Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / April 29, 1985, edition 1 / Page 2
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2The Daily Tar HeelMonday, April 29, 19S5 71 A t m A fl(Q)W em CCD f nil v iiil Si iiiiiii MS By STEVE FERGUSON News Editor Nearly one out of every five UNC students has tried cocaine at some time, a survey conducted by School of Journalism students has revealed. That comes to about 4,000 students, 21 percent of those enrolled. Fifteen percent of Orange County residents have tried cocaine, which comes to about 9,000 adults. These results were taken from a Carolina Poll conducted Feb. 3-5, when students polled 535 Orange County adults. The question of . cocaine use has a 3 percentage point margin of error. N.C. cocaine deaths have dras tically increased in the past several years. In 1982, cocaine claimed two lives. That climbed to II in 1983. Last year, 17 died from cocaine use. Frederic Schroeder, dean of students, said he was surprised at the rate of student use. "I think it's two or three times more than 1 would have guessed it to be," he said. But Chief A. Sid Herje of the Carrboro police expressed opposite sentiments, saying he expected the Orange County figure to be higher. "It's a problem we're seeing more and more of around here, because right now there's a glut on the market," he said. "The price of cocaine has really dropped, so more and more people have access to it." Users report the price is about $100 per gram. Some of those polled blamed students for a high level of illegal drug use, but the survey showed that in the county's main college age group 18 to 24 non students were more likely to have used cocaine than students. But among older students, ages 25 and older, cocaine use rises sharply. In the 2544 age group, students show a higher rate of use than non-students. The poll findings indicate that young white males who are college educated are most likely to use the drug. The rate for females is about 12 percent. That's 33 percent higher than a national level figure reported in a unscientific survey done by Ladies Home Journal. Jimmy Campbell, a 37-year-old Chapel Hill man in prison for selling cocaine, said cocaine lured women. "Coke traps women more easily than men," he said. "Lots of guys bought coke from me in order to lead to sex with women waiting for them." But survey results debunked a common myth that people used cocaine to enhance sex. Only one person in 535 gave sex as a reason for using cocaine. In fact, experts said that coke use could have an adverse affect on sexual arousal. "Women become non-orgasmic and men impotent," said Robert Millman of the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in a New York Times interview. "A little bit of cocaine increases the libido in most men and women, but extended use decreases sensation and ability to perform." A first-year law student who snorted cocaine on and off for four years said most users had emo tional and psychological problems. "Cocaine became popular with the whole me' generation. We don't know where we're going, so we're going to have a good, time ' ' .u:m;mu:.w u , ,., . . ,i ... "J Ji" : f j U : . t " -Wi.w.-j,,,,..., ,ll....V.tt,,...,-l-.Vn.,.i Cocaine, usually snorted through on the way," he said. A National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that every day 5,000 people people smoke, snort or inject cocaine for the first time. A senior political science major who tried the drug for the first time two weeks ago said he tried it because it was popular as well as a status symbol. He reported the feeling he got from cocaine as "intense. Every thing became more intense. Colors got brighter, sounds got louder. "I heard it was an incredible high, so 1 took some to try the feeling and because it was trendy, fashionable, chic." Some surveyed cited status sym bol and prestige as their reason for using coke. Others said they used it because of peer pressure and stress. The most common reason cited by cocaine users in the survey for taking the drug was the good feeling they got. Cocaine use appears to be linked to use of other drugs. More than one-third of those who reported cocaine use also reported the use of LSD. About half admit use of amphetamines. Two-fifths say they have used barbiturates. All cocaine users said they had used alcohol or marijuana. Orange County lies in the path of major shipments of the drug from Colombia. Since a federal crackdown of drug traffic into Florida, North Carolina has become more popular as a drop site for planes or boats carrying the contraband. North Carolina's spar sely populated coastal plain makes for easy access to drug carriers. Poll findings indicate that non users are more likely than users to see law enforcement in Chapel Hill and Orange County as being inadequate. However, 28 percent of users and 60 percent of non-users would support a tax increase for more police to enforce drug laws. Chapel Hill Police Chief Her man Stone said putting more money into drug enforcement could make a great impact on drug traffic in the county. Stone said cooperation was necessary between Chapel Hill police and other operations in the area, cooperation the nose, causes a euphoric feeling, numbness in the nose and that is already taking place. Sheriffs departments in Orange and Durham counties, Chapel Hill and Durham police, and State Bureau of Investigation agents work together in sting operations. From a room high atop Gran ville Towers, detectives