Activity 10: Dorm Room Dealers

In the book, “Dorm Room Dealers”, the authors used a method of interviewing, as well as being observers in the field they were studying. They would take notes and observe the behavior of these college students involved in this business, and even be present for some transactions. What was really interesting about this book is that it completely goes against the idea of what I, as well as society, typically views who a drug dealer is. The idea that a majority have is that a drug dealer is someone from a low socioeconomic class, probably violent as well, with no higher education goals who deals to make money to support himself. This person most likely uses themselves, but drug dealing is their only source of income and if for some reason they do have another way to earn money, it is not a legitimate one. On the other hand, the book showed the drug ring that circulated throughout a college campus, largely fueled by the workings of college students who attended the university. Many of these individuals were from the upper class that had parents who made good money, and therefore did not need the money earned from selling drugs to survive. For example, LaCoste was one of the individuals the researchers interviewed and observed in the study. His father was a high-level accounting executive who not only bought him a $50,000 SUV, but also regularly supplied him with deposits of money that he could use to live pretty well off in college. From this, it is obvious that these students did not need the money for groceries, books, or any of the expenses college students usually had to deal with. Instead of selling to sustain their living, one of the interviewees, Cecilia, revealed that what motivated her and a lot of other students to begin selling drugs was to keep up with her own habit as well as the habit of her friends. Many of these dorm room dealers used selling drugs as a way to support their own use, or have easier access to whatever drugs they wanted to use for themselves. One student even mentioned using his funds as “beer money”, or money that he would actually just use to party, and not necessarily pay for a necessary expense. Another interesting fact about these students was that they were still involved in legitimate activities, despite their involvement with selling drugs. Many of them were business majors and still maintained good grades, and one was even a bank teller on top of being a student and selling drugs. While the media might portray that drug dealers only involve themselves with illegitimate activity, these students proved otherwise.

            I really enjoyed this book as it showed a different side of the drug market, one that is never really focused on when we as a society look towards the flow of drugs in this country and what we can do to stop it.