When it comes to policy-making, the use and abuse of different substances should be treated equally despite their differences.
Last year Ohio University introduced a new alcohol policy in an attempt to deter underage students from drinking and of-age students from abusing it. The policy might have accomplished its goal, but not without repercussions: A year later, marijuana violations have doubled.
Student Senate has two new possible policies for students caught using marijuana. One treats alcohol and marijuana violations as similar infringements, in which regardless of which student a student is caught using, the penalty is the same and offenses stack up. The other policy treats marijuana and alcohol violations as separate charges.
While the latter policy might be convenient for students who make a habit out of committing multiple offenses, the first policy is smarter and more likely to be effective in decreasing both alcohol and marijuana violations. If students' violations add up and accumulate against each other, students will be less likely to trade one drug for another.
Additionally, it is unrealistic to think that each individual behavior or drug violation can be punished differently. There are simply too many possible infringements to assign a separate punishment for each.
Marijuana and alcohol might be different drugs, but students use them for similar reasons. Violations should be punished accordingly.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of the executive editors.
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Drug rules should mesh with alcohol policy
