Hudson Valley College Ranks #1 in Nation for Drug Arrests [UPDATE]

Update: This story has been updated to include a statement from SUNY New Paltz.

A Hudson Valley school tops the national rankings for drug arrests in 2013. With 105 on-campus drug arrests, this college has some serious drug use going on.

SUNY New Paltz has the highest per capita college drug arrests in the country, with 13.9 per 1,000 students. That adds up to 105 on-campus drug arrests in 2013. Projectknow.com reports that the school was No. 107 in 2012, with 24 on-campus drug arrests.

Eight of the top 50 schools with the highest rate of drug arrests are in the SUNY system. SUNY Oswego comes in 2nd with 12.3 per 1,000 students arrested. SUNY Oneonta also breaks the top 10 at 6th place with Plattsburgh close behind at number 7.

Brockport, Fredonia, Geneseo and Albany also make the top 50. SUNY police commissioner, Bruce McBride told the Huffington Post that the reason so many New York schools are on the list is because of a strong police presence:

On each of these campuses, for example, we are fortunate to have University Police forces exclusively patrolling the campus, while many other public and private institutions rely solely on local law enforcement agencies... Having a dedicated, community-oriented police department located right on campus likely results in our officers discovering or being called to incidents of recreational drug use more frequently.

SUNY New Paltz Media Relations Manager Melissa Kaczmarek issued the following statement on behalf of the college:

"The safety of our students is top priority. As such, we are not surprised by this data as it is well-known that New Paltz has restrictive policies with respect to drug use/possession. The disparity between first-violation and subsequent violations suggest our policies result in an extremely low rate of recidivism thanks to community policing, strict enforcement and intervention/prevention education. There is never a drug citation on campus without a concomitant judicial action where it is made clear that offenders are putting their education at risk."

We want to know what you think. Do you believe SUNY New Paltz on top of the list because students use more drugs or because there is more law enforcement going on?