DePaulia
The
Volume #101 | Issue #21 | April 10, 2017 | depauliaonline.com
NO PRESCRIPTION NEEDED Students explain drug usage and the easy access to them on campus By Danielle Harris
“Where is the line between being a drug dealer and helping your friends out?”- Anonymous Access to prescription medications like Adderall and Xanax is, for many DePaul students, just a phone call away. “I think everyone knows (it’s easy to get prescription pills,” DePaul senior and liberal arts student Dylan said. “I don’t think everyone is into it but they know (about it).” Dylan, as well as the other people quoted in this story, wanted to remain anonymous. Despite the casual acceptance of this prescription medication market, the March 29 arrest of four DePaul students who sold 102 Xanax pills to undercover officers — Paul Fontana, Mark Randazzo, Chad Yale and Cole Hanusa — made headlines in Chicago. But it wasn’t the act of selling prescription medication that shocked most students — it was the mere volume of the pills that the students sold.
“Those kids were, to put this nicely, a hundred Xanax is kind of ridiculous so I don’t know what they were thinking to sell that large of an amount,” Dylan said. “They were obviously greedy and trying to sell a lot but they were greedy. They definitely shouldn’t have sold in that amount of excess.” DePaul senior and health science student Taylor sells some of her prescribed Adderall to friends and neighbors. She was prescribed the pills during her freshman year after struggling to complete her schoolwork. “I went to a psychiatrist because I was stressed all the time and I couldn’t handle the stress and anxiety,” she said. “So she prescribed me Adderall. That was her solution.” Last year, Taylor started selling some of her Adderall pills after accepting just how common the practice was on campus. Unless she really needs the
money, however, Taylor said she’ll give Adderall to friends free of charge — for those she’s not as close to she’ll charge $5 a pill. “It’s so easy (to get prescription pills),” she said. “Everyone has it and everyone’s trying to sell it. It’s gross. It’s a gross market. When they’re not as close of a friend I do try to make money off it I guess.” These transactions can take place on campus, and, during the busiest weeks, usually do. Adderall, which is prescribed to help people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), is often used by students to help them concentrate while studying. Xanax, which is also popular on college campuses, is often prescribed to control anxiety and panic disorders or attacks. “I’ve seen handoffs (of drugs) in the first floor
See DRUGS, page 5
DePaul Art Museum exhibit explores AIDS pandemic By Charlene Haparimwi Contributing Writer
NICOLE ROSS | THE DEPAULIA
DePaul student Lindsay Holzman looks at the “One day this kid will get larger” exhibit.
The story surrounding HIV/AIDS has new voices leading the conversation. With advances in medicine, the beginning deterioration of the horrific stigma, and the fact that HIV/AIDS is not viewed as a death sentence anymore has contributed to our societal ideology surrounding that the disease does not need to be at the forefront of our public thought anymore.
But HIV/AIDS is not something that died off in the 90’s. There is still no cure for the disease. According to the CDC, as of 2014 young people from the ages of 13-24 account for more than 1 in 5 new HIV diagnoses each year, and the majority of new infections are experienced by young, gay or bisexualidentified black and Latino men. HIV/ AIDS is still on-going and prevalent. The DePaul Art Museum understood this was an important conversation that
See ART, page 19