HYPOCRISY OF APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY DRUG POLICY

Recent stories in "The Appalachian" give students an opportunity to
see the hypocrisy of our approach to drug policy. From these
stories, we learn: 1) Appalachian State University is unwilling to
enforce its own policy on tobacco smoking near campus buildings in
spite of the dangers associated with tobacco smoke; and 2) students
will be arrested for possessing and intending to sell marijuana in
spite of the relative harmlessness of the drug.

Simple math demonstrates the ludicrous nature of this situation (keep
in mind these are estimates). There are approximately 15,000
Appalachian students. Roughly 30% of them smoke, meaning there are
approximately 4,500 smokers on campus. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that between 33% and 50% of
smokers will die from smoking-related illnesses; thus, between 1,485
and 2,250 current ASU students will die from smoking tobacco.

Assuming even 20% of Appalachian students smoke marijuana each month,
there are approximately 3,000 current marijuana smokers among our
students. Of these 3,000 students, it is possible that a grand total
of one may die from marijuana-related illnesses (the CDC says there
are only approximately 1 to 2 marijuana deaths in the entire country
in any given year, so odds are not a single Appalachian student will
die from marijuana).

Comparing the death rate of these two drugs, we see that tobacco is
about 990 to 1,500 times more deadly per user than marijuana! In
spite of this obvious discrepancy, the university police will
continue to arrest marijuana possessors and would-be sellers, and
yet, they are "uninterested" in enforcing the tobacco ban.

Meanwhile, those of us who are sick of being exposed to the harmful
chemicals and carcinogens of tobacco smokers on campus are told to
use "positive reinforcement" to deal with this problem. I can barely
stomach the hypocrisy.

Ten years ago I proposed a six-element plan to my university to deal
with this problem, once and for all. The elements included: 1)
banning smoking near university entrances; 2) posting large and
visible no smoking signs at each university entrance; 3) widely
publicizing the new policy; 4) removing all ashtrays from near campus
entries; 5) enforcing the policy with police officers the first two
weeks of every semester until a new, voluntary anti-smoking culture
took over; and 6) providing smokers with a place to smoke that is not
near any campus entrance. Unless every one of these elements is
implemented, the problem will persist.

I call on university officials with the power to do something about
this problem to do something about it once and for all. I am sick of
seeing marijuana offenders arrested while the people who force me to
breathe in the harmful chemicals and carcinogens of tobacco smoke are
literally ignored.