cannabisnews.com: Marijuana is Scoring High with Students





Marijuana is Scoring High with Students
Posted by CN Staff on October 20, 2004 at 12:16:56 PT
By Amie Schaenzer and Laura May 
Source: Advance Titan 
Marijuana has a distinctive presence on many of America’s college campuses, and UW-Oshkosh is no exception. According to a 2002 Core Alcohol and Drug Survey on UW-Oshkosh 19.6 percent of Oshkosh students smoked pot within 30 days, which was higher than the 13.1 percent national average. The Advance-Titan spoke with Oshkosh students that deal and use marijuana and also with administrators and university police about the consequences involved with marijuana delivery and possession.
Why choose pot?“It makes me feel happy,” said Kathy, a junior, straight-A student and habitual marijuana user. “It heightens an experience that is already great; it’s almost spiritual.”Many marijuana users explain they smoke because it offers relaxation, makes them happy, brings people together and provides a break from monotony. Charles, a 20-year-old student who gets good grades and a part-time job, uses marijuana as a way to escape from ordinary events.“It’s something to do…like, ‘let’s go over there and get smoked up.’ It makes really mundane, unentertaining events much more entertaining,” Charles said. “It makes things more fun. It makes me happy, and I think it helps with stress.”Nora, also a 20-year-old student, said she smokes marijuana regularly and likes that “it doesn’t mess you up out of your mind like alcohol does.”“I smoke pot because it’s relaxing and it’s fun to do with other people,” she said.Non-student Don deals to students and smokes marijuana regularly. “I enjoy marijuana on every single level,” he said. “Cultivation, being high, getting high, the anxiety of the chase to get weed when you don’t have it and how it does really get people together.”The hook-up: How accessible is marijuana at UW-Oshkosh?Charles said that when he came to college he found it extremely easy to get marijuana.“My first semester I met three different people who could find weed. They asked me, I didn’t even approach them. I didn’t know them prior to school,” Charles said. “Yeah, it’s super easy to get pot. Sometimes there is a dry season or period, but most of the time you can hook up.” Don said , even as a non-student, he found getting pot near campus easy.“Even not being a student, I’ve been approached and had opportunities presented to me. I have not had to go out of my way. I’ve been offered it on the street, right on campus,” he said. According to Don it’s all about who you know.“It’s all about references. Probably half of the people I go to go through campus — and that’s where they go to get it,” he said. Cashing In: Making Money Off of Pot at UW-Oshkosh University Police Chief Michael Melland doubts anyone at Oshkosh is making a fortune from dealing marijuana to university students. “You have to move a lot of pot to make a lot of money,” Melland said. “Usually what we see around here is little baggies [of marijuana]. There is no one who is getting rich by selling drugs here at UW-Oshkosh.” Don may not become wealthy from selling marijuana, but he manages to make a living by dealing to students. “For the last six months of my life I have paid for lodging, utilities and luxuries through weed,” he said. “I have lived better than my working friends.”Kathy and Charles both deal casually and agree that it’s not a reliable source of income for them, since they deal in small quantities and do not make a profit. They deal to acquaintances in order to cover the marijuana they bought and then smoke the remainder for free. Melland said the majority of students that sell marijuana do so through “casual sales,” which involve “hooking” a friend up with marijuana or “scoring” a baggie for an acquaintance. Casual sales are done sporadically or only as a one-time deal, he said.Nora said she personally has only casually sold to acquaintances.“If you smoke pot, I’m sure at one point you will sell or help people hook up with weed,” Nora said. While hooking students up with marijuana may be commonplace at Oshkosh, Melland said that students often do not realize the severity of a simple transfer of marijuana among friends.“All I got to do is pass a joint to you, and I’m charged with delivery of controlled substance,” he said. Getting Caught vs. ConsequencesDon, Charles and the University Police chief would be able to agree on one thing: they’ve all seen plenty of people get “screwed over” or mess up their lives because of marijuana. Charles said he has witnessed firsthand the reality of being caught and avoids getting busted “at all costs.”