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The scent of marijuana leaking through the cracks of doors and wafting into the hallways of residence halls has led to many students being busted for drug possession and a significant increase in the number of drug cases that reach Judicial Affairs.
During the 2007 to 2008 school year, there were 122 cases of drug possession the department dealt with, nearly tripling the number of cases from 2005 to 2006.
"If there is a smell and a preponderance of evidence, students will be caught," Pat Frawley, director of Judicial Affairs, said. "We aren't going to tolerate it in the housing facilities on campus or off campus, either."
Frawley said these cases have continued to increase this fall. The final number of cases this semester will not be tallied until the end of the academic year.
First-time offenders receive a $150 fine, University probation for a year, and parents or legal guardians are notified. The student is then sent to the Counseling Center for an assessment and assigned to an educational or treatment program.
A student may be removed from University housing for a second offense, and suspension and expulsion are potential penalties for additional offenses, Frawley said.
There has been a steady increase in the number of cases that TUPD deals with each semester during the same period of time as the dramatic spike Judicial Affairs has witnessed. During the 2005 to 2006 academic year, TUPD dealt with 24 total cases involving controlled dangerous substances or suspicious odor investigations. The total rose to 33 cases in 2006 to 2007 and 49 in 2007 to 2008. The department has dealt with 32 cases so far this semester alone.
"The efforts made by the community from 2005 to 2006 are different from what we are doing now. It's always evolving," TUPD Captain Joe Herring said. "These types of self-generated cases are based on observations by officers and concerned citizens so we can control our own destiny. Instead of being reactive in cases where there is a victim such as a robbery, we are being proactive."
TUPD added a K-9 unit this fall semester. Trained by Baltimore County Police, Fillmore and his handler, corporal Andrew Cline, have been patrolling campus and assisting on drug possession investigations. Herring said that the preliminary efforts by the K-9 unit have been successful even though Fillmore completed training just midway through the semester. He said beyond discoveries of controlled dangerous substance, Fillmore is meant to also be a deterrent for potential users or distributors who see him patrolling campus.
On Nov. 14 in Tower C, Cline and Fillmore uncovered a black briefcase containing a bag of alleged marijuana along with a few items with green leafy residue, according to a police report. The investigation stemmed from a previous CDS violation. After receiving permission to search the room, Fillmore traced a scent underneath one of the residents' beds to find a black safe. One of the students claimed responsibility for the items and was referred to Judicial Affairs.
University Residence Government president Alex Newman is an RA in William Paca House and sits on the Substance Education and Concerns Committee. He said that RAs are getting better at applying the rules and that the number of cases reaching Judicial Affairs is "not a bad thing, it's a good thing."
"As an RA, we have to do rounds at certain times and that's when people usually smell marijuana if they ever do. If I smell it in the hallway, I just call TUPD," he said. "We are just to react. We operate on a level of trust. We don't investigate residents, because we aren't the police. But marijuana is illegal and if we smell it, we are going to react."
A smell such as the one that Newman said RAs are sensitive to during the rounds resulted in a major bust at the beginning of the semester in the West Village. During a routine floor check, according to a police report, the RA found a resident had placed a bath towel at the foot of the door and was smoking what appeared to be a cigarette out the window. The RA said there was a "funny odor coming from the location and suspected that the occupant was smoking marijuana," according to the report.
TUPD responded to the call and confronted the resident, who had since lit a scented candle so that the room smelled of perfume. The resident confessed to the officer that he had smoked marijuana in the past and even had a bong that he had brought from home, but that he no longer used the drug. After providing the officer the right to search the room, he volunteered a small bag of marijuana from his right shoe. Finally, the officer searched the room and found a safe under the bed that contained a scale with green leafy residue on it, 66 bags with marijuana leaves printed on them, and various smoking paraphernalia. There was also $999 in cash, according to the report.
Jerry Dieringer, director of Housing and Residence Life, said there has been a small increase in the number of distribution cases he has seen so far this semester. His greatest concern is that the drug culture puts the entire community at risk, not just the user.
"We hear all the time from roommates or from suitemates that say their roommate is smoking marijuana, or there are instances where someone will bring other people into their room for some kind of transaction," he said. "It impacts the community when you bring that kind of criminal element onto campus and into the residence halls."
More than a third of students report having used marijuana the year before coming to Towson, according to the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey in 2006. Almost 23 percent said they had used marijuana within 30 days of completing the survey.
Marijuana was by far the most prevalent controlled substance used, according to the report. Just over 4 percent said they had used amphetamines and less than 3 percent said they had used sedatives.
Herring said that "marijuana is the drug of choice that we see most frequently," at Towson.
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