COLLEGES SEE RISK TO EASING POT BANS

As legislatures nationwide debate whether to legalize medical
marijuana, colleges and universities in states where laws have been
adopted say their campuses will remain drug-free.

The reason: Marijuana use and possession violates federal law, and
colleges don't want to risk losing federal funding.

This year, 13 state legislatures are considering proposals to
legalize medical marijuana, and four more are looking at bills, says
Morgan Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project, a group that advocates
loosening marijuana laws. Proposals to tighten or ease laws are
pending in at least 10 of the 15 states, plus the District of
Columbia, where medical marijuana is legal.

Colleges say they have no choice but to abide by the federal rules
and keep marijuana off their campuses.

. In New Jersey, where a medical-marijuana law passed last year,
Rutgers University declined an invitation by the governor to grow and
research medical marijuana.

. In Arizona, where a law passed in November, University of Arizona
lawyers in January posted a notice saying anyone found with marijuana
on campus "will continue to be subject to disciplinary action."

. In San Diego, the City Council approved in January a proposal that
medical-marijuana dispensaries be located at least 1,000 feet from
college campuses. "Dispensaries are not compatible with our
educational mission," San Diego State University President Stephen
Weber said in a letter to the council urging a buffer zone.

. In Illinois, where a bill to help medical-marijuana users was
introduced in January, students on two campuses have run into
roadblocks as they seek to create advocacy groups for changing marijuana laws.

After a steady decline in marijuana use since 2003, the percentage of
college students who said they had used marijuana in the previous
month jumped from 17.9% in 2008 to 20.1% in 2009, says the 2010
National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The survey doesn't tie the
rise to medical-marijuana legalization, but "highlighting (marijuana)
as some kind of medicine has sent a terrible message to young
people," says Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy.

Some activists see legalizing medical marijuana as part of a larger
strategy to decriminalize the drug.

At the University of Arkansas, where the chancellor last fall
rejected a proposal to ease penalties for marijuana-related
violations, students are developing a state campaign to legalize
medical marijuana. "We decided to focus our efforts where we could
accomplish some real policy changes," says Robert Pfountz, a past
president of the campus chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy.