MARIJUANA HEARINGS AT CU-BOULDER ON DECLINE AFTER ORIENTATION DOES MORE TO ADDRESS POT

Drug-Related Hearings Had Been Increasing With Medical Marijuana
Boom

University of Colorado student Andreas Wion got caught with a
marijuana-packed pipe outside of his dorm room last school year.

To satisfy the sanction from the school's judicial branch, Wion paid
fines and performed five hours of community service by helping with a
school recycling project. Wion said he took a survey about his
marijuana usage and the sophomore, who now has a medical marijuana
license, said he wrote a paper about how he wouldn't smoke pot -- on
campus.

"I wrote that I'd be more cautious and discreet about it," Wion
said.

Wion's possession case was among the 1,499 marijuana-related ones
reviewed by the Office of Student Conduct last school year. Of those
cases, 575 students were found culpable.

While the number of CU students getting sent to the school's Office of
Student Conduct for alcohol-related tickets has been on a steady
decline, marijuana cases have been much more erratic.

As state laws have been in flux surrounding medical marijuana,
university officials have had to make it extra clear that smoking pot
on campus -- regardless of whether students have medical-marijuana
cards -- is against the law.

In 2007-08, 1,466 students had hearings for marijuana-related
incidents and 613 students were found culpable. In 2008-09 that number
increased to 1,589 with 705 students found to be guilty. And, in
2009-2010, the university handled a record-high of 1,836
marijuana-related cases, finding 682 students responsible.

Wion said that his friend was smoking pot outside of the Stearns East
dorm room, but tossed the joint when he saw police and resident
advisers approaching them. Authorities asked the students to empty out
their pockets and Wion said he was caught with his pipe, which he
normally smoked off campus.

Two years ago, CU officials began addressing the drug much more at
orientation and Wardenburg Health Center will begin offering a new
marijuana diversion class, said Robin Kolble, who manages Community
Health at CU.

Still, she said that alcohol remains a much more rampant problem on
campus.

Wion said he thinks campus officials should focus more on enforcing
underage drinking laws -- because unlike pot, he said, it can cause
students to be violent and drop out of school.

During the last school year, CU's Office of Student Conduct heard
2,648 alcohol-related cases, and 1,449 students were found to be
"responsible." Booze-related cases have been on the decline since the
2007-08 school year, when 3,703 cases were heard and 1,893 students
were found responsible.

Campus spokesman Bronson Hilliard explained that drinking-related
cases heard by the conduct office usually stem from a noise complaint
at a residence hall that draws attention to a room and results in a
group of students being contacted by a resident adviser or police officer.

The conduct office then decides who is responsible in the case --
which can result in a large number of cases, but also a large number
of students found not to be responsible.

Marijuana-related cases had been increasing with the boom in the
medical marijuana industry, but leveled off to their 2007-08 numbers
this past school year.

"One of the reasons you see that decrease in the last year is the
increased education at orientation," said Malinda Miller-Huey, a
spokeswoman for the CU-Boulder campus. "That was added in 09-10 and
that really helped students understand state law and federal law and
how that applied on campus."

The university's code of conduct clarifies that "use or possession of
marijuana, including medical marijuana" is not allowed on campus and
is considered a violation of the campus's drug policy.

Miller-Huey said that restrictions for obtaining medical-marijuana
cards have also become stiffer, helping with the decrease.