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Trying ketamine as a very first drug is unusual and rare, as most adolescents experiment with more common gateway or introductory substances first. Adolescents who begin using substances typically start with alcohol, tobacco, e-cigarettes/vaping, or cannabis. Ketamine is generally not a first-line or introductory drug. It is more commonly encountered later by youth who are already exploring party scenes, electronic dance music (EDM) events, or other club drugs.
Ketamine Fast Facts Q&A (National Drug Intelligence Center, U.S. Department of Justice)
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This. I remember the mandatory drug night at my kid’s HS (which was ages ago). The roundtable included an addiction specialist AND a prosecutor. Both of whom pointed out that they had never met a crack or heroin addict whose entry intro illegal substances was crack or heroin. They then listed the gateways and parents were horrified- siblings prescription for ADHD- yes. Hairspray- no (that’s what alcoholics going through withdrawal use if there is no liquor to be found). Cough meds with codeine - yes. Mouthwash- no (again, for withdrawal, not a gateway). And of course the biggest- marijuana. And now I pass three legal dispensaries every day and wonder “where is this taking us”. One is about three feet past the legally mandated border with a middle school and I wonder which middle school kid can’t walk an extra three feet on their way to the bus…
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I’m not sure if this is meant to be in reference to the Cornell events. Doe said it was her first time trying ketamine, but not that it was her first time taking drugs. The lawsuit comments imply Doe had both previously taken marijuana and alcohol.
More generally, rates of drug usage is far lower for drugs other than alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes . Specific rates and how they have changed over time for college age students are at https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED679634.pdf . Ketamine usage is quite small, listed as <1% in table below. Prior to the Cornell incident, I’ve only heard of ketamine used among college students as a date rape drug. However, I have since learned that ketamine is also used as a party drug, like you mention.
This isn’t true for the sororities. Many from the traditional Panhel group, the Divine Nine, and other cultural sororities are still recognized as student groups by Duke. They do not have sorority houses on campus (but that’s not unusual). Some Greek housing is own by the university (generally, not just at Duke) but some is owned and run by a house board and they have budgets to meet to pay the mortgages and utilities. The frats thought they couldn’t make the budgets work by delaying rush until sophomore year, as they’d lose a year of dues (from freshmen) and they also lose junior dues as many students do study abroad.
The gateway drug theory was common during the “war on drugs” decades, but the actual relationship is far less simplistic. Intervention type studies reducing usage of more common drugs like alcohol or marijuana do not show a consistent relationship in rate of future drug usage. The reasons for a correlation with future drug usage may primarily be changes in degree of association with a group that uses drugs, rather than choosing to drugs in a step-by-step gateway type process such as alcohol → marijuana → crack/heroin.
I suspect the first using alcohol, marijuana, or e-cigs more relates to accessibility and societal acceptance than “gateway”. It’s easy to get alcohol, marijuana, or e-cigs, and they are reasonably well accepted by society, so usage among teens or college age kids is fairly high. As these elements have changed in different periods, so has usage among teens / college; such as the sharp decline in traditional nicotine cigarettes or sharp increase in marijuana usage. These changes in prevalence of the early steps in gateway drugs seem to have little/no clear relationship towards changes in prevalence of less commonly used later steps in gateway drugs.
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I don’t know what year in school Jane Doe was, but I don’t think she lived in the house but was just there to ‘pre-game’ with friends. Only 32 of the 130 members live in the house but often the others hang out there, have meals there, etc. Drinking in the house is TOTALLY against sorority rules and Jane Dow knew this and didn’t report her drinking to the house mother. I really doubt the house mother knew what was going on and put her in an Uber to rejoin her friends. If she was really drunk and appeared drunk, I don’t think the Uber driver would have taken her to the next stop on the night of drinking.
It is likely that Tri-delt national board will suspend the charter, even though this happened 2 years ago. My niece’s chapter had their charter pulled because they joined an off campus party where there was alcohol. It was a joint party with a frat, the school brought them before a board and sanctioned them, but the frat appealed and won (got to stay on campus) but the sorority pulled the charter immediately. The drinking wasn’t in a house (they didn’t have a house) and wasn’t paid for with sorority money. Still pulled the charter and it is sill gone (this was about 8 years ago).
According to what I read- the house mother didn’t “put” her in an Uber- she accompanied her- in an Uber- to the bar where despite being underage, Jane Doe was served. After drinking shots at the sorority house.
Nobody is questioning whether or not rules were broken. At a minimum, a commercial establishment with a valid liquor license served a minor. Whether or not she was too inebriated to be served is irrelevant- she was underage.
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I’ve not been drunk in an uber but i’m guessing, someone gets in, then gets out and the driver hopes they didn’t yack.
I don’t think the uber driver is determining drunkeness.
Again, we have no facts but I remember it was you who much earlier said, no way this happened with a house mother and drinking isn’t allowed, etc. but I couldn’t find the post.
But at least, what’s gotten out, the house mother is likely involved and perhaps that’s why the sorority was sued.
Everyone wants to be “cool” and no one wants to be that person, especially when the members are paying dues which is paying your salary.
Perhaps the system needs a revisit or this house mother wasn’t doing her job.
It’s a shame, that if what’s come out is true, there were so many chances to stop this night from happening.
It’s like several stop signs in the road - that were entirely run through without braking - assuming that there’s truth to anything that’s come out as posted above, etc.
None of us truly knows.
She was a sophomore and lived in the house.
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Thank you for interjecting reality here. I have never interacted long enough with an Uber driver for them to determine anything about my mental capacity As long as my finger can push the “tip now” button, they seem quite oblivious to anything else.
