Apr 01, 2010
Today, on more than 80 college campuses across the country, students organized by MPP-grantee Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) are calling for changes in campus policies that steer students toward the use of alcohol instead of marijuana. Although the national day of action was timed to coincide with the first day of Alcohol Awareness Month, the organizers played off the April Fool’s Day theme by emphasizing that the health and safety of students is not a joke.
[Disclosure: I am one of the co-founders of SAFER. But I will try to be objective while discussing today’s brilliant, aggressive, and well-coordinated events. ;-) ]
There is no doubt that many Americans who read about this effort will initially dismiss it as the actions of a bunch of students who “just want to get high.” But that would be missing the point entirely. What these students are trying to say is that they and the vast majority of their fellow students are going to do something to get intoxicated at parties. And for most of these students, the choice is between one of two substances – alcohol and marijuana.
The conundrum though is that on almost every campus in the country, the penalties for being caught with the less harmful substance, marijuana, are far greater than the penalties for being caught with alcohol. The students are trying to raise awareness about this widespread irrational disparity. It is a disparity that steers students toward alcohol and the more harmful effects – both in terms of health and campus safety – associated with its use.
Let me be clear here: Neither I nor MPP are promoting or encouraging marijuana use by students. The point here is that university administrators, as well as our elected officials, need to examine their policies and regulations and determine whether they are really protecting the health and welfare of community members. By punishing individuals more harshly for using the less harmful of the two recreational substances, it doesn’t appear that current policies do.
The Chronicle of Higher Education, the publication of record for university administrators, posted a solid article today about SAFER’s efforts. And if you want to read more about the movement to educate the public about the relative harms of marijuana and alcohol, check out Marijuana is Safer: So why are we driving to drink?, a book I co-authored with SAFER’s executive director Mason Tvert and Paul Armentano of NORML.