If ten percent of the students are drug abusers, then everyone at Admissions needs to be fired. Don't they get tens of thousands of applications every year? Did they really pick the cream of the crop? I think not. (They need more Asian math majors and fewer drug addicts!)

Anonymous wrote:Middeltown is kind of depressing. Weslyan is an amazing school

I don't think it's that bad. Or wasn't when I lived in CT. CT is also the size of a postage stamp--you're about 20 minutes from Essex, which is beautiful and the way people imagine CT. It's smack in the middle of the state, so not far from anywhere, really.

Anonymous wrote:Do people automatically become hypocrites when they have children? How many of you would have been thrown out of college for underage drinking, smoking pot, etc. if there was a zero tolerance policy? I would have been expelled the first week. We managed to grow up and become productive members of society, and our kids will too.

+1. I have many friends who in college were serious Deadheads (and everything that went along with it) and are now very successful and no longer do the "things that went along with it" though still Deadheads musically).

Unless this forum is full of Mormons, I highly doubt the majority of posters were the beacons of virtue they profess to have been.

Middeltown is kind of depressing. Weslyan is an amazing school

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to wesleyan in the 90s.

I had asthma and was forced to breathe in secondhand pot smoke 24-7 (living on campus is required). I complained to Res Life, Public Safety, the infirmary where I wound up spending some nights due to the pot smoke - and no one cared. The administration blatantly allowed people to smoke pot in the dorms. They sided with the pot smokers, not me.

Doesn't surprise me, Wesleyan has been kind of hippie/crunchy since at least the 70s, so you get administrators and alumni who were druggies back in the day, and who don't want to interfere with the next generation of users.

Not unique to Wesleyan but the liberal politics and open drug use there is what tends to distinguish it from Amherst and Williams. You don't go there for a cuter town or better academics.

True, and Middletown, CT has that crystal meth kind of town vibe.

What does Middletown CT having a crystal meth kind of vibe even mean? Can you elaborate? This is a school my son has had on his list for next year and this information if credible is very important to me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have no idea what you're talking about. A couple hundred kids have been caught, disciplined, and referred for counseling/treatment. Some have been suspended and expelled. The school is open about their issues rather than trying to cover them up (i.e. Vanderbilt, FSU, etc).

That's c. 10% of the student body. That seems shocking to me that that many kids were abusing drugs to the point they required treatment.

To that point here is an interesting article put out recently....staggering numbers for such a small school.Maybe these numbers are normal? Though I don't think so....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/28/wesleyan-drug-use_n_6775200.html?utm_hp_ref=college

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to wesleyan in the 90s.

I had asthma and was forced to breathe in secondhand pot smoke 24-7 (living on campus is required). I complained to Res Life, Public Safety, the infirmary where I wound up spending some nights due to the pot smoke - and no one cared. The administration blatantly allowed people to smoke pot in the dorms. They sided with the pot smokers, not me.

Doesn't surprise me, Wesleyan has been kind of hippie/crunchy since at least the 70s, so you get administrators and alumni who were druggies back in the day, and who don't want to interfere with the next generation of users.

Not unique to Wesleyan but the liberal politics and open drug use there is what tends to distinguish it from Amherst and Williams. You don't go there for a cuter town or better academics.

True, and Middletown, CT has that crystal meth kind of town vibe.

I did not do pot in college. Started drinking wine occasionally in my late 20s. I now drink wine every weekend. Don't my kids doing pot or drinking. Sorry it is legal. Young adults have enough problems.

I doubt many of us sold illegal drugs, which is what will land these kids in jail.

Do people automatically become hypocrites when they have children? How many of you would have been thrown out of college for underage drinking, smoking pot, etc. if there was a zero tolerance policy? I would have been expelled the first week. We managed to grow up and become productive members of society, and our kids will too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish college kids realized that life is actually better without drugs and alcohol. I hope these students are ok.

I agree but when you have a forum like this with mothers and father smoking pot, drinking like fish, taking every pharmaceutical known to man and calling anyone that doesn't partake in these activities prudes, grandma/grandpa, uncool and uptight, you realize it's a lot cause.

This has really surprised me, too. I think inclusiveness and tolerance is generally the path of sensible moderation and the only way forward for society, but intoxication is unhealthy and makes people do unwise things. Stupid kids might get involved with such things, but parents have no business diminishing their acuity and certainly should not be exposing their children (or anyone else) to second-hand highs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the students arrests is from Bethesda.

Yeah, he had such a bright future,
as a physician. Lovely.

Can he still be a doctor?

Anonymous wrote:I wish college kids realized that life is actually better without drugs and alcohol. I hope these students are ok.

I agree but when you have a forum like this with mothers and father smoking pot, drinking like fish, taking every pharmaceutical known to man and calling anyone that doesn't partake in these activities prudes, grandma/grandpa, uncool and uptight, you realize it's a lot cause.

Not to mention they may not be guilty. There are a lot of rumors going around that the school was so quick to find someone accountable that they rounded up students who are not guilty. Lets see what happens. Clearly the school and authorities are taking this seriously, as they should, so we don't have to play judge and jury.

Two of the students already admitted their guilt on possession with intent to sell, to the police. Those were recorded in the affidavits. You can actually download those, and the court dockets, from the Middletown Police / State of Connecticut. All four students were found in possession of multiple drugs (most of which were not included in the "bad batch" mixture). So on simple possession of illicit substances (not dealing) it will be hard for any of them to beat the charges. It's a fact that they had that stuff in their dorm rooms.

Then on the more serious charges about the "Molly" mass-overdose:
The questions of who made the drugs, who mixed the drugs, who directly sold the drugs to the victims (as opposed to merely conspiring to sell drugs, etc.) - all those are still unknown. That will be the crux of the prosecution and the defense.

Plus if you are going to rant about hospitalization for drugs you can't ignore that there are far more hospitalizations and deaths associated with alcohol.

Have you ever worked in the emergency department of a university hospital? I have.

You are correct to point out this fact. Many students are harmed or die from alcohol poisoning, because it is the most-popular recreational drug in universities. But alcohol was not relevant in this particular case, as demonstrated by the toxicology reports from Hartford Hospital.

My perspective on drug overdoses is somewhat different, since I have seen many people dead or dying, in person, in the university hospital wards. In the morgue, I also participated in the autopsies of two, twenty-something-year-old, young people, who died of drug overdoses. One death was accidental, and the other was intentional.

Way off base to call these students sociopaths. You don't seem to know what that word means.

I know what the word means, and I don't retract the statement. I would tell the children's parents the same thing to their faces: "this is a sociopathic activity, and it is a perverse idea that your son/daughter could ever hold a medical license".

My suggestion would be to read the court documents mentioned above (on the factual aspects), or possibly a dictionary of the English language (on the semantic aspect).

Innocent until proven guilty, fair enough.

Anonymous wrote:You have no idea what you're talking about. A couple hundred kids have been caught, disciplined, and referred for counseling/treatment. Some have been suspended and expelled. The school is open about their issues rather than trying to cover them up (i.e. Vanderbilt, FSU, etc).

That's c. 10% of the student body. That seems shocking to me that that many kids were abusing drugs to the point they required treatment.