And the narrative about an uber driver is a red herring. The scope of his role does not involve keeping underage people from drinking. Unlike the house mother- who IS responsible for making sure that women aren’t drinking in the house.
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Hopefully folks here aren’t shifting any responsibility away from the alleged rapists and the men in the message group to the house mom or anyone else. They are 100% responsible for their actions. Also, do Frats have “house fathers” who are responsible for keeping the members from raping or spiking drinks? (of course we know the answer to that, but again, wow, what a world that people are OK with the Greek system continuing to exist).
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This is correct. But whether what they’ve done is criminal or not isn’t yet known.
Many on this thread act as if it is but no one but those involved truly know.
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No, I said drinking isn’t allowed in the sorority house -at all, even at parents’ weekend or for an alum event, and; insurance doesn’t allow it, but I do know it happens. It doesn’t happen in the open areas, there isn’t a keg in the dining room or a bar set up in the corner. Usually it is in the bedrooms or maybe in an upstairs lounge. No men allow in those areas so not a ‘party.’
I’m not accepting everything in the complaint as true. Did the housemother really take the Uber with Jane Doe to a bar? Did Jane Doe bring the alcohol into the sorority house or was it ‘provided’ to her by another member? We only know what is in the complaint, and that is one side of the story.
It will all come out. I’d have to read the complaint to see what duty they allege the sorority had to a woman who was drinking illegally and was injured out of the house. There might be one, but I’d have to see what they allege the duty was.
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She was admitted to the bar and had an X on her hand, which is a common “college town” bar designation that the hand belongs to a minor and cannot be served. Nobody has alleged a fake ID.
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CBS has a well organized (no idea how comprehensive it is) vault of information related to the case : These documents tell the story of the Cornell rape allegations
Here is her redacted sworn statement from 11/24
001_Cornell_doc_clean.pdf
and this year’s documents: EF2026_0292_John_Doe_v_Cornell_University_OTHER_COURT_FILED_D_44.pdf
The statement does clarify that she was a sophomore and did live in the house. It doesn’t say who, if anyone, gave her the vodka so it could have been hers. I still don’t see anything the sorority did that caused her harm. The others left without her - which is not nice but not illegal. It looks like they thought she still had to go to the police station over the theft as that’s why they excused her from being the sober sister for the event they were holding. Which kind of begs the question, who was the sober sister and why didn’t that person step in if Jane was intoxicated? She said she had one drink at the first bar and didn’t mention any other alcohol at the second bar before going to the frat and then one beer.
And letting minors into a bar where alcohol is being served to some of the attendees is not a good idea, IMO. Does the X really stop anyone from drinking?. We have a bar/hamburger place near DU where no one under 21 is admitted after like 3 pm, even if with a parent. Even little kids. They know it is too hard to restrict who is drinking out of what glass.
I think what happened at the frat house is horrible and that they took advantage of Jane. Not sure what else the Cornell police had during their investigation.
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If the vodka was hers- somebody sold it to her.
I’ve seen that many of these cases devolve into semantics. But at the end of the day- someone sold a minor vodka, or a sorority sister who was of age bought it and gave it/allowed minors to drink it. A bar tender (who has probably been through every training module out there on “safe service” and NY liquor laws) gave a minor a drink. A house mother who had her own safety training used terrible judgement at some point in the evening. And all of this is before a whiff of ketamine was introduced.
ugh.
“I still don’t see anything the sorority did that caused her harm.”
Did or didn’t do? Did the House mother use good judgement here? Were the premises being used for underage drinking JUST THIS ONE TIME, or was it known that this was where underage women could drink? Just once? Did the safety protocols fall apart? What’s the point of sober sisters if they aren’t where the drinking is taking place?
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It reminds me of the many trainings I take at work. The protocols are purposely broken everyday but if ever sued, they would say, we provided training. I ask my boss - why do we always publish rules every year and daily we break them.
It’s CYA but not taken a seriously. I suspect it’s the case here.
House mom is trying to be a fun friend. These are wealthy college students. They’re going to do as they will.
Absolutely restaurants knowingly serving underage should be mystery shopped by the police and have their license taken away. In my town one long term bar is closing due to a suspension of their license. Good riddance.
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I think you are talking moral duty and I’m onto legal liability. I don’t think the dorm RA has a legal duty to make sure no one leaves the dorm after having had a drink in the room and then gets more drunk at the next party. He does have a duty to report drinking in a dorm room.
I’m not sure what the house mother did or didn’t do. There is just one sentence that said she took Jane by Uber to the event. I find i4 hard to understand why the house mother would ride with Jane as house mothers aren’t members of the sorority (usually) and don’t attend events outside the house or even inside the house if they are sorority related (meeting, initiation, rush).
If someone else bought the alcohol for Jane, then that person could be charged with something but again nothing to do with he sorority. That is one student buying an underage person alcohol. Definitely illegal.
Do some houses have people who drink all the time? Yes, just like dorms do and private apartments do. This is a suit against the sorority for failing her. She may have an argument that the sorority (national, house board, advisers) knew that they were all drinking all the time, in their rooms and with dinner and no one ever did anything about it, but I really don’t think that is the case. Since about 1980, the Pan Hell sororities have banned alcohol in houses . She might also be able to show that no one was ever disciplined for drinking in the house, never brought before a board, no penalty and encouraged to drink.. Maybe that’s how it is at this house, but I really doubt it.
Sober sisters are ones who don’t go to the party, concert, bars. They are like an on-call designated driver. You call if you need a ride home. Is it an official sorority service? I don’t think so, just something they know is safer if available. Do dorms have this? Some might.