(Editor’s Note:This is the first of a three-part series exploring the prevalence of marijuana cultivation, sale and use in Carbondale).

The number of drug arrests made by SIUC Police has been skyrocketing over the past four years. And in 1996, police exploded what may be the first of many grand finales when they made 111 such arrests more than any other Illinois college police department.

This telling statistic seems to reflect a trend, not a fluke. The number of drug arrests by SIUC Police increased incrementally by more than 1,000 percent, from 10 arrests in 1993 to 111 arrests in 1996. And with 86 arrests through June 30, this year’s number threatens to exceed the 1996 mark.

The increased drug arrests are not limited geographically to the campus of SIUC. From 1993 to 1996, the number of Carbondale Police drug arrests jumped from 104 to 212 respectively, with 111 through June 30.

About 90 percent of both departments’ drug arrests are for the sale, production or possession of cannabis and/or possession of drug paraphernalia generally utilized in the use of marijuana. The remaining 10 percent includes cases of delivery, production and/or possession of a controlled a substance (any non-cannabis drug such as LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, nitrous oxide, cocaine, etc.).

SIUC and Carbondale police are not alone in their blossoming drug arrest numbers, but they are seeing a much more drastic increase than are other areas of the nation. A Chronicle of Higher Education report released in March states that the number of drug arrests on college campuses across the nation has risen by 34 percent in recent years, and that most of the offenders are charged with the possession of marijuana.

Even more locally, a May 12 story in the Chicago Sun-Times stated that Illinois state and private universities with enrollments of more that 5,000 saw a total of 169 drug arrests in 1994 and 318 in 1995, in reference to a Chronicle of Higher Education report. The story also stated that a Sun-Times survey found that in 1996 the number rose to 407. And of these arrests, the SIUC Police Department made 111 more than any other Illinois college department.

Why the sizable increase in marijuana-related arrests?

Sam Jordan, director of the SIUC Department of Public Safety, said the increase in drug arrests made by the SIUC Police Department cannot be definitely linked to an increase in the use, possession or sale of marijuana, but can be logically connected with changes in University Police policy.

I don’t know that there are any more incidents of illegal drug use than there were five or 10 years ago, he said. All I can say is that we’ve tried to look at it as a potential problem and try to educate and train.

Jordan said there has been an effort by the Department of Public Safety to work with University Housing and other units on campus to identify the use of illicit drugs.

When you make people, officers, housing staff, (University)-affiliated people staff and faculty aware, they’re going to report things, he said.

Carbondale Police Chief Don Strom said that although he cannot be sure, he would not rule out increased marijuana use as one reason for his department’s increase in drug arrests.

Strom said this increase in use among youth could, in part, reflect a tolerant attitude some people may have for marijuana that they do not have for other drugs.

I think that if you walked up to a parent and said, We caught your child drinking, or we caught your child smoking marijuana,’ they would probably say, Oh, tell me that he was drinking,’ he said. Then if we went up to that same parent and said, We caught your child smoking marijuana, or we caught your child sniffing cocaine,’ they would probably say, Please tell me he was smoking marijuana.’

Jackson County State’s Attorney Mike Wepsiec said he, too, has noticed the increase in marijuana-related arrests as the cases have been passed to him for prosecution. Changes in police policy aside, Wepsiec said the increased numbers are in part the result of recent legislation.

The Illinois paraphernalia law was passed in 1983 and has been amended several times since. A 1994 amendment to the law created the offense of possession of drug paraphernalia.

This offense is defined as possessing items with the intent to use them in the consumption of an illicit drug. The presence of intent initially is presumed by the arresting officer, and then is ultimately accepted or rejected in a court of law.

While the number of arrests are increasing, so are the number of prosecutions. Wepsiec said almost 100 percent of the drug arrests made in Jackson County are prosecuted.

Do people use marijuana? Absolutely. Is it illegal? Absolutely. Are the people using it being prosecuted? Those who get caught are, he said. But every once in awhile we will come across a case where there is a bad search.

If, for some reason, the officer overstepped his authority and violated the person’s Fourth Amendment [unreasonable search and seizure] rights, we will drop a case. But that is very seldom.

Tom McNamara is an officer of the Southern Illinois Enforcement Group a collective of financial resources and police officers contributed by towns in Williamson, Jackson and Union counties. The group fights illegal drug use, sales and production in Southern Illinois.

McNamara said he does not believe there has been a recent increase in the amount of marijuana being used, grown and/or sold in Carbondale.

Even though a lot of people would disagree, I don’t think that drug use is any different (in Carbondale) than it has been in years past, he said. It’s no different than the last 30 years.

McNamara said that although the enforcement group’s number of drug arrests has risen in-step with other local enforcement agencies, the increase is not coming from Carbondale.

