Legacy

Films like “Animal House” portray college life as a perpetual party filled with sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. Students making similar lifestyle choices as John “Bluto” Blutarsky play a balancing act between having fun and endangering their health, even if they abide by the law.

“Have you ever done salvia? It’s like a three minute dream,” a Ra Shop customer said while perusing through posters.

Store manager Lane Link returned to his station behind the counter after helping another customer and explained some misconceptions about what the Ra Shop sells.

Link said “salvia,” or Salvia divinorum, is a plant that, when smoked, produces short-term hallucinatory effects. It was carried at the Ra Shop on the Northgate

of campus until 2005, when it was made illegal in Louisiana.

Today, the store sells raw herbs, incense and smoking herbs that only promise a “good buzz” similar to tobacco.

“[Incense gets] rid of negative air … demons,” Link said.

But some people use herbal blended incense like spice gold as a marijuana substitute.

Link said these herbal blends can cost around $20 a gram and are sold strictly as incense. Both Link and Kathy Saichuk, wellness coordinator at the LSU Health Center, warn against consumption of incense and other

products that have the label “Not for Human Consumption” written on packaging.

“One of the issues related to unrestricted herbal-type substances, such as synthetic cannabinoids … is the chemical makeup of the substances,” Saichuk said. “Since they are not controlled by an agency such as the FDA … the risk is the levels of the chemicals within these products.”

Link said Ra Shop employees don’t sell to people who display intent to smoke the incense.

“People will find a way to abuse anything … like huffing glue,” Link said. “The Ra Shop does not condone irresponsible use of any herbs.”

David, an electrical and computer engineering sophomore who requested to not be identified, has “abused” incense, smoked salvia and experimented with several other “legal drugs.” Not only has David tried the substances, he has done his homework. David spends so much time researching that he seems to be a human Wikipedia page on drug facts and legality.

“I don’t prefer one to the other,” David said on “pseudo weeds” in comparison to marijuana. “I don’t like salvia at all … It basically confuses the shit out of you … It’s scary for a while.”

David said research chemicals bought online, like Dimethytryptamine (DMT) give hallucinogenic effects like salvia, but are “a lot better.”

When taken in large doses, DMT can cause intense hallucinations. Users commonly see elves. Yes, elves.

“At first you’re falling through a tunnel, then you kind of wake up in this alien world with all of these creatures that are dancing [and] multiplying,” David said of how people describe their encounters with DMT.

DMT users rarely seem to remember anything except the elves they see.

These creatures are so ubiquitous with DMT, there are religious theories that the chemical creates a spiritual connection. David said the drug affects the “pineal gland” in the brain, the same one affected by near death experiences, supporting mystical fables.

Dr. Rick Strassman, clinical associate professor of psychology at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, conducted research in the early 1990s at the UNM in Albuquerque. It supported the theory of the pineal gland’s spiritual link. His research led him to call DMT “the spirit molecule.”

Strassman’s Web site includes various findings he discovered about the drug during his tenure. He states that DMT occurs naturally in the pineal gland when we are born, die and have near death experiences.

“I thought it was just a bunch of high people being stupid,” David said.

That was until he tried the chemical.

“I was aware I was in my room physically, but at the same time I wasn’t in my room,” he recalls. “I just knew [the figure I saw] was … saying ‘it’s OK.’”

David said the figure he saw — who he called “She” — looked similar to a robot, yet was constantly morphing into new shapes and figures. “She” kept telling David she understood he was “overwhelmed.”

Taking such strong hallucinations into consideration, is the drug safe?

“Well they’re research chemicals, they’ve never been tested,” David said.

Synthetic forms of DMT have “not undergone toxicological studies and its possible harms are unknown,” according to Erowid.com.

The Web site states those currently taking monoamine oxidase inhibitors — a class of powerful antidepressant drugs prescribed for the treatment of depression — or with a family history of early onset mental illness should be cautious when considering ingesting

such chemicals.

David explained how research chemicals have a wide range of variation in recipe and how long the drug lasts. Some last for a few hours, others more than a day.

Natural forms of DMT that are extracted from plants are currently an illegal Schedule I drug in the U.S., according to Erowid.com. However, 5-MeO-DMT, a variation of the drug, isn’t currently Schedule I.

Saichuk said Schedule I drugs are those deemed so “terrible” and of such an

“addictive nature,” they are made illegal.

But some abused and addictive-natured substances are helpful when taken as directed by a physician.

“There are a lot of really excellent substances used for health reasons … [but] all of these drugs have side affects,” Saichik said. “You need to look at the long term … What you do to your body when you’re 18, 19, 20 years old, may not show up immediately.”

Saichuk said all drugs, even Asprin, have side effects, and users should weigh the benefits against the cons. However, many students don’t take this into consideration when having a good time.

Alcohol is so prevalent on football game days because home games are considered “fair days” in East Baton Rouge Parish. This means open containers and consumption of alcohol for students 21 and older is legal. Students younger than 21, however, will receive a Minor In Possession ticket if found drinking alcohol.

The day after a football game, campus is riddled with pancaked Bud Light cans and broken Abita bottles, even though alcohol is prohibited on campus.

