More on Alcohol, Marijuana, and Collegiate Life: Can Colleges & Universities Craft More Equitable Policies Regarding Illicit Behavior?

I am heartened by the umber of readers who have chosen to comment on my last post. Although most seemed to be in agreement with the argument that the penalties for alcohol and marijuana violations on campus should be the same, several questioned if such could ever be because of the illegal nature of marijuana.

This post is not intended to be an argument to legalize marijuana...that is another discussion and one fraught with any number of provocative issues. Rather, it is intended to address a common concern I hear about the hands of higher ed being tied by the current laws governing marijuana and the need to retain current policies regarding use and possession of this controlled substance by students. It is a misnomer to suggest that simply because a substance is illegal that a college or university has no flexibility as regards its response to a student's decision to use or possess illicit substances, in this case, marijuana.

Colleges and universities routinely establish and enforce policies regarding alcohol use and possession for underage students that may well differ from state statutes. For example, it may be a summary violation or at worst, a misdemeanor, to possess or consume alcohol if under the age of 21. This said, a college or university may hold students accountable for their violation of the institution’s policies but not necessarily turn the student over to the local authorities for prosecution. The truth be told, most local police departments do not want to be bothered with underage alcohol violations referred by a college or university. If, for example, a Resident Assistant (RA) finds an underage student drinking in his or her residence hall room, that student is likely to have an IR (incident report) written that documents this act and its violation of institutional policy. This violation is then dealt with via the institution’s own internal judicial system. Unless there is some related criminal activity associate with the drinking, it is unlikely that the institution is going to report this student to the local police for arrest and prosecution. If, on the other hand, it is the local police that find the underage student drinking, the student may well be cited by the police and then this be routinely reported to the college or university where its judicial system will review the case and likely mete out additional consequences.

If the college or university has a “campus police” force as opposed to a “campus security” department, the campus police, as sworn police officers, must enforce the laws of the state in which the college or university is located. This will result in the student receiving both institutional as well as state consequences associated with the underage use or possession even if this occurs on campus only. Campus security, on the other hand, are not sworn police officers and simply monitor and enforce campus policies. These officers do not have the power to arrest and, consequently, will likely intervene in policy violations and document them for review and adjudication by the campus judicial system. This is what happens with alcohol violations...campus policies are enforced and these often mirror if not exceed the underage drinking statues in the state where the IHE is located, but again, such violations are often not reported to the local police.

This same approach can be implemented as regards student use or possession of marijuana. Should a student choose to possess or use marijuana and “get caught,” the institution could choose to deal with this internally...and often does. The problem is—-and this was the focus of my previous post—-is that this frequently results in the student being suspended from campus if not expelled. This strikes me as a missed opportunity to engage the student in a conversation around his or her use of marijuana. This conversation should focus on conducting a cost-benefit analysis of the use rather than lecture, preach, or moralize about what the student should be doing...or not doing as the case may be. In brief, help students look at their use objectively and address a simple question: is the benefit you perceive receiving from your use worth the costs associated with that use? This is what is being done regarding alcohol use, with underage as well as of age consumers...and it works. Students frequently will embrace an opportunity to engage in an objective review of personal use that is devoid of recriminations and recognize that the “good things” about use are related with consumption at the lower end of the range of “typical drinks consumed” while the “less good things” are associated with use at the upper end of their range of use.

Students are insightful, intelligent, and able to see the proverbial forest from the trees when presented with the opportunity to do so in an objective, non-confrontational and collaborative way. If this can be done regarding student use of alcohol, we should provided students with the opportunity to do the same thing as regards their decisions to use marijuana. For this to happen, however, colleges and universities need to amend their “drug use policies” so as to afford the opportunity to engage such students in this conversation rather than punish them for breaking the drug law with suspension or expulsion. NOTE: We are not talking about the student holding pounds of marijuana for distribution on campus, but relatively small quantities associated with personal use.

Not only does the lack of parity in the way alcohol and marijuana are addressed on campus make no sense, it is also way behind the curve as regards current thinking by the law enforcement community and the criminal justice system in general as regards marijuana use. In the last month the new District Attorney for the City of Philadelphia announced that the City will no longer prosecute individuals for possessing 30 grams (about an ounce) of marijuana or less (see http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/89894257.html. This has been reduce to a summary violation and those found holding will forfeit the marijuana and pay a fine of about $300...that is it...no criminal record. This de facto decriminalization of relatively small amounts of marijuana simply presents another argument for why colleges and universities should rethink how they address marijuana use and possession on campus...move towards “acting on” this issue rather than “reacting to it.”

Please do not misinterpret this post...I am NOT advocating marijuana use or suggesting that it is better than drinking or admonishing colleges and universities for having policies regarding marijuana possession or use. Rather I am suggesting that the number one objective of these policies should be to engage students in a conversation about their use essentially fostering a consideration of the question, "is what you get worth what it costs you the get it?" For this to happen a first step is the pursuit of parity between alcohol and marijuana policies on campus.

What do you think?

Robert