Smaller towns are where many of the drug dealers are moving to because they don’t get the attention that they would get in a city like Carbondale, he said. If you have a town with two police officers on duty, the probability of you getting stopped, or getting jumped up or something, is less. And we’ve had guys (drug dealers) that realize that.

Who is involved in the marijuana market?

Wepsiec said the area in which the arrests are made usually tell something about the arrestees.

The arrests by SIUC Police generally are 100 percent students, he said, and those by Carbondale Police are roughly 60 percent students. In terms of Jackson County arrests, Wepsiec said 10 to 15 percent of arrestees are students, and almost 100 percent of Murphysboro arrestees are non-students.

Strom said Carbondale is a ripe target for a marijuana problem because of the age group that makes up a large portion of its population.

Drugs are a market-oriented kind of thing, he said. And if we could agree that a high percentage of users are young people in their late teens to early 20s, then it would seem logical that there is going to be a significant market in this area, and there’s going to be some attraction to selling here as opposed to Sun City, Ariz., or some place like that where there’s a large senior citizen population.

McNamara’s arrestee demographics do not support Strom’s age group hypothesis. McNamara said the Southern Illinois Enforcement Group arrests people ranging in age from teen-agers to adults in their 60s.

The older the person is that we arrest, the more it is the person tied into a business venture, McNamara said, and they’re not really tied into the drug culture.

Where is the marijuana coming from?

McNamara said there is a definite connection between the University and the amount of marijuana in town.

In many instances it’s people who bring it along with them when they come to school, he said. You can buy it cheaper in the urban areas than you can here and sell it here for more money.

McNamara added that while Chicago is a source of student-imported marijuana, it is not the only city offering a supply. He would not comment specifically on which other cities are involved.

Although much of the marijuana is coming from distant areas, McNamara said there are local growers. But he added that such growers do not account for a large percentage of the marijuana in the area.

Marijuana requires a great deal of cultivation to make it a good harvest, he said. You have to have someone who knows what they’re doing to bring in a decent crop.

McNamara said there are not a large number of people in Southern Illinois who have that knowledge.

Strom said the source of the drug probably is a combination of local growers and student imports.

Sometimes when people come back from break periods, we see an increase in the amount of drugs that are available, he said. You can certainly tie that back to trips that have been made home or elsewhere during those break periods.

How much marijuana is being confiscated?

Although occasionally large amounts, such as 50 pounds, are confiscated in Carbondale arrests, McNamara said the amount of marijuana involved usually is much smaller. This, he said, provides an idea of the scale of the drug’s distribution in town.

Generally, I would say the distribution is a couple of pounds broken down to a pound, broken down to ounces, broken down to quarter ounces, he said.

Wepsiec said the marijuana possession charges he prosecutes usually involve between 10 and 30 grams a quantity that constitutes a Class A misdemeanor.

I see as little as 1 gram of marijuana in some cases, and I see some as much as 400 to 800 grams almost 2 pounds, he said. And occasionally we will see a couple pounds.

Class A misdemeanors are punishable by a maximum penalty of 264 days imprisonment, a $1,000 fine and 24 months probation. But a spokeswoman in Wepsiec’s office said such penalties are rarely implemented, and the punishment usually is less severe.

While these amounts are not overwhelming, Strom said that many times the monstrous marijuana cases do not fall into local jurisdiction and therefore are not recorded by local law enforcement agencies.

We can be the agency conducting a large portion of the investigation, although it is actually processed through the U.S. Attorney’s Office or the FBI, he said. There have been some fairly significant arrests associated with that.

Is marijuana a noteworthy problem in Carbondale?

While local law enforcement officials are not willing, or are not able, to say definitively whether or not Carbondale is a hot spot for marijuana use and distribution, McNamara said the Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, has an office in the Federal Building on West Cherry Street that operates year-round.

McNamara said the DEA is not present all over the United States, but rather focuses on certain areas.

They emphasize the larger cities where there’re more drugs and large distribution systems, he said.

Although McNamara could not say if marijuana is a sizable problem in Carbondale, he said the DEA has been in Carbondale since the agency originated in 1973.

Shirley Armstead, a DEA spokeswoman, said the DEA does not generally deal with minor marijuana cases, but gets involved when large amounts are being sold, transported and/or grown.

With marijuana it usually takes about 1,000 kilograms (2,205 pounds), or 1,000 plants or more for us to get involved, she said.

The DEA has been involved in 16 marijuana cases in Carbondale since 1993.

McNamara said area law enforcement personnel are not terribly concerned with the marijuana culture in Carbondale at this time. He said that becuase the drug is not associated with violent crime, it is one of their lower priorities.

Right now we’re focusing on the methamphetamines problem, he said. We have a certain number of man-hours and a certain amount of money to work with, and we have to get the biggest bang for our buck.

(In Thursday’s DE, the second installment of this series will delve into the behavior and motivation of a Carbondale marijuana dealer and his perspective on the magnitude of the marijuana culture in town).