DRUG DOUBLE STANDARD

President Jimmy Carter once said, "Penalties against a drug should not be
more dangerous to an individual than use of the drug itself ... Nowhere is
this more clear than in the laws against possession of marijuana."

It would be a hard argument to make that the harms associated with
marijuana are greater, or even on par, with those of alcohol. Every
weekend, emergency personnel have to deal with someone who partied a little
too hard that night. Last year, we had the unfortunate experience of a
university student drinking too much alcohol one night, regrettably costing
him his life. In contrast, it is virtually impossible to die from a
marijuana overdose. Looking at the problems that these two drugs can cause,
one would expect the university's policy to reflect these harms. However,
it is just the opposite.

According to the University Police website, 73 percent of students involved
in drug-related violations in 2000 were arrested in lieu of campus
disciplinary referrals. This compares to 54 percent for illegal weapons
possession. Why do we feel it necessary to arrest a higher percentage of
people engaging in consensual activities as adults than for having illegal
weapons? Which one truly poses a greater threat to our community? I know I
would be more afraid if my roommate owned an illegal weapon than if he was
smoking some marijuana and relaxing on the weekend.

When an underage student is caught with alcohol on the campus by a resident
assistant, the police are not immediately called; rather, the student is
"written up" and is subsequently dealt with in-house. Calling the police
for a little alcohol is a hassle to everyone involved, and accomplishes
very little, if anything. It does not make much sense, considering one beer
will not destroy a person's life.

Neither will one joint.

Mere suspicion by an RA of a student smoking is not grounds to involve the
police. Being arrested is a very serious matter, and police intervention
should not be taken lightly.

Granted, marijuana is still illegal, and the government through its
propaganda wants you to believe that if you smoke any pot at all you will
either shoot your friends stumbling around in a stupor or become addicted
to cocaine or heroine and be doomed to a life as a street junkie. This
could not be further from the truth. Over 70 million Americans and counting
have tried marijuana, with only a few having serious health problems.

The first time someone is caught with marijuana, there is no logical reason
why he or she should automatically be kicked out of housing, and as long as
that student is not causing trouble or harming others, we should not banish
them. Mere first-time possession of marijuana should not be a section A
violation, which can result in expulsion from housing. We do not kick a
student out of housing for having an illegal fridge, nor for using a
prohibited file-sharing program to download movies and music. There are
plenty of other options to deal with this situation besides taking away
their housing and drug testing them for up to two years.

This is why a campus chapter of the national organization Students for
Sensible Drug Policy (http://www.ssdp.org) is getting signatures on a
petition to ask the Resident Life Department to change its current
policies. SSDP works to involve youth in the political process, and promote
an open, honest and rational discussion of alternative solutions to our
nation's drug problems. SSDP has about 200 chapters nationwide, each one
deciding for itself which issues it wants to pursue.

There is no way for the university to know when it is acting irrationally
if we don't tell them it is. SSDP has collected over 1000 signatures so far
in favor of this petition. The student body has spoken, and it will not
stand for this unfair policy any longer.

One of the Judicial Programs Tenets in the Guide to Student Conduct System
is "to recognize the reality of human fallibility ... and to demonstrate
compassion, understanding, and a sense of perspective." I implore Resident
Life to take this view as well. We as a community should not kick a student
off the campus, or give them a permanent criminal record for one minor
infraction.

Martin Baer is the co-president of UMD-SSDP. He can be reached at
umdssdp@hotmail.com.