engaged in a simple two-month sting opera tion that netted more than $12,000 in cocaine. Detective Don Tripp said Ted Bartlette was one of Orange Coun ty's biggest cocaine suppliers and was apprehended as police watched from the high Granville view onto Bartlette 's home at Colony Court. "It was one of the easiest cases we've had," Tripp said. Tripp said the five-step proce dure was as follows: An undercover officer bought cocaine from a street-level pusher, then found that Bartlette was his supplier. Next, the undercover officer asked for more cocaine than the street-level pusher had on hand, forcing him to go to his source. Step three was to watch from Granville as the pusher entered and left Bartlette's home. Next, police moved in with a search warrant. They charged Bartlette with pos session, intent to sell and deliver cocaine, trafficking cocaine, and possession and manufacture of marijuana. The final step was to retrieve the sting money and the rest of the cocaine, as well as arresting the pusher, too. Maj. Don Truelove of the Orange County Sheriffs Depart ment said deputies were after dealers, not smalltime users. He added the problem was intensified by the enormous amounts of money that could be made in cocaine dealings. Of the county's non-users, 70 percent said laws against cocaine use should be stricter. But of cocaine users, 30 percent said tougher laws would help the problem. Stone said existing laws were tough enough but that there were problems in the court system. "We need to get away from plea bargains that let them back out and reach the lives they've been reach ing," Stone said. "In other words, when you're dealing and you get caught and we've got a good case, we must insist on the maximum punishment." But Campbell, the seller now behind bars, said increasing impri sonment was not the answer. "It's got to be stopped at the top before you can stop it," he said. "As long as you keep filling the prisons up with people off the street, they are going to just keep getting somebody else to sell it." Analysis of the 17 N.C. cocaine related deaths showed a concentra tion of victims along the industrial crescent from Raleigh to Greens boro to Charlotte. That stretch includes many of the state's major universities N.C. State, UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, UNC Greensboro, Wake Forest and UNC-Charlotte as well as most of the state's population. Cocaine victims ranged from a 48-year-old carpenter to a 19-year-old waitress. Dedication country every citizen is 'just a politician,' " Martin said. "Demo cracy signifies more than the fact that we each have a vote. Demo cracy demands active participation by its citizens in the public events affecting us. Martin said libraries served as a tribute to the past and faith in the future, and they represented "man's quest to know his own soul and to probe the mysteries of things God gave us to experience and to solve." Referring to the library as "an ail-American library," he praised the UNC library as a cornerstone to the continued suc cessful evolution of Research Triangle Park as a leading techno logical and research center in the nation. The ceremony kicked off with about 40 members of the Tar Heel Marching Band playing "The Old North State" and the national anthem, followed by the presenta tion of an endowment to the library by J. Douglas Eyre, chairman of the Friends of the Library and a UNC geography professor. The gift, a gold-covered book, will be used to inscribe names of people DTHJonathan Serenius throat, and increased heart rate. The median age was 27. All but two were white, one being black and one being a Lumbee Indian. Seven were women. They had widely varying backgrounds: wai tress, power-plant technician, home builder, housewife, con artist. Some had been drug users since junior high. Others picked up the habit as adults. At least two may have found the drug on the job. Many of the victims were trying to quit cocaine. Some had been on the drug less than a year. Others had vowed that they were using cocaine for the last time an ironic tragedy that came true. The following students contrib uted to the reporting in this story: Richard Boyce, Winred Cross, Lila Moore, Keith Pritchard, Cindi Ross, James Tomlin, David Wells and Bob McCarson. from page 1 who have supported the library in some way. Attending the ceremony were Davis, UNC President William Friday; Chancellor Christopher C. Fordham III; BOT Chairman George Ragsdale; Provost Sam Williamson; Sen. Kenneth Royal, D-Durham; and University librar ian James Govan. Leslie Boney of Wilmington, representing the architects of the new library, presented the cere monial key to Ragsdale. Fordham gave a brief history of the library and cited its significance to the University, followed by recognition of William Hipp, the sculptor of the Walter Royal Davis bust, which will stand in the lobby of the library. The band concluded cerem onies by playing "Hark the Sound." Davis Library, completed in February 1984, was originally scheduled to be dedicated April 26 by Vice President George Bush, but Bush's visit was canceled because of administrative duties in Washing ton, D.C. Protest groups, which originally planned to protest the selection of Bush to dedicate the building, did not appear for Mar tin's dedication.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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April 29, 1985, edition 1
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