COLLEGE ACTIVISTS PROMOTING POT USE OVER ALCOHOL

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Students at two Colorado college campuses rocked
by alcohol-related deaths last year are pressing school officials to
lighten up on marijuana users.

Claiming pot is safer than alcohol, activists at the University of
Colorado in Boulder and Colorado State University here want sanctions
for the use and possession of marijuana to be no greater than those
imposed for underage drinking.

Students signed petitions last week to have the measure put on the
ballots next month during student elections. The initiatives also asks
administrators to conduct a study to determine the impact of making
marijuana use nonpunishable for students older than 18.

The vote will be nonbinding at CU and CSU. But if the measures pass,
they will send a message that students think a few puffs from a joint
are a lot safer than several shots of beer, said Mason Tvert,
executive director for SAFER (Safer Alternatives for Enjoyable
Recreation).

"If a fraternity told a freshman to go into the woods and smoke a
pound of pot, he is not going to die from that," said Tvert, a recent
University of Virginia graduate. "He'll fall asleep before that happens."

The Boulder-based SAFER was formed in January as a nonprofit group and
is looking to create chapters at CU and CSU. The group is heading the
petition drives to get the marijuana measure before student voters.

Proponents got the 1,200 signatures needed at CU and are hoping to get
the required 2,085 at CSU by Monday, Tvert said.

He claims too much police time and money is spent on marijuana
enforcement, while it is alcohol that claims lives. At least 1,400
college student deaths each year are linked to alcohol, according to
the National Institutes of Health.

But, Tvert said, there has never been a reported case of a student
dying from a marijuana overdose.

"Our stance is that alcohol is more acceptable in our society and that
is just bad public policy," he said.

Marijuana is an illegal substance and can draw fines and jail time.
Students caught with pot can be suspended from school.

Both CU and CSU had a student die last year from alcohol poisoning.
Their deaths led to several changes aimed at curtailing alcohol abuse
on both campuses and to proposals in the Colorado legislature to
tighten penalties for underage drinking.

"Tons of kids are dying every year from alcohol, and we just think
there is an alternative to that," said Havi Nelson, a CSU junior and a
leader in the petition drive.

Some are skeptical that marijuana isn't as dangerous as alcohol.

Students who use marijuana consistently have a harder time in classes,
their grades fall and their relationships plummet, said Anne Hudgens,
CSU's executive director for campus life.

In all, she said, "I don't think we are interested in our school
experimenting with making marijuana use nonpunishable."