Twenty seven years ago, The Student reported that drug buyers at Amherst had been hit hard by shortages and inflation. "[Prices were] way up at Columbia and Harvard and, at Williams, increases are averaging 50 percent over the last year." Interviews with a number of campus dealers revealed that scarcity, not inflation, was the basic problem.

Marijuana and hashish, perennial Amherst favorites, were still widely available and had increased from 10 to 25 percent in price. "It's going to go up, you can't find a $15 mix on the street anymore, and in six to nine months, you won't be able to at college either," one dealer predicted. On the hard drug side, cocaine was the only drug available and, even then, only at Hampshire.

The shortage was mainly attributed to a big bust for LSD in the past year and two big busts for cocaine on campus in the last two years. However, some LSD was expected to be coming in soon, along with other drugs such as 'THC,' peyote and speed. "General drug supply will be increasing soon and prices are, and will continue to be, 'very decent,'" reported The Student.