cannabisnews.com: Officials Doubt Marijuana Policy Will Be Loosened





Officials Doubt Marijuana Policy Will Be Loosened
Posted by CN Staff on September 01, 2006 at 06:45:58 PT
By Kelly Whittaker 
Source: Diamondback
Maryland -- Campus officials shrugged off student leaders’ 10-page proposal requesting reduced punishments for students caught with marijuana on campus, saying the university is unlikely to loosen punishments for drug use.Student leaders must now submit the proposal to Resident Life and the University Senate — a process that could take up to a year. John Zacker, the director of the office of student conduct, said he doubts the university will move toward loosening the punishments for marijuana use.
“I encourage students to become involved in these issues, but I’m not very encouraging [on this topic] because I don’t think it will end in the result they would like,” Zacker said.The proposal would differentiate marijuana from harder drugs under the university’s student code of conduct, said Stacia Cosner, president of the campus’ Students for a Sensible Drug Policy.In a meeting between Vice President of Student Affairs Linda Clement and Cosner, Clement said students were aiming too high in the administrative ranks and needed to submit a proposal to Resident Life and the senate.“I think we had a good meeting, it was a good exchange of good points of view,” Clement said. “I advised her to go to Resident Life and the senate, where changes to the code of conduct take place.”Officials’ distaste for the changes was a blow to the chapters of SSDP and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which have been pushing for the policy change since last spring.Clement added although the campus embraces debate, she thinks there will be strong points on both sides of the issue, and she disagrees with Cosner on the issue.“Change will be very difficult,” Clement said.After a non-binding referendum on the Student Government Association’s election ballot showed 65 percent of voters favored loosening current punishments, SSDP and NORML began penning the proposal Cosner presented to Clement.“My main proposal was made up of two different proposals,” Cosner said. “It was to make changes in the residence hall policy to make marijuana offenses a ‘B’ violation instead of an ‘A’ violation, and also to exclude it from the list of prohibited behaviors on the university’s student code of conduct by differentiating between marijuana and other harder drugs.”The university currently considers marijuana use or possession in the residence halls on campus to be a first-class offense, meaning offenders immediately lose their housing, financial aid status and face suspension or mandatory drug testing. Marijuana is also included under the umbrella term of “illicit drugs” in the list of prohibited substances in the university’s student code of conduct.“We are arguing that the policy is unduly harsh and doesn’t reflect the nature of the so-called crime,” said Kris Krane, executive director of SSDP’s national office in Washington. Krane has been assisting Cosner with the proposal.Cosner said she was not discouraged by Tuesday’s meeting and will immediately begin working on proposals to present to Resident Life and the senate. She was advised the senate would probably take a semester to a year to look over her proposals.“I knew it would take a while, because they don’t change the student code rapidly,” Cosner said.The effort from NORML and SSDP on this issue has won the university the top spot in High Times magazine’s list of the top 10 counterculture schools, an annual collection of the top schools in the nation working to reform drug policies on their respective campuses.The list, appearing in the October issue of the magazine, hit newsstands this week. High Times votes on schools based on level of student activism against the war on drugs.“The list is based on the level of activism regarding policies, not just schools at which students use a lot of pot,” Krane said. “Maryland is certainly not the No. 1 stoner school, but has more activism than most universities in the country.”Cosner said this honor is motivating and that administrators’ skepticism is not discouraging her and her colleagues.“We’re not going anywhere,” Cosner said. “We’ll do what needs to be done.”Note: U. Senate discussions on pot policy may take a year.Newshawk: MayanSource: Diamondback, The (U of MD Edu)Author: Kelly Whittaker Published: September 01, 2006Copyright: 2006 Maryland Media, Inc.Contact: whittakerdbk gmail.comWebsite: http://www.diamondbackonline.com/NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/SSDPhttp://www.ssdp.org/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on September 01, 2006 at 20:47:20 PT
Students for a Sensible Drug Policy
give me hope for the future...hopefully the near future. But I'm glad that there are young people who care. I hope they don't drop their dream, like so many of my generation apparently did.
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Comment #7 posted by whig on September 01, 2006 at 13:01:03 PT
rchandar
Are you nice to them? Keep in mind that these students did not choose to be born to families that could afford to put them through college. They are people like you and they are frustrated in their own lives about their lack of autonomy and the drudgery of schoolwork. Sure, you may know they have it good but you cannot expect that people must all be brought down to suffer with the poorest and the most infirm.
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Comment #6 posted by rchandar on September 01, 2006 at 12:54:57 PT:
well, call me crazy...
...I'm only a university teacher. They haven't been nice to me, and I wonder why they should have it so good and me struggling for a few pennies. Doesn't seem fair, does it?...you may be right. But when push comes to shove, Mommy and Daddy provide them with all the cushions they need. I live in no such word. I hope you could forgive my "bias."--rchandar
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Comment #5 posted by whig on September 01, 2006 at 11:43:07 PT
rchandar
I could not disagree with you more.The university age students are not children. They are old enough to consume cannabis and broaden their minds thereby. Indeed there is no better time to have such a consciousness-raising than when around others like yourself and in the presence of learning.
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Comment #4 posted by whig on September 01, 2006 at 11:37:32 PT
Resident Life and University Senate
I'm going to do the "conservative mindset" for you because you should really understand how it works. We cannot argue against the prohibitionists unless we understand how conservatives think and respond to their concerns. I'm not talking about the manipulators of public opinion, I'm talking about how ordinary people think.This really is the way to do it, the university administrators are right. A petition does not carry the weight of the considered student body. For the same reason you can't have a change in federal drug policy by approaching the executive branch. If it is the will of the Congress that prohibition continue, the executive would be derelict to refuse that.Please reply respectfully to that point of view if you can and make it persuasive, because that is how we will win. To speak to ordinary people, not politicians.
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Comment #3 posted by rchandar on September 01, 2006 at 11:11:24 PT:
unfortunately
unfortunately, I have very little sympathy for these rich, slut-driven punks. No, there is a point to disciplining big children who Mommy and Daddy have given huge sums of money to in the hope that they will mature, and a free license to trash every pillar of respect that faculty and administration are due. They are extremely insensitive people, and I've no sympathy with them because they treat us badly.I consider this to be a struggle against real injustice--against people with families, people who work hard and try to do the right things. Lately here in Miami all I've been told is that teen potsmokers are an irresponsible bunch of unfettered trash talkers, and I'm getting sick of it. We should stick to that--to people who have real concerns, not kids giddy over the proceedings of "Sorority Swap Night."--rchandar
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on September 01, 2006 at 08:21:44 PT
Drug Policy Forum Reflects on Successes
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/sep/01/drug_policy_forum_reflects_successes/?city_local
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on September 01, 2006 at 08:20:50 PT
New Paltz Gets Ranked in Marijuana Magazine
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060901/NEWS/609010337/-1/OPINION
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