EXPULSION TOO HARSH FOR SOME OF THE BUSTED

The problem with zero tolerance policies is that they leave no room
for discretion by those who are charged with applying them.

Take the case of 15 Mississippi Valley State University students who
were expelled last week after being caught in a campus drug raid
conducted by a half-dozen law-enforcement agencies.

All 15 were treated identically under the university's zero-tolerance
policy for drugs, even though the severity of their alleged crimes
were not the same. Yes, the 10 students who were charged with the
felony of selling marijuana deserved to be kicked out of school.
Anyone selling drugs on campus not only isn't smart enough to be in
college, but they are putting their fellow students at risk, since
violence and drug-trafficking often go hand in hand.

Of the other five students, all of whom were charged with possession
of a small quantity of marijuana, one had a previous burglary arrest
this semester and had worn out his welcome. The expulsion, however,
of the remaining four students seems excessive.

Their punishment is out of sync with state criminal law, with what
would have happened at some other Mississippi campuses and with the
changing public attitude toward marijuana use.

Mississippi law makes a significant distinction between those who
sell marijuana and those who smoke it recreationally. Possession of
about an ounce or less of marijuana is a misdemeanor, with the
penalty being a fine. The fines escalate with repeated offenses, but
there's no jail time. This state, as tough as it generally is on most
crimes, realized years ago that it couldn't afford to lock up every
person caught smoking marijuana.

Had this same drug bust occurred at Ole Miss, the students who were
charged with simple possession would not have been expelled unless
there were other extenuating circumstances, such as guns or violence
involved. They would have been required to participate in an alcohol
and drug education program, been hit with a financial penalty,
ordered to do community service and put on probation for the next two
semesters. But they would not have been so quickly given up on.

The same is probably true at Mississippi State University, where
expulsion is also not automatic for drug possession.

Although it would be preferable if MVSU and all college campuses were
drug-free, it should not surprise anyone who has ever attended
college or sent a child there that many of the students are not just
high on education.

According to the most recent federal survey, almost a third of
college students acknowledged smoking marijuana in the past year; a
sixth report having smoked it in the past month.

MVSU officials actually should take some solace in knowing that
marijuana was the only drug that lawmen found on campus at the
culmination of a six-week investigation. Had a similar probe been
conducted at a university with a more affluent student body, it would
have almost certainly turned up not just marijuana but cocaine,
illicitly obtained prescription drugs and probably worse.

Possibly because so many Americans have tried marijuana at some
point, including at least the last three U.S. presidents, the country
is moving steadily toward treating marijuana as it does alcohol --
regulating it, taxing it, but making it legal for adults to consume.

Already 14 states have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes,
and more are considering it all the time. The South, the nation's
most conservative region, has been slower than other parts of the
country to embrace the idea, but lawmakers in at least three
Southern states -- Virginia, North Carolina and neighboring Alabama
- -- have been considering such legislation this year.

Nor is legalization likely to stop there. In California, which
already has one of the nation's most liberal medical marijuana laws,
voters will be deciding in November on whether to become the first to
legalize marijuana for recreational use as well. It's not just old
hippies who like the proposition. Stiff-collared economists see it as
a way to generate at least $1.3 billion a year in tax revenue for
that deficit-riddled state.

Although California tends to wig out now and then, this time it's not
far ahead of the national mood. A Gallup Poll last year showed 44
percent of Americans believe marijuana should be legal, compared to
just 12 percent 40 years earlier.

Advocates include former prosecutors and judges who believe that
legalizing marijuana will do the same thing that lifting Prohibition
did with alcohol in the 1930s. It will get organized crime out of the
business.

They also claim it will make it easier to keep the drug out of the
hands of children, since retailers will have to check ID. I don't
know that I buy that. Young Americans, including under-age college
students, don't seem to have any trouble getting as much alcohol as
they want.

Nevertheless, it's clear the country does not lump marijuana in the
same danger category as other drugs. MVSU is behind the times by
acting as if it is.