Put down the bong, Bobcat Nation. You forgot to towel the door and now Sheriff Rowdy Roddy McDavis is outside the door. All that extra smoke wafted up to Cutler Hall and the Ohio University administration is attempting to clear the air with tougher penalties for students caught smoking marijuana.
Since OU updated its alcohol policy last school year, marijuana seemed to be getting off easy. Students who rack up just two alcohol convictions are usually suspended from the university for a quarter. However, students who were caught smoking an evil substance that is explicitly banned in all forms received little more than a slap on the wrist.
There are two policies on the table for OU administrators to examine. The harsher one, recommended by the Review and Standards Committee, is likely to be implemented and will demonize marijuana to the same level as alcohol, meaning two strikes and you will probably be suspended. Even if the convictions are for separate substances, the university labels you a drug abuser and gives you a time out in the corner.
The student may take that quarter to clean up and better himself. But more likely is that the student will not return to college. The February, 1991, issue of Education Digest found suspension to be one of three top reasons why students drop out of school for good.
While the administrators will tell you they are just trying to help, the two-strike suspension scenario denies students degrees instead of scaring students straight.
Another main argument being presented in support of the new marijuana policy is that students who do not wish to rack up alcohol offenses have been smoking pot instead. Even though the judiciaries penalty was not as strong, the OU Strike Team of RAs and SAs are required to call the police whenever an infraction occurs with marijuana. When the police get involved, students have more to worry about than a mere suspension.
The administration is basing the implementation of this policy on one measly year of statistics since the new alcohol policy was instituted ' a period when alcohol violations were down and marijuana violations were up.
Maybe the administrators could sit in on a class or two at their own university. I've heard correlation does not equal causation in many classes here, and it is true of the relationship between alcohol and marijuana.
A recent study by ImpacTeen, which is administered by the University of Illinois, concluded that recent efforts to reduce college students' social access to alcohol
and curb their binge drinking has not contributed to the rise in marijuana use among this group.
The same study concluded that anti-marijuana policies did not affect whatsoever the number of people who smoke. It's no wonder why. Marijuana is illegal and people who do it know they are breaking the law. Just because punishments are more severe will not deter someone who is already engaging in an illegal activity.
Further escalating the administration's detachment from reality, intervention programs would not be tailored to match a specific offense. The blanket program for offenders would cover both marijuana and alcohol, even if the convicted student had nothing to do with one or the other.
This strict marijuana policy will not deter anyone from smoking marijuana. At its core, it is antagonistic and ignorant. With this and other recent reforms the administration is creating an enemy in the student body. Like a cornered animal, the students can only take so many jabs before we lash out against our attacker.
I strongly urge the powers that be to adopt the less strict marijuana policy. Alcohol and marijuana are two different drugs that attract different people. Punishments should reflect that. The less strict policy would also custom-tailor an intervention program to the specific drug, increasing the likelihood that the program will make a difference. The less strict policy, too, will not deter anyone from smoking, but the gesture would at least give the students a glimmer of hope that you view them as people instead of drug-hungry dollar signs.
Chris Yonker is a senior journalism major.
Blow smoke his way at cy129904@ohiou.edu.
17
Archives
Chris Yonker
200711096514midsize.jpeg
