It was one of Charleston’s bigger drug busts: A network of present and former College of Charleston students and other 20-somethings accused of funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars of cocaine, pills and other narcotics into downtown’s white-hot party scene.
But the bust only hinted at a problem that’s been hiding in plain sight for years: A drug- and booze-fueled culture around the college that generates enormous profits for young drug dealers even as it increases risks of addiction and violence.
A Post and Courier examination of police and court documents, along with interviews with people knowledgeable about the drug ring, reveal an eye-opening portrait of audacity and excess.
Operating from million-dollar homes steps away from the college’s oak-shaded courtyards, networks of students and former students stamped out pills by the thousands with a factory-grade press using chemicals from Chinese internet suppliers and other sources.
They obtained large amounts of cocaine from suppliers in Georgia and marijuana by mail from states where its use is legal. Then they found a steady supply of customers among the thousands of students and other young people who pack downtown’s historic district.
Leaders of the ring were in their early 20s, white and generally came from privileged backgrounds. Their social media accounts show grinning faces on private planes and at Charleston’s priciest restaurants.
Fraternity members allegedly were key players in the operations, with pledges enlisted as drug runners and systems in place to thwart drug raids. One man arrested in the police investigation was the former president of the college’s Kappa Alpha Order fraternity.
Another young person with direct knowledge of the drug ring told The Post and Courier of raucous all-night parties featuring Xanax-spiked punch. Plying young women with these drinks left some girls “beyond wasted” and unable to remember what happened the next day. The fraternity-based party scene could be exhilarating, but “if you do not leave, it will suck you in.”