Cannabis on campus causes controversy

Although marijuana is illegal and strictly forbidden by campus policy, students at Georgia State rebel against the laws by smoking pot on campus and in the dormitories.

According to the school’s website, “the unlawful possession, use, distribution, sale or manufacture of illegal substances by members of the University Community (students, student organizations, staff and faculty) is strictly forbidden.” 

For students living on campus, the policy states, “the use of drugs in University Housing will result in termination of the Housing contract.”

While students may be aware of the university’s policy, for some it’s not enough to deter use on school property.

One Georgia State student, who wishes to remain anonymous, reports smoking pot on a daily basis with friends while on campus.

“Pot is illegal no matter where you smoke it, but from the people I have met, if someone is an avid enough smoker, they will smoke in the dorms.”  Even when a friend was caught and kicked out of dorms, it wasn’t enough to stop others.

When asked about the risks involved with smoking on campus, the source said “we are kind of paranoid about it, but we take a lot of precaution.”

These precautions include, among others, making a “silencer” to mask the smell of marijuana. This can also be called a “foozle” or “sploof” and is a bottle or tube filled with dryer sheets that dilute or mask the smell of the marijuana.

“There’s still the smell coming from the piece when the herb burns, so a silencer isn’t totally foolproof,” the anonymous source said.  Another tactic involves having friends on guard to tell if the smell of pot is prevalent in the hall.

In 2005, a study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University focused on college substance abuse. It revealed that college students have a higher rate of alcohol or drug addiction than the general public, at 22.9 percent, and marijuana remains the most used drug with college students.

Since 1993, marijuana use has more than doubled from 1.9 percent in 1993 to 4 percent in 2005. Alcohol use is much higher, with around 70 percent of students admitting regular use, 40 percent consisting of binge drinking.

Nearly half of the students who used recreational drugs say their reasoning was to reduce stress and forget about problems.

So does Georgia State have a drug problem?  While the responses are mixed, many say no. Senior Ericka Ludwig said “I have heard that people do it, but I have never actually seen it on campus before. I don’t think that marijuana use on campus is necessarily a bad thing, as long as those who do it don’t advertise their use and can maintain their grades and participation in class.”

This line of thought seems to be the consensus for many. One student admits to marijuana use daily, yet makes sure to keep it separate from school.

“I have maintained Hope scholarship throughout my time at GSU, accomplished set goals, and I am a productive member of society. Mixing class and marijuana is not something that I do, I don’t let my free time interfere with my priorities, but feel marijuana use should be embraced as a lifestyle preference and not looked at as a “problem” or epidemic. Though marijuana does have health affects, it has been shown to be a better option then alcohol and nicotine.”

In an article for High Times, a magazine designed to promote marijuana use and legalization, authors Chris Simunek and Preston Peet describe the top ten counter-colleges as “places where intelligent users of cannabis can receive a quality education. What’s the difference? Smart stoners use the herb when appropriate, either as a tool to enhance creativity, or as a medicine to relieve stress, while stupid stoners abuse it through inappropriate use.”

While Georgia State did not make the list, marijuana is definitely around. Sarah Bailey, a senior at Georgia State said “marijuana use definitely happens on campus. There was a guy in one of my classes a couple of semesters back that offered me some pot for a headache and I was like no thanks.”

Although there is a long-standing debate over whether or not marijuana should be legalized, it is still considered a controlled substance in the state of Georgia.
 

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1 comments

Anonymous

Wed Feb 24 2010 10:51

Students need to be aware that our elected officials continue to identify marijuana use as a crime, and they continue a policy of arrest, jail, and loss of financial aid if a student is convicted of certain marijuana offenses. Marijuana arrests, prosecution, prison, and forced treatment costs the U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars every year, billions that are therefore NOT available for schools, health care, repairing our roads and bridges, and a hundred other vitally important social needs. It would be interesting to know if anyone _really_ believes that imprisoning Americans for using a plant is a better use of our limited resources than educating our children, maintaining our infrastructure, and keeping our families safe from foreign terrorists?

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