College Student in Drug Tank: Drug Laws on Trial

If there is any news story that should dissuade future illicit drug use on campuses, it would be the untimely and near fatal fate of Daniel Chong, an undergraduate at UC San Diego.

If there is any news story that should dissuade future illicit drug use on campuses, it would be the untimely and near fatal fate of Daniel Chong, an undergraduate at UC San Diego.

After being locked up then abandoned in a holding cell following a raid by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the student suffered from terrible hallucinations, starvation, and dehydration in a holding cell.

 During his solitary confinement, Chong resorted to drinking his own urine and consuming a left-over piece of meth just to survive. Fearing that he would die after being abandoned and forgotten for four day, Chong tried swallowing broken shards from his glasses, then carving into his forearm a final good-bye to his mother. Fortunately, drug enforcers discovered the emaciated and weary college student before it was too late. The hallucinations he endured during that period of time most likely enabled him to stay alive longer than if he had gone without food or water.

The circumstances of his arrest leading to his incarceration are hardly praiseworthy. He had gone to a friend's house to get high on April 20, a cult holiday for marijuana enthusiasts. After staying over for the night, the DEA raided the home, where the federal officials uncovered 18,000 ecstasy pills, other illicit substances, and firearms.

 If there is any news story that should encourage the rapid decriminalization of controlled substances, it would be this timely yet disconcerting account. College students were rolling joints in a neighbor's kitchen, stocking and selling large numbers of controlled substances without any quality control, substances which have skyrocketed in value because of drug criminalization. The news account provided no record that the DEA officials produced a warrant following their sudden invasion and arrest of the college students, which ultimately lead to the incarceration, neglect, and near death of one young man.

 The behavior of these college students was reprehensible, and college campuses should uphold strict rules regarding the conduct of students and sale of illicit drugs on their campuses. Yet as private citizens who choose to use, or who are addicted and in bondage to these drugs, cannot be served or reformed by such arrogant and arrogating state power. The rights and efficacy of our courts systems are also in jeopardy because of drug laws which neither  protect us or enforce a drug-free culture in our state.

The arbitrary and forceful natural of the seizure and abandonment of Daniel Chong, coupled with the inhumane treatment, does not warrant such an overwhelming, immoral response from the state. Daniel Chong's four days of fear and loathing in a holding cell may serve as a resounding death knell for the draconian drug laws in California and the entire country.