The biggest controversy on our campus today is the policy regarding marijuana. Since January of 2009, marijuana has been decriminalized in the state of Massachusetts. This new law states that if one is caught with under an ounce of marijuana they may be subject to a fine of one hundred dollars at the discretion of the officer. However, the views of our administration are different.
The administration perceives marijuana as a threat that corrupts our youth. The policy at Merrimack College states that possession or use of marijuana will result in a four point infraction. Also, if a student is caught, for example, with an eighth of weed (three and a half grams) in separate bags, it could be deemed as intent to sell and that student will be expelled on sight. However, if the same situation occurred off campus, the violator would receive a fine of one hundred dollars only if the cop chooses to press charges. One would think that marijuana would be a lesser offense than drinking on campus due to the reestablished laws regarding marijuana. On the other hand, possession or use of alcohol is only a two point offense. According to the state, underage drinking is a more punishable offense than that of possessing under an ounce of marijuana. Therefore, Merrimack College must update their laws in accordance to the laws made by the Massachusetts state government.
Since the recent decriminalization of marijuana, underage drinking is now a more serious offense under Massachusetts law. However, the punishments of these offenses are reversed in their levels of severity on the Merrimack College campus. Students are punished more harshly for marijuana possession than alcohol use.
ReplyDeleteOn a private campus, the administration has the ability to set infractions for marijuana and alcohol possession. The administration here at Merrimack College is only trying to look out for its students. The administration knows the dangers of marijuana use and how it can cause students to end up falling down a slippery slope, unable to get their college careers back on track. The rules are designed this way on campus in order to keep the students of Merrimack out of trouble. Alcohol is already a big enough problem on campus, and the administration does not want to see this happen with marijuana too.
Students of Merrimack College who are over the age of 21 can legally consume alcohol anyway, so they only need to be aware of the marijuana infraction. This is another reason why the marijuana infraction is more severe; it affects all students and not only those under 21.
I do agree, however, that in a college campus setting, rules should be more like those of the real world in order to better transition students into facing the consequences of some real life choices.
The Merrimack rules and regulations on alcohol and marijuana should be more consistent with the laws of the state of Massachusetts. Alcohol is a far greater problem on college campus’s than marijuana is, therefore shouldn’t the consequences be more severe? Cracking down more on alcohol could bring down the obsession that many college students have with it.
ReplyDeleteI was unaware of the truth about alcohol versus marijuana, such as which one is more addictive or harmful to ones health, so I did some research. I found that the dangers of alcohol are far greater than the dangers of marijuana. Alcohol has a much greater chance of addiction, overdose, violent or aggressive behavior, and long term effects, whereas marijuana does not. If anything, the abuse of alcohol, as opposed to marijuana, on college campuses would cause students to stray away from their goals and tracks.
So why does it seem as though the more detrimental substance is being treated as a slap on the wrist? The problem drug is alcohol, not marijuana, and it should be recognized.
Check out theses for some marijuana and alcohol statistics and information
http://www.saferchoice.org/content/view/24/53/
http://alcoholvsmarijuana.com/
http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30
I support Merrimack's decision to punish students caught with marijuana more severely than the general public. Attending college is a choice, not an obligation; therefore, students must obey the rules of the college they choose to attend. No student should need to do drugs, especially on campus. Doing so jeapordizes time for studying and is not conducive to doing well at school, which is the whole point of attending college. I do agree that alcohol is more of an issue on campus. Unfortunately, rules will always be broken, including underage drinking on campus. The best a college can do to try to prevent students' use of drugs and alcohol is to implement strict rules and punishments that can help foster an appropriate learning environment, which is exactly what Merrimack is doing.
ReplyDeleteMerrimack is a private college and is therefore able to set its own standards. The values that they set here are enacted to create an environment that is more conducive for receiving an education. Lowering the offense for marijuana use would most definitely incite people to use it more prevalently and therefore disrupt the learning going on. The standard that is set at Merrimack is higher than the one set by the state of Massachusetts. In comparing the severity of marijuana versus alcohol, one must take a few points into account; alcohol is illegal in the dry parts of campus and for those students who are underage. Contrarily, marijuana is illegal for anyone at any age on any part of campus. Outside of campus, it is still illegal but the punishment has been reduced from a criminal offense to a civil one. For those who are over eighteen there is a $100.00 fine and for those who are under eighteen, they must complete ten hours of community service and undergo drug education. Additionally, it is considered a gateway into other more extreme types of drugs. This is the reason why it is treated with more weight than alcohol. The rules at Merrimack are intended for the students’ benefit. In summation, this would not be an issue if students refrained from this type of illegal activity altogether.
ReplyDeleteI see the relevance of the point that Michele makes but I dont feel that in any case it is correct to engage in the use of marijuana in any way. Just because it is decriminalized doesnt mean that it doesnt have health as well as civil penalties. The more important impact is on your body. This affects all sorts of systems in the body. Looking past that the law is at the discression of the officer it is not written in stone that the officer is only allowed to fine you but they can detain you due to other probable causes. I feel that this activity should be refrained from all together. It is not fun in my opinion because fun to me does not include sneaking around so that no one will catch me. I take my stance against rules being changed on campus due to the fact that I feel that the Massachusetts law should mirror the Merrimack College campus law.
ReplyDeleteI support Merrimack's decision as well, on punishing students more aggressively than the public world. This is college we're not kids anymore we should know that drugs are illegal on any school campus. Attending college first would mean that you’re smart enough to get into college and second would be you should know better than to bring or smoke marijuana on school property. Doing drugs just ruins your college life to a certain extent, because caught with enough might lead to expulsion so you’re basically ruining it for yourself, and you've worked so hard to get to where you are and that will just screw it up. I guess rules are meant to be broken, but I do think the way Merrimack handles all of its rules pretty well and I personally think it should stay this way.
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