Saturday evening, Middletown police officers arrived at the Nics to investigate the existence of drugs after they were called to the scene by Public Safety. According to a piece by NBC Connecticut, the two students in question “denied having drugs or drug-related materials in the room, but when public safety said they would call police, the students handed over various items, including marijuana, a bong with marijuana residue, rolling papers and other drug-related material, police said.”
The entire incident began to unfold after Public Safety was called to the Nics sparked by two students that were found to be stealing shampoo from another resident of the dorm. Their room reportedly was a place of constant activity, with people coming in and out, raising suspicion amongst other students.
The two students were then arrested and brought to Middletown Police headquarters to be booked—the two are football players here at Wesleyan, and they are due in court February 14th. The two students are charged with possession with the intent to sell, as well as the possession of less than four ounces of a controlled substance. After they were arrested, the two were released on $5,000 bonds.
According to residents of the Nics, the two students have been allowed to return to their dorm rooms, arousing questions surrounding Wesleyan’s policy on such an issue. Students have also been raising questions of safety in such incidents.
Sound off in the comments: Should students that have been arrested be allowed back on campus, and back in their dorms?
Read more details of this incident over on NBC Connecticut.
Edit: Some people in the comments have asked more background on the shampoo. Supposedly, at least one of the students were suspected of using shampoo that belonged to other students in that dorm, which sparked a residential advisor being involved, leading then to the calling of Public Safety. Public Safety was not called over the shampoo per se, but more so due to a following complaint over the supposed dealing of drugs.
Additionally, Middletown Press adds with more specificity:
Public Safety discovered two grinders with marijuana residue, a bong with hoses and residue, bags of plastic bags intended for packaging narcotics for sale, various containers with marijuana odor, packages of rolling paper, a miscellaneous piece of narcotic equipment and 2.2 ounces of marijuana in the room, police said.
we all gotta recognize that the sole reason we can talk about “if students arrested for crimes “should” be allowed back on campus,” in this case, is because BOTH of these students were immediately ABLE (it would seem) to post $5,000 bonds each and choose to return. (this usually means their bail was set at $50,000, and that’s 5G they wont ever see again). for a staggering number of our neighbors, such a “choice” does not exist at all; the numbers languishing in jail until sentencing due to lacking funds/support/social capital is reprehensible, implicating systemic racism and poverty and beyond.
we weskids are the anti-targets of the drug war, those in low-income urban neighborhoods of color living/surviving near social service providers and schools being, of course, the primary. such as middletown – and fuck all the mtown haters on here, wesleyan’s policies and the -prisonindustrialcomplex- overall create the effed up dynamic b/w wes and the rest. that shit is so ignorant.
when a useless drug arrest comes to campus and threatens the live(lihood)s of our community, we should be outraged. when a student in a hallway near dealer-dudes feels they must rely on silly psafe – proven here to be a police proxy – to safely manage some epic shampoo dispute, we should be outraged. when we realize that many on here calling for changes in drug policy still don’t know how to handle safe communication with our hallmates/neighbors/lovers/friends, we should be outraged. when we recognize that there could be more chatter abt these students remaining on campus than there is abt the students being forced/coerced off campus by being poor at wes, we should be outraged.
and when we recognize, or remember, that this shit happens on the regular for so many oppressed folks in the u.s. within america – and it is an intentionally created network of oppressive institutions that exists to/thrives by suppress(ing) the very rage/passion we feel – we should be unable to contain our outrage any longer. and so that’s my only question, how do we overcome such a system whose strongest skill is repressing the ability and desire to resist?
idk, but stop talking abt the shampoo and giant joint and figure this shit out. ssdp is a good place to start but that crew (nationally speaking) is thoroughly and unquestioningly colonized by white supremacy and they need to do some serious anti-racist internal work if they want to encompass the broad issues that arise when talking drugs. but again, its a good place to start.
Giant Joint 2016
We absolutely should let people back on campus when they are arrested. I’m sorry to be that guy but ever heard of innocent until proven guilty? This is America people
Pretty sure they were caught with the stuff…
I’m all for consistency. Wes kids shd be treated the way other people in connecticut are when they’re found with drugs. (If rich white kids get arrested more for possession then legalization will happen sooner.)
#freehamhanes
This all seems very strange. Are we a community or a surveillance state? Was it necessary for the police to be involved in a marijuana/shampoo dispute? Or is there information missing that would make all of this make a little more sense?
FREE MY BOYS 420 ALL DAY ERRDAY D I C K S Q U A D #freenelsonmadela
You oozma kappas are all the same.
we want you to join us. seriously.
Concerned about the Drug War coming home to Wesleyan? Want to know your rights, educate others about policies & agitate for change?
Join Students for Sensible Drug Policy Sundays at 3pm on the USDAN black couches, and stay safe everyone.
While I agree that if people are going to be smoking, we have to deal with people selling, it sounds like these guys were NOT being very considerate of their fellow residents. If the dealing was causing disruptions or making other Nics residents feel uncomfortable, there is a problem.
