How did a college drug ring hid in plain sight?

Post and Courier reports.

Cocaine, pills … and textbooks

It was one of Charleston’s bigger drug busts: a network of present and former College of Charleston students and other twenty-somethings accused of funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars of cocaine, pills and other narcotics into downtown’s white-hot party scene.

But the bust only hinted at a problem that’s been hiding in plain sight for years: A drug- and booze-fueled culture around the college that generates enormous profits for young drug dealers even as it increases risks of addiction and violence.

A Post and Courier examination of police and court documents, along with interviews with people knowledgeable about the drug ring, reveal an eye-opening portrait of audacity and excess.