“There was one time I was hanging out, and this dude wore a wire into my friends house. I was standing there talking to the guy and the guy mentioned where he knew where there was weed. He ended up going to jail for two years,” Charles said. On-campus delivery of substance charges are rare and have decreased 71 percent over the past two years, with seven cases reported in 2002 and two reported in 2003. Students charged off campus grounds are not included in the annual campus crime report numbers since they are reported by the Oshkosh Police Department. The only drug law violations reported to the university are students in the residence halls or students violating laws on campus grounds. Melland has been involved in the law enforcement field for 23 years and has been a part of the university police since 1996. Throughout varied experiences during his career he said that regulating drugs on a campus has been the most difficult.Undercover investigations are the typical procedure used to stop delivery of drugs, yet it’s hard for U.P. to disguise themselves on campus. “It’s difficult here because everybody knows everybody,” he said. “It’s hard to do an undercover investigation.”Possession of marijuana charges have dropped 52 percent, with 73 cases reported in 2002 and 35 in 2003, according to the 2003 UW-Oshkosh Campus Crime report. “Marijuana use is down clandestinely. It’s under the radar,” Melland said. The most common way student dealers and users are caught on campus is by other students, Melland said. He said that a student dealer is most likely to get reported if their use is affecting their peers. Also, he said that students do not like to think that student dealers are making money off of their drug use. “It’s a Catch 22. ‘I do it, but I don’t like the guy selling it,’” Melland said. The number of individuals cited for drug law violations has dropped from 170 individuals in 2002 to 103 in 2003, according to the United States Department of Education campus crime and security report on Oshkosh. The Core Alcohol and Drug survey found that in 2002, 33 percent of Oshkosh students had used marijuana in the past year, which amounts to 3,227 students. That means that 94 percent of students smoking marijuana were not caught by University Police in 2002. James Chitwood, dean of students and director of the residence halls, said that he would like to recognize Oshkosh students as the reason behind a drop in drug violations.“I want to give credit to students for their self-restraint. I think there’s an increase in knowledge that this university will not let students break the law,” he said. Consequences: What happens after you get caught? “If they haven’t thought about the consequences, we hope that we can help them to,” said Dr. Mike Altekruse, counseling center staff psychologist. Altekruse runs the newly initiated Healthy Choices: Marijuana 1 class, which is one of the minor punishments dealt to students caught possessing marijuana on campus.The Dean of Students office works in coordination with residence hall directors and university police to discipline students who get caught smoking or delivering marijuana on campus; in the residence halls or on campus grounds.“Residence halls are not an oasis from the law,” Chitwood said. On-campus students can be dealt added university punishments if caught, such as the Healthy Choices class. While continued possession or delivery charges will mean added fines or jail time, Oshkosh students can also be suspended, placed on probation or moved to substance-free floors in the residence halls. Chitwood said the punishments are often based on the severity of the crime. Depending on severity, marijuana charges can critically impend students’ future careers by preventing them from continuing with certain majors and getting an internship or job. Specifically affected majors include criminal justice, education, social work and nursing. “The job market is pretty competitive. Say candidate A has a clean record and candidate B has a drug charge. Guess who’s getting the job,” Melland said. Also, car insurance coverage will rise if drug charges are on a persons record.Financial aid can also be affected, preventing students from obtaining loans. In Fall 2004, 92,000 students were denied financial aid nationwide because of past drug conviction according to a Feb. 25, 2004, Advance-Titan article.Chitwood said that he hopes students will understand that a drug conviction can set back a student in the future.“It’s not a one-time, pay the fine and it’s all over,” he said. “There’s reoccurring repercussions.”A gateway and future drug use: Where marijuana can lead.Besides the chances of getting caught, marijuana has often been cited as a gateway to other more serious drugs, and many view college as an opportune time to try.“College-age students are into experimentation,” Melland said. The second-most commonly used drug on campus is amphetamines, such as diet pills and speed. Designer drugs, such as ecstasy, are third, according to the Alcohol and Drug survey. Amphetamine and designer drug use at Oshkosh is above the national average. Nationally, 8.8 percent of students had done amphetamines in the past year, while 15.4 percent of Oshkosh students had. In 2002, 6.1 percent of students had used designer drugs across the nation and 7.7 percent of Oshkosh students had. Don said that continued drug use, beyond marijuana, makes sense.“I think that a lifestyle that regularly coincides with marijuana also coincides with other drugs. People who like to get intoxicated, get intoxicated,” he said. “So you find new ways to do it.” Source: Advance Titan (WI)Author: Amie Schaenzer and Laura May of the Advance Titan Published: Wednesday, October 20, 2004Copyright: 2004 University of Wisconsin at OshkoshContact: atitan uwosh.edu Website: http://www.advancetitan.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #3 posted by The GCW on November 09, 2004 at 18:43:43 PT
Cannabis is good.
