Alright, Samantha. Thank you. Our next guest set out to tell the story about Xanax on college campuses, but instead discovered and exposed a multimillion dollar drug ring that operated near the College of Charleston. Author of among the bros. Journalist Max Marshall joins us now. Thank you so much for
Coming in. Good to have you here so great to be here. Thank you. All right, So the whole culture of Greek life is so different on every campus, but you really, you know, dove into what That’s all about Fraternity life. And what did you find? So Yeah, I’m
The same age as basically all the guys in this book. I was in college from 2012 to 2016. When I was in school, I saw a lot of Xanax flying around. I knew guys who are dealing a new guys who used a lot of it. I even knew some people were making their
Own Xanax pills. And so when I got out of college I basically as an investor of journalists wanted to know a few things one. Why are all these guys blacking out on anti anxiety tranquilizers? Because that’s not really what you think of party drug would be. In two
Words, all the same next coming from because it wasn’t coming from CBS or fight, Sir, it was, you know these chalky fake Xanax pills and I found this struggling at the College of Charleston that made millions of Xanax pills using the dark Web. They had their own pill presses,
And then they use the fraternity system to basically You know, use pledges in their shipping These pills out all over the US, and this ring kind of grew and grew more and more money, more and more pills more and more fraternities involved. And then, on the first Friday of spring
Break, 2016, a student was found murdered surrounded by all these fake pills, and then the DEA and the FBI and, you know I love Force Mint got involved. Students started wearing wires on each other and everything sort of unraveled, But that’s that’s what brought me into this story. One of the things you
Talk about, too, is the fact that for some students across the country when they do make the choice to join a fraternity, it’s a badge of honor and prestige. Absolutely So, yeah, I mean, over 75% of all dollars given to universities come from Greek life alumni. So that tells
You kind of how much wealth is in the system. And Yeah, I think people sort of underestimate just how much of sort of America’s elite, Um comes from the fraternity world and talk about that world. I mean, it is so scary as a mom, You know, they’re very my kids are very
Little, but I feel like not wanting them to go into that society, You know, sororities and fraternities Because of that image, you know, I know it. It helps with the social networking , but it sounds very scary. Scary. And, you know, I think one A common misconception is that the worst thing that
Happens is in fraternities is hazing. In some of that stuff can be bad. It kills about one student per year in the US, But many, many more students die every year in the fraternity system of either drug overdoses or accidents involving alcohol, whether that’s alcohol poisoning falling off a roof car accident,
And so that’s really if my student was going to go or my kid was going to go into Greek life, that’s what I would want to talk to them about. Even more so than the hazing, I think, And during this time of year you got a lot of kids returning home.
They’re going to be spending time with Mom and Dad. What are some tips that you can offer to parents and guardians this morning about engaging in dialogue and conversation? Uh to really understand, maybe what’s what’s going on and maybe get him to share more deeply if there is something not so
Positive. Happening so I think it’s kind of exactly. We’re just talking about which is, you know. I think a lot of parents want to talk about the hazing and hazing can be bad, but I think really, it’s okay. If you’re going to take a pill. Do you know where this pill is
Coming from? If you’re gonna be drinking, are you hydrating is if your friend passes out, Are you going to be the one who steps in and calls the M T? And I think sort of the culture around substance abuse blackout culture. That’s really the best conversation to have, Um,
Whether or not they’re joining a fraternity, but in Greek life, it really sort of ramps up. That’s incredible black al culture than it is such a thing. You know it is. Yeah Scary. It is. Things have changed. Certainly over time. Definitely Thank you so much for highlighting this. It’s so
Important for everyone to see and to talk about. So to check out his book. Oh get among the bros of Fraternity crime story wherever you can get books out right now. We’ll be right back. Thanks. So much for speakin
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