A large-scale drug ring operating in several North Carolina colleges was busted, leading to federal charges for 21 people

• Twenty-one people are facing federal charges in a drug bust involving fraternities on multiple college campuses in North Carolina.
• In a press conference on Thursday, the US Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina said the defendants funneled thousands of pounds of marijuana, hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, and other drugs.
• A prosecutor said the estimated revenue from the drug sales exceeds $1.5 million.

Twenty-one people were charged in a drug bust that spanned several college campuses in North Carolina, the US Department of Justice announced on Thursday. The campuses include the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and Appalachian State University.

During a press conference outside of the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office, Matt Martin, the US Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, announced the bust alongside Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood and other members of law enforcement

According to Martin, the defendants funneled thousands of pounds of marijuana, hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, LSD, MDMA, mushrooms, steroids, Xanax, human growth hormones, and narcotics throughout the North Carolina college campuses.

"I want to make this clear," Martin said. "This was not the situation where you have single users - a 19-year-old sipping a beer or you have someone who is taking a puff of a joint on the back porch of a frat house. These are 21 hardened drug dealers."

The revenue allegedly earned from the drug ring exceeds and estimated $1.5 million, the law-enforcement officials said.

The investigation began within the Orange County Sheriff's Office, but once the scale of the drug ring became more clear, federal law enforcement agencies joined the inquiry.

"The amount of illegal narcotics being sold and used in this case is not only astonishing, it is also reflecting a very serious public health crisis," Blackwood said.

During the press conference, Martin alleged that drug dealers were operating within fraternity houses on university campuses and used encrypted cell phone apps to communicate. According to court filings, many of the charged defendants were members of the Phi Gamma Delta, Kappa Sigma, and Beta Theta Pi fraternities.

The defendants are also accused of using financial institutions to launder the drug proceeds.

Martin noted that while law enforcement is handling this case, university administrators need to address the institutional drug problems within their school systems.

According to a report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse in 2018, nearly 6% of college students use marijuana on a daily basis.

"That's why I say today is about saving lives, because this reckless culture has endangered lives - there have been overdoses," Martin said. "The bright eyes of a promising set of students have turned into the sullen eyes of drug dealers, of people who are addicted, people who are struggling, people who are washing out of classes because of drug use. That has to change."

The Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kevin Guskiewicz, released a statement after the press conference, saying the university would work with law enforcement on the case moving forward.

"We are extremely disappointed to learn of these alleged actions on our campus," he wrote. "The University is committed to working with law enforcement to fully understand the involvement of any university individuals or organizations so that disciplinary action can be taken. Although none of the individuals named today are currently enrolled students, we will remain vigilant and continue to work with our law enforcement partners to identify and address any illegal drug use on our campus."