http://www.advancetitan.com/story.asp?issue=11108&story=3317Letters to the editor Issue: Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Added: 11/2/2004 2:30:49 PM US WI: LTE: Cannabis Not A Chemical Weapon of Mass Destruction 
 
To the editor: The discredited government-subsidized prohibition and extermination of cannabis (“Marijuana is Scoring High with Students,” Oct. 20, 2004) is unfair. You mentioned financial aid may be denied for a cannabis infraction but forgot to mention those opportunities are not denied to murderers, rapists or other violent criminals. It’s unfair to inflict drastic punitive actions to users, which are greater than the harms of cannabis itself, then, further, cite those harms as reasons to stop using cannabis.The government would like citizens to think cannabis is a chemical weapon of mass destruction. In reality it’s one of those seed-bearing plants that God created and said is good on literally the very first page of the Bible. Biblically, it’s time to stop caging humans for using a good plant. 
 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on October 20, 2004 at 16:02:24 PT
Druuuuuugs
"Don, Charles and the University Police chief would be able to agree on one thing: they’ve all seen plenty of people get “screwed over” or mess up their lives because of marijuana."Because of the marijuana itself, the actual green leafy plant screwed them over somehow? Or were these lives ruined because of the screwy laws surrounding the plant??And I really like how the list of other drugs used on campus ignores the one which students the country over regularly die from abusing: alcohol.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by lombar on October 20, 2004 at 15:39:58 PT
Prohibitions shining success story 
"It's difficult here because everybody knows everybody, he said. It's hard to do an undercover investigation."Sending in an infiltrator, a spy, a person who must LIE in order to function, to attempt to stop young people from getting a bag of pot. Surely there's some real crime out there...oh hey, which is easier; infiltrate dangerous criminal organisations with guns or college students with dried plant matter? Which serves the public good more? Which gets more funding? I have a little hope because of LEAP (http://leap.cc) since there are real cops who understand just how much the drug war has impugned their honor and damaged their credibility. Drug abuse is NOT a police problem except by political will, it is a health problem. Police need to be concerned with conduct more than consumption."That means that 94 percent of students smoking marijuana were not caught by University Police in 2002."I imagine that is likely true in society overall. If only 5% of the cannabis users are never caught what does that say? Is it true that only 5% of murderers, rapists, robbers, are ever brought to justice as well? YES? THEN STOP WASTING POLICE TIME UPROOTING PLANTS!!! (and arresting sick people)"Also, car insurance coverage will rise if drug charges are on a persons record.The job market is pretty competitive. Say candidate A has a clean record and candidate B has a drug charge. Guess who's getting the job, Melland said."He admits that having even just a drug charge is like a scarlett letter symbolizing P-A-R-I-A-H - leper, unclean, outcast, etc. and a cause for discriminatation. Of course if you snort mountains of coke and never get caught, you are fit to lead the free world.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment