UNIVERSITY ALLOWS FRESHMAN POT PATIENTS TO LIVE OFF-CAMPUS

In the year since a high-profile case shone a light on the issue of
medical-marijuana cardholders living in University of Colorado dorms,
only one student using medicinal pot has requested to be released
from the school requirement that all freshman live on campus.

CU's drug policy does not allow marijuana -- or any other illegal
drug or alcohol -- in its on-campus housing facilities. That includes
medical marijuana, said CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard.

"It's not that were trying to punish students who have a legitimate
need for medical marijuana," Hilliard said. "We don't want marijuana
or any other drugs present in the housing facilities because it's an
attractive nuisance."

The university made that distinction more explicit last year, when
then-freshman Edward Nicholson faced criminal charges and was
suspended from CU over the summer after the police confiscated about
two ounces of marijuana from his residence hall in May 2008.
Nicholson was a designated medical-marijuana caregiver for his
brother, which allowed him to hold and administer the drug.

After his marijuana was taken, Nicholson hired an attorney and
threatened to sue the school. CU eventually dropped the charges, and
a few months later, the CU Police Department returned Nicholson's
marijuana to him, to the elation of a crowd of pot advocates gathered
outside the station.

But since then, the issue has caused little stir.

Hilliard said the university only has had to refund one student's
housing deposit, as is the policy when a student is released from the
on-campus living requirement. In such cases, CU would then refer the
student to Off-Campus Student Services, which helps students find
apartments off campus.

Split Opinion

Andrew Orr, a CU junior and member of the university's chapter of the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said he
understands CU's reasoning.

"Patients have rights, but you have to respect that it's the
university's property," said Orr, a medical-marijuana patient who
lives off campus. "It's a little but unfair, but they're pretty
explicit when you sign the housing contract. It's like living with
your parents: You're living under their roof and you have to live by
their rules."

Plus, he said, the policy only affects a small number of students,
namely freshman.

Nicholson, now a junior living off campus, sees it differently.

"It's the very least they could have done," he said of allowing
freshman to be released from the on-campus living requirement.

The same rules don't apply to students with prescriptions for drugs
such as Percocet or Oxycontin, Nicholson noted, so why medical
marijuana? Freshman patients should have the opportunity to live on
campus and have the immersion experience the requirement is designed
to ensure, he said.

"It's going to take more conflicts like mine to see (the rules)
reformed," Nicholson said.

Other Schools

Colorado State University in Fort Collins and the University of
Northern Colorado in Greeley have the same policy as CU, spokesmen
from those schools said. CSU spokeswoman Jennifer Dimas said she's
aware of only one student who requested to move off campus because of
a medical-marijuana prescription. UNC spokesman Nate Haas said he
isn't aware of any.

But that may soon change.

The average age of patients on the state's fast-growing medical
marijuana registry is 41, according to statistics from the state
Department of Public Health and Environment, which maintains the
registry -- but it appears to be dropping.

Between July 2008 and June 2009, 22 percent of new patients were
males under 30 with a diagnosis of chronic pain, according to state statistics.