Thirty-eight percent of Oberlin students polled have done cocaine, a recent Review survey revealed. These numbers are up from the 14 percent highlighted in a 2006 study by The Journal of Proper Thought, today known as Wilder Voice.

Of those polled who use the drug, 23 percent claimed to have tried it only once just to see what it was like. For those who have used it multiple times — ranging from weekly to yearly — most have done it for “fun,” because they were drunk or because it was “available.”

Those who bought it reported paying $60 to $80 for a gram.

A senior from California who does coke about three times a semester said, “I wanted to feel happy when I was going out and wanted to feel energized despite fatigue. And I was intrigued. I had seen a lot going around and wanted to know what it was about.”

50 percent of users did the drug for the first time at Oberlin. The small college environment of Oberlin clearly influences students’ decisions: many try it out simply because they have friends who are doing it at the time.

An Oberlin student who sold cocaine during the fall 2006 semester to accommodate his own habit of three to five grams a weekend, found profits “more than enough” to do so. He bought cocaine from a dealer in the city of Oberlin who in turn bought even larger quantities from a dealer in Columbus.

The student witnessed firsthand the recent rise in cocaine consumption at Oberlin: “It’s a lot more common now than when I was a freshman.”

At one point, he said, he could sell up to $600 worth of cocaine in one day. “People would come multiple times a day for at least $150 dollars worth,” he said.

This student began by selling to a few friends, but demand increased rapidly to where he felt the cons outweighed the pros. He explained, “People would call me at 4 a.m. on a Monday morning, begging and pleading when I was trying to sleep.”

In the end, the rise in business pushed him to quit selling. “I couldn’t really handle the amount of business I was getting. And I didn’t really like it. And I didn’t really need to do it.” While he no longer sells, he is aware of at least 10 other students who do.

In the small community of Oberlin, it is difficult to accurately gauge how much this apparent rise in campus cocaine use might be influenced by mere idiosyncrasies of the place, rather than more significant trends. A single dealer who is new to town might send usage and availability statistics soaring, while on the national level, cocaine imports and prevalence remain stable. Friendship circles, which are often redefined throughout one’s college years, also play a large part in determining drug use.

Nonetheless, it is plausible that the Review’s results are endemic of a larger increase of cocaine use in colleges nationwide. According to a 2003 Monitoring the Future national survey by the University of Michigan’s Institute of Social Research, undergraduate cocaine use has been steadily on the rise from a low in 1994. The survey attributes this increase to a drop in the “perceived risk” associated with cocaine, coinciding with a decrease in portrayal of the drug in various media and anti-drug propoganda.

Lori Morgan Flood of the Center for Leadership in Health Promotion said that the College was not aware of an increase in cocaine use on campus: “While we’re monitoring, paying attention to and deeply care about drug use in general on campus, we are not aware of this specific increase.”

The College is currently administering an American College Health Association survey, which adds aspects of health behavior to the questions regarding drug and alcohol use.

The Oberlin Police Department Drug Unit also reported that the use of powder or crack cocaine has not gone up in the City within the past three years.

Despite preconceptions about people from certain areas having certain drug habits — one girl who was taking the survey warned, “I’m going to throw off your results. I’m from L.A. and have never done coke” — the survey results did not show correlation between hometown and use. The percentage of people from New York and California who have done the drug (41 percent) is only slightly higher than people from the rest of the country.

The majority of students polled, though, have not used cocaine.

A junior from upstate New York said, “I don’t like the idea of relying on a drug for happiness. Psychedelics give you an experience you can’t achieve naturally, but I’d like to be self-sufficient for my sense of well-being.”

Some also cited political reasons for not doing cocaine.

In a February 2008 issue of Harper’s magazine, Patrick Graham described the corrupt politics surrounding the cocaine business in Colombia, the country leading in sales to the nited States for three decades. The coca-growing region is controlled by right-wing paramilitaries caught up in the dirty politics of a region where fighting and kidnappings have dominated for the past three decades.

The production process of cocaine is also harsh on farmers. The white, crystalline powder is extracted from the leaf of the coca plant through a process that involves saturating the leaves in petroleum and adding sulfuric acid.

Graham noted in his article: “Despite the more than 1 million hectares of coca destroyed in the past 10 years and the almost 600 traffickers extradited to the U.S. since 2002 [when Alvaro Uribe became president], prices have remained essentially level,” suggesting the trade is going strong, and United States demand is consistent.

The Review survey was given to 123 Oberlin students at-large in highly trafficked areas, including Mudd library, the Conservatory library, Azariah’s, King and DeCafe.