Map of the United States showing the top 50 colleges with the most drug arrests per 1,000 students. Photo courtesy of Business Insider. Check out Rehabs for more information.

UND recently ranked 36th for the most on-campus drug-related arrests in the United States.

Rehabs.com ranked colleges with populations over 5,000 students across Amercia based on the number of drug related arrests per 1,000 students.

Drug-related arrests refers to arrests involving both drugs and drug paraphernalia. The top three colleges in the nation for the most on campus drug related arrests include the State University of New York at Oneonta, University of Colorado- Boulder and the State University of New York at Oswego.

UND Police Chief Eric Plummer said he thinks this ranking is inaccurate, and the report is miscalculating by including on-campus, non-campus and public property areas.  Plummer also said based on the most recent year statistics, more than 40 percent of people arrested are not affiliated with UND.  Plummer also said the article does not consider all campuses in the country but only those who have a population of  at least 5,000.

At UND in 2012, there were 61 drug-related arrests on campus, one non campus arrest, and 76 arrests in the public.  In 2011, there were 68 arrests on campus, six non-campus arrests, and 51 public arrests.  In 2010 there were 38 on campus arrests, zero non-campus arrests and 23 public arrests.

The term ‘on-campus’ refers to property owned or controlled by the university.  Non-campus refers to any building or property owned by a student organization or by the university but is not near the main campus.  Off campus refers to city streets or sidewalks that are near or on campus.

UND student Danielle Fothergill said she is not surprised by the ranking.

“It is probably pretty accurate,” she said. “I have personally known people that have been arrested.”

Fothergill added it’s a list that the university should not want to be on and looks bad to potential students and their families.

Plummer said the most common drug seen with on campus arrests is marijuana.  However, prescription drug use has been on the rise in recent years and is a growing concern to UPD.

According to the UND CORE survey, 33.2 percent of students have used marijuana.  More than 93 percent of students have abstained from the use of many other illicit drugs such as cocaine, amphetamines and hallucinogens.

To try to prevent the use and abuse of drugs on campus, the UND police department partners with university and community organizations to provide educational programming opportunities and enforcement initiatives.  The police department also works with local, county, state and federal law enforcement to keep drugs out of the community.

Ashley Marquis is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].