An MIP can equal a fine, community service and a one-time, three-hour class taught by Saichuk. The course, Tiger Education on Alcohol/Drug Matters, spends about 60 percent of the class covering the effects of alcohol and the rest of time is dedicated to drugs.

Cassie LeBlanc, mass communication senior, paid a more than $100 fine, took the TEAM course and spent four hours washing dogs for community service – twice.

LeBlanc, 22, received two MIPs last football season, both while tailgating near Nicholson Extension.

LeBlanc said she was sober when she received her first MIP while holding a drink for a friend. She explained that she tried to argue her way out of the first citation, but she knew she was guilty the second time.

Just shy of her 21st birthday, LeBlanc and a couple of friends were dancing in a sea of exited tiger fans. Two apparent tailgaters approached the girls and enthusiastically asked them what they were drinking.

LeBanc was very animated when she reenacted her answer, rowdily saying “Tequila!”

The next question was if the girls were 21 years old. When they said they were underage, the strangers revealed they were police officers.

She smiled while recounting an anecdote from her second offense. LeBlanc said she continued drinking while officers wrote her ticket. When one officer questioned her actions, she remembers saying “Oh right,” and dumping her cup onto the grass.

“I went to the class, and I was already 21 [years old],” LeBlanc said about the repercussions from her subsequent MIP.

Though she attended the class, LeBlanc said she “didn’t pay attention.”

LeBlanc said she was a bartender at the time and the basic alcohol facts given in the class were not very informative.

“[The MIPs] made me really pissed off … I wasn’t causing a scene, LeBlanc said. “I had [drunk] friends watching me get an MIP. Other people were literally throwing up on the ground; that should have been addressed.”

Saichuk said the University got serious about ridding itself of the reputation as a “party school” in 1997 after former student Benjamin Wynne died from alcohol poisoning.

Wynne’s death brought national attention to the University — which was ranked 10th in the nation on the Princeton Review’s list of top party schools at the time.

An article in Time magazine said Wynne and several other members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon were celebrating their initiation into the brotherhood. The article states: “The festivities ended with upperclassmen wheeling the pledges out of the bar in shopping carts, because they were too far gone to walk.”

According to the magazine, police found nearly “two dozen men” passed out in the living room of the frat house. Wynne was dead by the next morning and “had a blood-alcohol level six times the amount at which the state considers a person intoxicated.” He was 20 years old at the time.

Saichuk feels the University’s image as a party school has decreased in the 12 years because of the University’s attempt to crack down on alcohol. The University has banned alcohol from residence halls (with the exception of on campus apartments), mandates freshmen complete online alcohol course at mystudentbody.com and provides the TEAM class.

The University may be attemping to transform its image, but the way students socialize has stayed the same. The 2009 LSU Baton Rouge Core Alcohol and Drug Survey claims that 93.4 percent of male students and 85.9 percent of female students feel drinking is a central part of social life.

Hobie Artigue, mass communication senior, jokingly said the only college where alcohol wasn’t a cultural norm was “Bringham Young University.”

Artigue, now 21 years old, received an MIP two years ago while walking to an off campus apartment complex. He lifted a sealed case of beer from a car, placed it onto a sidewalk, an undercover police officer caught him and charged him with the misdemeanor.

Artigue said the MIP was expunged after he paid nearly $500 and attended a first-time offense class with people who had been caught with drugs.

“Basically, I didn’t learn a thing,” Artigue said about the class.

He added that the course at the EBR

Parish court house mentioned “nothing about alcohol,” but focused mostly on “weed and cocaine.”

Artigue said he was in the “wrong place at the wrong time,” as he commonly sees younger students drinking in public. Artigue acknowledges many students do get cited, but he feels a lot goes under the radar.

“The first time I got in trouble, it made me more aware,” Artigue said. “But, did it stop me from drinking underage? No.”

Artigue acknowledges how hard it is to regulate alcohol, but believes it comes down to personal choices. But some students have problems regulating alcohol themselves.

With the current awareness of alcohol education at the University, several students still don’t know where to go when the party’s over.

Saichuk said the University doesn’t offer group therapy sessions and past attempts to have Alcoholics Anonymous meetings on campus have failed. She explained that

organizations like AA have a policy that they cannot turn anyone away. A lot of older people attended campus meetings, making students uncomfortable.

Despite the absence of an on campus support group, Charles Mann, LSU mental health center clinical social worker, expects the Mental Health Service to offer one in the future.

“The Mental Health Center does offer group therapy for other issues,” Mann said. “There are Alcoholics Anonymous groups … not connected to the University, which meet in the LSU vicinity.”

Mann said the Mental Health Center is voluntary to students, and most of his clients visit him within two weeks of a serious binge. They usually complain about stress and anxiety, not realizing its connection to substance abuse.

“Generally, if you are wondering if you have a problem with alcohol or other substances, there is a good chance you have a problem,” Mann advised students. “You may already be finding yourself missing classes … putting yourself in dangerous situations. Please ask for help …. The act of saying ‘I think might have a problem’ and seeking help really is the first step toward health.”