That being said, were dealing to be above-board, there could be a better grievance problem that would allow people to feel comfortable without having to call psafe/the cops.
Dang. Shampoo’s definitely tight, but doesn’t seem worth getting arrested over, you know?
you have literally used the word tight in every single one of your comments.
Snail still lives. Await his return and pray for eternal salvation.
End the war on drugs…if ur okay with the people smoking weed you gotta be okay with it being sold… But – these kids are white they will be okay in the long run.
Can we have some follow-up on the shampoo aspect of this story plz?
Will add more to the post.
Thank you!
Hijacking the top comment to say that I’m sure now that these guys got arrested, it will be utterly impossible to find weed on Wesleyan.
And if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
It’s simple economics. There’s now a niche to be filled. There’s buyers, so soon a seller or two will step up. These arrests do NOTHING to stop drug use on campus. all it does is piss away tax money and ruin lives.
Obama used cannabis AND cocaine and never got caught, yet he turned out ok enough to be President! How do we know the cops didn’t just ruin two people chances at a future presidency?!?!?
update: shampoo was stolen to make a sploof
Seems harsh given the crime, but as for the question at the end of this article – should arrested students be allowed back into their dorms, it really depends on the level of the crime, doesn’t it? We can all agree that the response should be different if the student was arrested for selling pot vs sexual assault, right?
The main question is this: Do you support Wesleyan students using marijuana on campus, either in a recreational or medical manner?
If you support the USE of an illicit substance, you de facto have to support the DISTRIBUTION and SALE of the illicit substance (because the government isn’t doing it). Thus, there has to be distributors on campus. Would you rather these distributors be sketchy Middletown people or Wesleyan students? Obviously, students.
I think this situation is ridiculous, the students were providing a supply to a much-needed and many times condoned demand.
Word, I forgot about all those “sketchy Middletown people” that turn weed deals into shoot outs these days
I can’t tell if you’re joking, but to clarify: the last gun-related, violent crime to happen on Wesleyan was when a Middletown resident broke into a freshman dorm and robbed a Wesleyan student at gun point in a marijuana-related incident.
So yes, I would absolutely prefer that Wesleyan students be able to purchase a harmless, legally decriminalized substance from fellow students instead of Middletown residents.
This one time, a friend was the victim of a drug-related robbery on campus. The perpetrators were other Wesleyan students.
This one time, a student was shot and killed at Wesleyan. No drugs or Middletown residents involved.
This one time, a Middletown resident showed up to hang out on the porch of a Wesleyan house during a party. At the end of the night, it was the incredibly drunk Wesleyan student trying to pressure the Middletown resident into binge-drinking for whom I felt the utmost embarrassment.
For your concerns about Middletown residents to hold weight, you would have to consider the total number of drug-deals that occur on campus, differentiating between those involving only students and those involving any non-Wesleyan participants (the frequency of which might surprise you). Then look at percentages, relative to the totals, in which the drug deals devolve into violent crime.
Robbing someone at gunpoint isn’t about the weed. It’s about the money that weed is worth. If cannabis wasn’t illegal, those types of robberies wouldn’t happen because the cannabis either wouldn’t be worth it or the thief could simply grow their own instead..
I just don’t understand why the police were called. A freshman was caught with the intent to sell pot in Clark last semester and the police were not involved.
Shampoo, bro.
to all the commenters – i’m against the current drug policies as much as you are. however dealing drugs when you are in a shared community space is putting the people you live with at harm. two years ago, in this very dorm, someone else was dealing drugs and a middletown resident showed up at his room with a gun and he was duct taped to a chair. the situation could have been much further escalated.
when you live in a residence hall, you cannot shirk your responsibility to your roommates or floormates and put them in the possibility of danger.
you’re so wack i could cry lol
So you’d rather Wesleyan students have to go off-campus to buy drugs from Middletown residents?
Your argument that Wesleyan shouldn’t have drug dealers because they can attract violent crime from non-Wesleyan people is absurd when you think about the alternative. Plus, it is logically the same as the argument that women shouldn’t be allowed to wear skimpy clothing because it attracts rapists. Full of holes.
Those spoiled rich Wesleyan kids get MUCH better weed than the garbage you find downtown…
P safe doesn’t have a female student to film, or something?
Students who are found guilty of a drug charge lose their federal financial aid eligibility.
Is it the drugs or the drug policies which really ruin lives?
I had to drop out of college (where I was an honors student) and quit my job because Middletown courts said i had to go to jail for a simple possession charge that was TWO YEARS OLD by the time they sentenced me.
No idea why they’d rather see me in jail than getting an education and paying taxes. Now I can’t afford school and I can’t get aid.
Thanks for ruining my future to show me how dangerous drugs are, Uncle Sam!
End the drug war. Waste of resources, hopeless struggle, pointless policy.