By Hilary Ingoldsby

About one ounce of marijuana was found Nov. 24 at The Junction, a USU campus eatery.

A Junction employee found the marijuana in a plastic bag under a beverage counter that evening and notified campus police, Lt. Joe Izatt of the USU Police Department said.

Police do not know how long the marijuana had been there or who it belongs to. Investigation is still under way.

Izatt said that while drugs are not an unusual problem on campus, the Junction situation is a little out of the ordinary.

"There are always drugs on campus but it's a little unusual that we find them out in the open," Izatt said.

LT. Greg Riddler of the Logan Police Department and supervisor of the Cache-Rich County Drug Task Force is also aware of the drug problems on campus.

"We have received info that there is drug activity up there," Riddler said. He said the police department often receives calls regarding parties where drugs may be present, and advises students to be as specific as possible when reporting such events so that patrol officers can be prepared.

The task force headed by Riddler is made up of police officers from the area including USU police and investigates most any situation having to do with any type of narcotics. The task force focuses on finding those who are selling drugs. The majority of drug problems in the area deal with drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and "club drugs" such as Ecstasy, Riddler said.

While harder drugs such as heroin are less common, drug crimes in the area are not to be taken lightly, he said.

"I think the general perception is that we don*t have a drug problem," Riddler said. "Granted it's not as big as what happens in Salt Lake or Ogden but we still have surges in use and possession. It*s a problem because it affects everybody and their quality of life."

Many other crimes, especially auto burglaries and other forms of theft, are committed because of addictions to drugs, he added.

It is doubtful that the task force will get very involved in the Nov. 24 case because the amount of marijuana was quite small, Riddler said.

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