“Bunk Kits” and the Next “Bad Batch”: How to Make Wesleyan Safer

, by Julian Compagni PortisPatrick Glass, Class of 2015

As demonstrated by the events of the past few days, unsafe recreational drugs occasionally make their way into the hands of Wesleyan students. The primary responses of the Wesleyan administration and law enforcement officials have been to condemn drug use, assist the affected students, and punish those responsible. These responses suggest that dangerous drugs can simply be eliminated from the Wesleyan campus through punitive actions. Unfortunately, past experience strongly indicates that this is not the case. Moving forward, the university can help prevent similar situations by ensuring that when drug use does happen, it happens in a safer environment. One way to accomplish this would be to give Wesleyan students access to disposable drug-testing kits that can identify the true composition of drugs as well as possible adulterants.

These types of drug kits are already freely available at some music festivals and nightclubs where they have proven effective in preventing overdoses and other drug-related accidents. This past weekend’s hospitalizations were likely the result of a lack of information. The drug users did not have any verified information about the drugs they were taking. In other words, they had no choice but to trust the dealer concerning the safety of the drugs. As a result, they likely consumed mislabeled or contaminated drugs. If students had access to an easy way to verify the contents of the drugs they were taking, the risks associated with campus drug use could be greatly diminished. Drug-testing kits are an inexpensive and effective solution to this serious problem. Admittedly, test kits are not a perfect solution to drug use problems, nor are they a substitute for common sense. However, they can be an important part of the larger effort to address drug use on college campuses.

In the long term, only one thing is certain: college students will continue to behave like college students. The Middletown Police Department and the Wesleyan administration acted swiftly and decisively to minimize the risk to students from this “bad batch” of MDMA. However, no forward-looking strategy has been put in place to prevent the dangers of the inevitable next “bad batch.” Instead of merely condemning student drug use through stern emails, the administration should take proactive measures to ensure the continued safety of the student body.

Critics may frame giving test kits to students as a tacit endorsement of drug use on the part of the administration. Arguments against distributing so-called “bunk kits” to students closely mirror the claims made by opponents of distributing contraceptives on college campuses in past decades. In the same way that abstinence is ineffective in preventing teen pregnancies, simply forbidding drug use is a deeply flawed strategy for dealing with narcotics in a college environment. By giving students the resources they need to make informed decisions about synthetic drugs, the administration will be truly living up to President Roth’s claim that they would “do everything [they] can to make our community as safe as possible.”

Since illicit substances like MDMA have become extremely easy to purchase on the Deep Web, future Wesleyan students will have access to an even greater array of synthetic drugs from increasingly dubious sources. Wesleyan has an opportunity to set a new paradigm for responding to emergent Information Age drug culture. Rather than naively wishing away substance abuse at Wesleyan, the administration has the chance to set a positive precedent for ensuring safer drug use on college campuses. Only by proactively and responsibly addressing the problem can Wesleyan ensure the future well-being of its students.

Portis and Glass are members of the Class of 2015.

  • JS ’17
  • anonymous ’15

    Here are some concerns that the Wes Admin needs to address:
    1. According to the arrest affidavits, it sounds like the Wesleyan admin knew Rama sold the drugs that made people (including her ex, if I understand correctly) sick last semester, yet the admin didn’t do anything—perhaps because they didn’t want bad press on top of all the press from Betagate. This seems to directly contradict Whaley’s statement that “At Wesleyan, we don’t sweep these problems under the rug.”

    2. Roth says this about administration policies “I think the policies we have have been pretty effective over the long haul in trying to point students toward making responsible choices, not overly policing them, while at the same time putting up pretty clear guardrails.” I mean, if kids almost died last weekend—did die, really, given that ze needed cpr and an AED—how can you say that Wesleyan drug policies “have been pretty effective”? It seems to me that Roth’s response to these events shouldn’t be “Let’s keep doing what we’ve been doing, because it works.” “Just say no” didn’t work before, yet Roth and the admin are too cowardly to admit it and make meaningful changes, like providing test kids, that could save lives.

    3. The affidavit for Eric Lonergan stated that Psafe told MPD he was dealing drugs two days before any of this happened. Why did the MPD/Wesleyan wait until more serious issues developed to act? They had prior information that he was dealing hard drugs two days before all of this went down, yet they didn’t pursue it vigorously at all. Also, it seems unjust that Lonergan got associated with the other dealers in the media’s eye, since there was no hard evidence that he was currently dealing drugs. As far as I can tell, he just helped other drug users make their drugs/experiences as safe as possible. Also, he only had schedule 4 drugs in his possession without a prescription—which is way more benign that all of the hard evidence against the other dealers.

    • imnovictim

      Wow! Powerful stuff here. It’s all about “what did they know and when did they know it” and “why did they fail to act”. Certainly points towards breach of contract and negligence on the schools behalf. Those injured appear to have a case against the school, the Eclectic, and the individuals who dealt the drugs (or their parents if they are minors). Forget harm reduction, drug kits and solving this internally. The only way to end this behavior and clean up this mess at Wesleyan is to sue.

    • louisiv@wesleyan.edu

      i sure hope the parents of victims dont file. thats the last thing admin needs now.

  • Harm Reduction
  • Jack

    Drug user should bear the risk themselves. Wesleyan students are adults and supposed to be smart enough to keep themselves out of danger. It is pathetic and outraging if the opinion of this article is endorsed by the majority of the student body.

    • Wesalum

      What a disgusting lack of humanity and compassion shown by this comment.

    • SWAJ

      I wholeheartedly agree that drug users should indeed bear the responsibility of safe drug use themselves. And I don’t think anything in this article suggests otherwise. It would still be the responsibility of the drug user to get such a kit (even if it is made available by the school) and test her own drugs. If the school were to make such kits available it would simply be an acknowledgement that “drug use does happen and that important steps can be taken to make sure it happens responsibly.”According to your reasoning the school shouldn’t provide condoms either. Wesleyan does many things to insure that its students can be safe, these provisions do not ensure or mandate safe behavior, but rather they create an environment where proactive and responsible decision making is possible.

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