MARIJUANA VIEWED AS SAFER ALTERNATIVE TO HARDER DRUGS

It's 9:15 p.m. Monday night.

A smoky haze blurs the view of the Louisville basketball game playing
on the television, the chattering of voices drowning out the
commentator's voice.

Another puff.

Pipes and bongs litter the scene, and the smell of marijuana fills the
room.

"It's better smoked in a pipe or bong," says Mr. X, a senior at
Eastern, who asked to remain anonymous. "All of your friends come over
and hang out, and that's what we do - it's like a social event."

Drug abuse has been a recurring problem in Kentucky for decades. And
college is often where many students do their first real experimenting
with illegal drugs.

Eastern is no different.

While alcohol still holds the crown as the drug of choice, marijuana
has a firm hold on second place.

An "unofficial" cash crop.

The drug's prevalence in Kentucky shouldn't surprise. Kentucky
produces more marijuana than any other state, save, for California,
according to 2007 reports from the Office of National Drug Policy's
Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program (HIDTA).

Marijuana is harvested in the state's national forests, farms and even
backyards, as the region's climate is very conducive to the plant's
growth.

In fact, Mr. X said he is a strong believer in the cultivation of
marijuana to help give a boost to Kentucky's economy.

"It's stupid that [marijuana] isn't legal," he said. "It's the
unofficial cash crop."

The Routine

While some students acknowledge they smoke weed only now and then, Mr.
X said he finds time to light up twice a day - once in the morning and
then after school or work.

"Just before I walk out of the house, I'll hit the pipe once," he
said, adding that in the mornings he smokes less than a gram.

In the evenings, however, he jumps to four grams.

"It's not addicting," he said. "It feels good. It's relaxing,
euphoric. It allows me to think of unreasonable thoughts I wouldn't
have thought of before. It allows my imagination to be active."

Everything is OK in moderation, he said, adding that he believes
smoking marijuana is less harmful than drinking alcohol. He also said
marijuana is not the "gateway" to harder narcotics that some contend.

"Smoking has never made me want to do other drugs," Mr. X said. "It's
just a healthier alternative to drinking. You feel more in control
than getting drunk. People automatically think you do these wild
things, but that's not true."

Still, Mr. X has had his share of close calls with weed, one of which
landed him in jail for 20 minutes after a police officer conducted a
search of his friend's car.

"I didn't want to let him go down alone, so I said half of it was
mine," Mr. X said.

His case was dismissed after being sentenced to 10 hours of community
service. Mr. X even defended himself in court, saying he researched
the state's laws on marijuana and ultimately had his case diverted,
owing to the first offender's clause, which advocates a more lenient
treatment in criminal sentencing for people who have not committed
previous felonies.

"I escaped conviction because weed made me want to study law," he
said.

A Different Path

For most pot smokers, weed isn't considered all that bad or considered
a "hard" substance.

The label of a hard drug, they said, is reserved for the more-additive
substances, like Oxycontine, crystal meth or cocaine.

For Mr. Z, another student who agreed to speak with the Progress on
the condition that he remains anonymous, said his marijuana use has
served as his retreat after repeated bouts with heavier drugs.

"Now, I just smoke weed because it chills me out, and I drink
sometimes," he said. "[In the past] I liked percs, Xanax, oc's, but my
favorite was acid. I quit because I had just had enough. It wasn't
worth being sick when I didn't have a pill."

Still, Mr. Z acknowledges that his drug use originated with marijuana,
ultimately leading him to stronger drugs.

"I started smoking pot when I was 12, nothing else until I was 15, and
from then on I just got messed up for the next three and a half
years," he said. "I snorted pills. I did percs, xanex, oxy's roxy's,
triple c's, tabs, adderall, and just about any combination of those. I
tried coke once, and molly. Mushrooms were good too."

A native of Powell County, Mr. Z said he wasn't alone in his
addiction, as several of his friends joined in. He said the peer
pressure was there, and it often proved difficult to resist.

Mr. Z said he soon began spending nearly a hundred dollars a week to
feed his drug habit.

"It got to where I could do three or four percs a day," he said. "And
eventually I could do them all day long."

"I stopped a year ago," he said. "It was really hard, but I just kind
of stayed in my room for a week to get it all out of my system. I was
really sick when I was detoxing, withdrawals are the worst."

The detox process, however, is better than overdosing - something he
acknowledges he's had a few scares with.

"Once I thought I was going to overdose," he said. "That was on percs,
though. It was scary as hell. I took too much. I was throwing up, I
was confused, couldn't breathe and I was high as hell."

Seeking Treatment

Meghan Scott, coordinator of H.E.A.T., or the Health Education Action
Team on campus, said her organization offers in-depth, educational
programs on drugs. But if students are seeking treatment, H.E.A.T.
refers them to Eastern's Counseling Center, which specializes in
substance abuse.

Kevin Stanley, a senior staff psychologist with the Counseling Center,
said the process for seeking substance abuse treatment is generally
the same as seeking treatment for other issues.

"At one time students were a little shy about asking for help with
substance abuse," Stanley said. "Now they seem more comfortable
reaching out."

He said society's softening stance on drug abuse has helped encourage
some students to lower their guard and seek help, but he said that
doesn't prevent other students from falling into similar traps.

"The most common problems with substance abuse we see in the
Counseling Center are that a student's use has started generating some
negative consequences, such as getting in trouble with the university
or with law enforcement, relationship problems or academic problems,"
Stanley said.

Stanley said his experiences suggest freshman seem to be the students
most at risk of developing destructive drug habits, but he said he
didn't have any specific data that would bear this out.

"We seem to get more referrals of freshman based on campus
violations," Stanley said. "And one of our substance abuse counselors
has heard that freshman in the first six weeks of a fall semester
engage in the riskiest activities."

Stanley added male and female students at Eastern are equally likely
to acknowledge using marijuana in the last month. However, he said,
males are more likely to admit consuming alcohol. And those students
who have already passed the legal drinking age are more likely to have
some experience with drugs other than marijuana.

Stanley also said the use of prescription pain medications and
products similar to synthetic marijuana have also appeared in rare
occurrences with students at the Counseling Center.

"Abuse of prescription pain medication certainly does happen here, but
only about 1 percent of students report using these drugs in the past
year," Stanley said. "We've (also) seen some issues with various herbs
that have been treated with synthetic cannabinoids, which are closely
related to the active components of marijuana."

For more information on drug-related treatment and information
regarding substance abuse, contact the Counseling Center at 622-1303.
The counseling center offers confidential assessments.