Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Marijuana: The Second Most Popular Drug on Campus



While alcohol remains the drug of choice among college students, marijuana ranks number two with 32 percent reporting using marijuana in 2008. That's a modest decline from 2001, when 36 percent of college students reported marijuana use (Monitoring the Future: National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2008, Volume II, College Students & Adults Age 19-50, National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2009). But will a trend toward liberalization of marijuana laws, including increases in the number of states passing or considering medical marijuana bills, lead to increased marijuana availability, higher levels of use, and more problems for students?

What Science Tells Us

While levels of marijuana use by students are determined through a number of national and local surveys, no national samples have been drawn to compare use in states with and without such laws. James Lange, director of Alcohol and Other Drug Initiatives for San Diego State University, points out that there have been no published descriptions on the impact of medical marijuana laws on the use of marijuana by college students, even though over a dozen states now have some form of medical marijuana. Therefore, Lange and his colleague Julie Croff conducted a survey at a large southwestern university and found that 37.5 percent of students reported marijuana use, and of those 5.1 percent had a “medical recommendation” for their use.


Campus Dilemma When It Comes to Medical Marijuana


Just because medical marijuana may be legal in some states, college students with a doctor’s prescription may not be allowed to smoke it on campus. For example, on Dec. 16, 2009, campus administrators at Fort Lewis College decided to forbid the use or possession of medical marijuana anywhere on campus and to treat it no differently than alcohol and illicit drugs. But at one point, after Colorado voters effectively legalized medical marijuana in November 2000, campus officials said that the rule governing medical marijuana use was the same as for tobacco, which permits smoking on campus, but not in residence halls.


The Chronicle of Higher Education (Dec. 17, 2009) wrote: “If colleges appear confused about the finer points of medical-marijuana law, that’s understandable. Plenty of drugs are legally prescribed and frequently abused on college campuses—the psychostimulants sold as Ritalin and Adderall are just a couple—but marijuana’s reputation precedes it. Students were rolling it up and smoking it long before 14 states, including Colorado, passed laws allowing their citizens to use marijuana for its health benefits.”


In an October 23, 2009, press conference, Office of National Drug Control Policy Director R. Gil

Kerlikowske said, “Marijuana legalization, for any purpose, remains a non-starter in the Obama

Administration. … Regarding state ballot initiatives concerning “medical” marijuana, I believe that medical questions are best decided not by popular vote, but by science. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which studies and approves all medicines in the United States, has made very clear that the raw marijuana plant is not medicine, and any state considering medical marijuana should look very carefully at what has happened in California.”


More States Considering Medical Marijuana Bills


More states are considering medical marijuana legislation. Currently, in at least five states lawmakers and activists are pushing forward with new medical marijuana laws.

In Virginia, two bills have been introduced in its House of Delegates. One would allow possession of marijuana by patients with a valid marijuana prescription and would protect from prosecution doctors and pharmacists who prescribe or dispense marijuana for patients. The second bill would decriminalize possession of up to one ounce of marijuana (unrelated to medical use), making it a fine-only offense.


In South Dakota medical marijuana advocates have gathered more than twice the number of voter signatures needed to get a medical marijuana measure on the ballot in November that would allow for possession of up to one ounce by qualified patients. Maryland lawmakers are considering a bipartisan medical marijuana bill that would allow possession and use by qualified patients. Currently, Maryland law only provides for an affirmative defense to possession if arrested, but does not preclude a criminal conviction. In addition, lawmakers in Missouri and Alabama have also introduced medical marijuana bills that would allow patients with certain medical conditions to use marijuana to alleviate their symptoms.


Policy Implications for Campuses


San Diego State University’s James Lange and Julie Croff believe that anecdotal reports point to medical marijuana as increasingly an issue for campus life. In a presentation at the California Higher Education Alcohol & Other Drugs Education Conference in Long Beach, Calif. (April 2008), they said that the top reasons that students gave in their survey (see above) for using medical marijuana were for insomnia and anxiety and that a marijuana specialist was the most likely source of the recommendation. Use of medical marijuana for conditions such as these may be indicative of “gaming” the system.


“ Even if all medical marijuana use by students is wholly justified, the presence of marijuana may be disruptive and run afoul of campus policies. It is therefore important that each campus make explicit its medical marijuana policy,” explained Lange and Croff.


What is Ole Miss stance on medical marijuana?


We often read and hear about students using marijuana on college campuses and the nation, how can student affairs administrators tackle this issue? Should Mississippi allow citizens to possess an ounce and not be penalized as other states mentioned above are considering?


Since our class is being taught by Dean of Students Dr. Sparky Reardon it is interesting to know his stance on this issue. Sparky has there been conversation amongst administrators regarding medical marijuana?

This is a topic that campus officials must address and find ways to accommodate students who may have permission to take the drug because of health issues. Hopefully, students will not sell it as they have prescriptions filled. It will be interesting see how this trend develops at the state and national levels. With so many Mississippians being fined for an ounce or less of marijuana, why not legalize it and find ways to make money from it to boost the state's revenue? Would this be a bad decision? Medical marjuana and its fight to become legalized across the nation will surely attract a lot of supporters, who more than likely are users of it. Personally, I can't say if its a good or bad thing, but definitely if a person has more than an ounce. However if it is legalized, I'm afraid of how much it can detrimental to college campuses by causing problems. Let's all monitor this issue in the years to come.

The article can be found at: http://www.higheredcenter.org/files/factsheets/march2010.pdf

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Speech Restrictions

In an article posted by Inside Higher Education, a proposed policy at Northeastern Illinois University would require protesters to submit copies of fliers and signs to administrators two weeks before bringing them on the campus, sparking criticism from free speech advocates.

The policy, introduced more than a year after two students were arrested while protesting CIA recruiters on campus, is intended to clarify university rules - not to stifle speech, according to Sharon Hahs, president of the university. The university, she explains wants to keep a record of materials distributed on campus, but does not intend to prevent lawful demonstrations. She states the university administrators are addressing potential security concerns; particularly in the wake of recent shootings on college campuses. Hahs said administrators are "expected to know" about activities on university grounds.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) called the policy "blatantly unconstutional." John Wilson, a blogger at collegefreedom.org and author of Patriotic Correctness: Academic Freedom and Its Enemies, agrees, and states its really over the top and he hasn't seen anything so restrictive at a public university before.

In addition, the policy forbids demonstrations in particular buildings and limits protests to particular hours. Both restrictions, however, can be lifted in certain cases, according to the policy. Has goes on to say the university's career fair has "acquired a reputation as a contentious and inhospitable enviornment," has been sparsely attended because employers and military recruiters expect to be heckled by protesters. She states she would be open to protesters demonstrating outside the event, but that the university needs a policy that will prevent protesters from disrupting the event itself.

As university administrators are faced with protests of all sorts, I feel the method Northeastern Illinois University does not violate students free speech rights. They are simply being proactive in knowing what protesters plan to distribute to the campus community. In other words, the administrators want to be mindful of what is planned during the protest. In relation to the protests during the career fair events, I feel those should not be allowed inside as Dr. Has mentioned. It is very disrespectful to have protesters inside an event of such sort while other students are seeking employment and/or intership opportunities. If you were a student affairs administrator, would you support Dr. Has new policy at Northeastern Illinois University?

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Colleges Combat to Educate Student Offenders

According to restorativejustice.org, restorative justice emphasizes repairing the harm caused by crime. When victims, offenders, and community members meet to decide how to do that, the results can be transformational. Honestly, I have heard of such programs, but not at the collegiate level. In the article written by The Chronicle of Higher Education entitled With Restorative Justice, Colleges Strive to Educate Student Offenders," examines different institutions that conduct such programs to rehabilitate their students.

One example in the article pertains to a student who got so drunk one night that he didnt know what happened to him until he read his police report. His spree, he discovered, had included passing out in a family's front yard, scuffling with the father, and cursing at and fighting with police officers. The student was charged with felony assault and is serving two years' probation, taking alcohol-management classes, and performing 160 hours of community service around town. A student-conduct program at Colorado State, the student says, has given him more of chance to make ammends.

In a campus hearing, the student accepted responsibility for underage drinking and other offenses, and a conduct officer proposed the sanction of "restorative justice." Agreeing to it meant that, the student met with the family and the police officers from that night. He listened to their accounts of the incident, apologized, and worked out an agreement to "pay it forward," he stated. As part of the deal he will talk to students in the neighborhood about drinking responsibility and volunteer to drive for the university's RamRide program, which provides students safe rides home. The students stated the restorative-justice conference allows you take responsibility and learn from it while allowing you to see how powerful it is when you affect people.

Student-conduct administrators (i.e., dean of students, judicial offices, and etc.) around the country are hailing restorative justice as the next big thing. A blend of mediation and restitution, it seeks to resolve a conflict by identifying the harms caused and devising, with suggestions from both victims and offenders, an agreement to repair them. That approach to discipline grabs campus officials who carry the banner of student development. Restorative justice not only offers an alternative to the legalistic conduct systems colleges now shun; it also resonates with so many mission statements about personal growth and community.

A study this fall will examine whether restorative justice works on college campuses. In my opinion, I think its vital that institutions have these programs to help students learn from their mistakes depending on the situation and severity. Support groups that are discussed in this article are also important in rehabilitating the student and allowing them to share their experience(s) with others. This is definitely a hot topic in Student Affairs!