A Purdue University student group believes it now has leverage that could lead to changes in the university’s residence hall marijuana policy.
By a vote of 2,970 to 2,567 – a 54-to-46 margin – Boilermakers voted in favor of making the punishment for getting busted for pot in campus housing on par with being caught with alcohol.
The nonbinding student referendum was included on ballots during the Purdue Student Government elections held March 30 through April 1. Results were released late this afternoon.
“Now that we have the results, we’re wanting to sit down and have talks with the residence hall council,” said junior Sara Wislocki, president of Purdue’s chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML. “… When we first contacted the residence halls, before speaking with us they wanted to know what proof we had that students would want this change.”
Currently, students caught with alcohol in residence halls face a range of penalties, which include referral to an alcohol education program or being kicked out of campus housing for continued violations.
But residence hall contracts are terminated the first time a student is caught with marijuana or other illegal drugs.
NORML worked with Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation, a Denver-based group that is pushing colleges to reconsider policies around student marijuana use.
“We’re looking at it from the angle of marijuana being safer than alcohol,” Wislocki said. “Students causing the majority of problems are the ones who are too intoxicated. As a woman, I’d rather be around men smoking than those who are drinking – they have less aggressive behavior.
“Yet the university’s policy is more lenient toward alcohol.”
Let’s not forget that for Purdue students under age 21, a boilermaker is just as illegal as a bong hit. Nobody ever thinks of underaged drinking as “using illegal drugs”, but that is exactly what it is. It is illegal for a minor to even possess alcohol, let alone use it. Yet our society thinks of underaged drinking as some sort of “rite of passage”. “Senior keggers” in high school are given a pass by many parents. College drinking game parties are a must for new freshman and returning sophomores who are rarely 21 years old. And every semester, some college near you reports the sad death of a student from alcohol poisoning or a DUI crash. It’s time to let our young people make the safer choice of intoxicant – marijuana – and maybe save a few young lives in the process.
Topics:
Indiana,
NORML,
Purdue,
Purdue NORML,
SAFER,
safer alternative for enjoyable recreation,
West Lafayette
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