority are
BU students, about 85 percent [of his clientele]," he said, adding
that his goal is to maintain a smaller number of clients who will buy
more from him.

M continued to say he does not think his competition in the area is
steep because "there's plenty, plenty, plenty of students at this
school who'll buy," especially if they are looking for marijuana.

"I don't know if most students smoke pot, but the people I hang out
with [mostly do]," M said. "That's something people have been trying
to figure out for years ... I find [marijuana, mushrooms and ecstasy
on campus.]

"Marijuana and mushrooms [appear to be the most popular drugs]," he
continued. "I know a lot of kids who do [cocaine] too. There are a
lot of drugs here - everyone has their own kick."

M said he earns about $150 to $200 a week by charging the area's
competitive market rate, although he refused to disclose his selling
rate. And on any given week, M said he will sell between an ounce of
marijuana and a quarter pound.

M has multiple options for restocking his drug stash. He can go to
friends he knows from his high school in New York, sources he has met
at BU and other connections in Cambridge to supply him. And, on
average, M added that he picks up his supply once every week or week
and a half and spends about $2,000.

"If you have a good [supplier] then you can do anything. The better
your [supplier] is, the more profit you make," M said.

Risk for Money?

And with the risk involved with dealing drugs, especially at a place
like BU with its zero tolerance policy, M said a dealer needs to gain
a substantial amount of money to make the endeavor worthwhile.

"[Dealing is worth the effort] because of the money. I know there's a
risk [involved with dealing on campus], but if you're smart about it,
you keep yourself safe," he said. "I get paid for a risk."

"Backpacks conceal everything," M continued, explaining how he and
other students bring drugs into dormitories. "People who buy in small
quantities just put it in their pocket."

M knows the risks involved with dealing drugs; he said he started
dealing to the BU community on his first day of school in September.
M decided to continue selling in college since the endeavor was so
profitable in high school.

"I dabbled in the business back in high school for a bit, [starting]
when I was 10th or 11th grade," he said. "I don't know, it's a good
amount of money a month. I wanted to start smoking for free in 10th
grade, and now that I'm older I need something more than that."

M said the easiest way to do business is to network through friends
to find clients and then let those who want the drugs come to him.

"I think by now a lot of the freshman know where they get [their
marijuana] from [and established their suppliers] in the first few
weeks of school," he said. "But I got a lot of new phone calls from
people at the beginning of the year, but every once in a while I'll
get a new call from a new person.

"Most people I [met by being a new freshman] and I smoked with them
and they just said, 'I can call you whenever?' and it just spread,"
he continued. "I don't look for clients at all, it just happens on
its own. I just sit back and wait for new people to call me."

But does M sample the drugs he buys for resale?

"Of course," he said with a laugh, saying he has to maintain quality
control, although his clients generally look for a certain type of drug.

"I smoke what I get. I don't want to be smoking bad [marijuana]," M
said. "Everyone goes around looking for the same drug. They don't go
around looking for the best stuff."

Although M deals often, he said he does not base his day around it.

"I go to class and if anyone ever calls me I tell them to meet up
with me," he said. "It's not like my life revolves around this. I'm
like a normal, everyday kid. If someone gives me a call I meet up."

And M said his goal of dealing is not to make a living off his
profits or to pay his tuition, but just to buy what he wants as a student.

"It all depends on how you spend [the money]. I make my money to
spend my money," he said. "I also like to save the money up."

"I don't know [how long I will be dealing]," he said. "It's nothing
I've really thought about. Whenever I get tired of the phone calls.

"I have no idea what I want to do after college," M said. "Maybe I
want to be a drug dealer for life. Who knows?"

Other Side of the Law

"We do pretty well," said Captain Robert Molloy of the BU Police
Department about combating drug use at the university as he pointed
to a large poster displaying a variety of drugs and different
techniques of hiding them from the police at BUPD's drug unit.

The poster hangs next to a bulletin board with information about
common drugs that police, who must train to identify drugs by
attending courses run by the Police Academy, the Massachusetts
Municipal Police Training Commission and the Drug Enforcement
Administration, may encounter while patrolling the area around BU's campus.

Molloy, who has worked for BUPD for about 19 years, said he thinks BU
has a strong handle on student drug use through its policies.

"BU has the zero tolerance policy which the University Police
Department takes very seriously," he said. "If we come across
students in possession [of an illegal substance] we do take action."

This action begins as every person caught with a drug-from marijuana
to heroin-is arrested, prosecuted and reported to the Dean of
Students and the Office of Judicial Affairs. Students may then attend
a hearing and be charged by a judge at the Brighton or Roxbury courts.

"We can arrest with a probable cause. If we see someone with
possession and there's a probable cause to think [students] do drugs
we arrest them," Molloy said, adding that the drugs the police find
are confiscated.

Molloy also said that between four and six trained police patrol the
area for suspicious behavior on any given day, but they do no
actively search areas for drugs.

"If [officers] get alerted they'll investigate," he said. "The Drug
Unit will do that but we're not like out there looking for people who
are smoking marijuana. But if they are indicated or come across
something, they'll investigate."

The Department's anonymous tip line often leads officers in the
direction of students using drugs, Molloy said. The unit is
frequently updated on the different types of drugs used and on new
ways to hide drugs.

"They turn the drugs over to the food and drug lab and tested
certification as to whether it is an actual drug," he said. "And test
cocaine and heroin for purity."

In the university area, Molloy estimated that 95 percent of the drugs
officers find are marijuana, but the rate at which the Department
finds drugs indicates that they are not a substantial issue at BU.

"We find little of higher class drugs [at BU]," he said. "I don't
believe there is a large drug problem here at all. We're not going to
fool ourselves and say there are no drugs here, but we don't think
they're a problem."

Molloy said police can go through long periods of time without making
any drug arrests. At most, the department will have two or three
cases in a semester and he said this consistently low level of
charges has to do with resident assistant training and BU initiatives
to prevent drug use.

"Officers go to resident halls and attend RA meetings," he said. "We
want to be more involved in RHA meetings ... we want to have a
partnership with the students to be informed."

According to a Warren Towers RA, who requested anonymity for fear of
losing his job, RA training involves learning how to identify drugs,
primarily marijuana, by smell.

"We do smell test and a control burn and [practice] scenarios and
typical [drug] situations," he said. "Two RAs have to confirm the
smell. But we can't call an RA and tell them to smell. We have to
call them to the floor and see if they smell something, and if they
both smell, then there's a bust.

"RAs are always supposed to be on guard for this, keep our nose and
eyes out for it," he continued. "I think it would be [difficult to
deal drugs from a dormitory], but not easy to do without being caught
because people talk a lot ... [but because] everyone knows everyone's
business."

Molloy also said he does not see many dealers at BU, but dealers
would face stricter penalties than uses if caught.

"There aren't too many dealers," he said. "There's not too many
users. It's seldom but it does occur and we do investigate."

"It's not unusual to go several months without any indication of
someone using marijuana," he said