McNeil also pointed out that his unit seized 12 ounces of cocaine last year in at least two separate raids. He said, "This is the first cocaine we've seen in Cambridge in the last ten years."

Even though drug use has apparently declined at Harvard, two recently started programs are geared to handling drug problems if they arise and to preserve students' anonymity-the Drug Task Force and Room 13.

Last September, the University Health Services (UHS) set up a Drug Task Force of 15 second-year Harvard Medical students. They oversee Stillman Infirmary's emergency ward desk and answer phone calls on a drug "hot line."

The Task Force circulated pink posters which said, "Bumming? Med student on duty every night from 10 p. m. to 7 a. m. 868-2277. Anonymous." Most of these posters have been removed and few people are aware of the Task Force's existence.

Dr. Paul A. Walters, Jr., a UHS psychiatrist, trained the Medical students to cope with persons on bum trips, by "talking them down" and finding friends to stay with them.

During the first semester, Stillman's emergency ward averaged three phone calls and/or visits per week dealing with drug problems. Since intercession, however, the number of drug cases has plummeted to nearly zero.

Before the Drug Task Force was established, the Harvard police were used to oversee and, if necessary, to restrain agitated students who were bumming. "The sight of a blue uniform for someone on a drug trip really freaks him out," Walters said. "We've wanted to use friends. It works much better."

However, because of the relatively small number of cases they get, and the lack of publicity for the Drug Task Force, the morale of the Medical students is rather low.

Louis T. Sanchez, Jr., a second-year Medical student, said, "The whole [drug] scene has sort of died down. This is a Task Force but there hasn't been much of a task to weld us together." Nevertheless, he said, "It's important that someone's around in the peer group to talk things out."

Another Medical student on the Task Force, Richard J. Stadtmiller, offered a theory for the lack of drug cases in the emergency ward. "It's just possible that most people can handle their drug trips and don't need anybody."

Unlike the Task Force, which has a specific purpose, Room 13 began with very open-ended objectives. Margaret S. McKenna '70, who set up Room 13, said that only one in 20 calls to Room 13 is related to drugs.

How effective will these programs be? The mescaline dealer does not envision a decrease in drug use in the near future. He said, "As long as society is what it is, I don't think drugs are going to be a vanishing phenomenon at all."