According to news reports, none of the medications had been prescribed to Mr. Duroff. He also had been drinking alcohol and using heroin. The roommates, one of whom was hospitalized for three days before regaining consciousness, were arrested on felony drug-possession charges. They have been expelled from Trinity. After Mr. Duroff's death, some students charged that Trinity has long had a drug problem.
Drugs are available and seem to be acceptable.
Mary D. Thomas, Trinity's dean of students, says that drug use is difficult to track, since students typically are not forthcoming about it, and that mixing prescription drugs had not come to light on the campus before the incident. Ms. Thomas says she doesn't know to what extent the activity is a problem, but believes that what the four students were doing is not common. Officials on other campuses agree. It was just a bunch of students who were sitting around, saying, 'Hey, we're bored. Health officials at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, however, say the abuse of prescription drugs, especially Ritalin, has become disturbingly common.