My Neighbor, the Drug Dealer  

Editor’s Note:  Jill Messina is a recent UCSB graduate.  She will be contributing a series of weekly columns on her experiences during her term at UCSB.

As I’ve mentioned before, I lived in three different residences during my 12-month ‘stay’ in I.V. And at all three residences, there was a drug dealer in close enough proximity that I could throw a rock at their house. I knew this not because I did illegal drugs, but simply because it was common knowledge for tenants in every neighborhood within Isla Vista.

I began to notice that many of these drug dealers were not current students, or had never even been students. And they weren’t living in Isla Vista simply for the fun, party atmosphere and endless bounds of 18-year old freshman girls. They were living in I.V. because they were smart businessmen who had done their research and chose their ‘location, location, location’ wisely. What is one of the dead giveaways that exposes a drug dealer? It’s when neighbors notice a high number of foot traffic at a particular residence. Well, in I.V., this type of scenario would never seem out of the ordinary. With a population of almost 20,000 within one square-mile, there’s a lot that goes by unnoticed.

With tons of students, some with money to burn, and some with an addiction so fierce it’s no wonder theft is a big issue in I.V., a drug dealer has it made in the shade. He doesn’t even have to advertise. His business comes looking for him.  And with a die-hard partying bravado amongst students and visitors, business is good. 

One can find pretty much any drug in some nook and cranny in I.V. Finding a parking spot may be a bitch, but finding one’s drug of choice… not so much.

The prevalence of drug dealers in Isla Vista is just one more variable that creates the equation of chaos, violence, theft, crime, and abuse that makes Isla Vista what it is today. It’s no wonder Santa Barbara and Goleta don’t want any part of it. So who is accountable for I.V.? I think that the staggering overpopulation is at the root for a lot of the evil in I.V. I enjoyed living in I.V. in the summertime when the population drastically reduced by half, and when many of the drug dealers were on summer vacation.