Pubdate: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 Source: Boulder Weekly (CO) Copyright: 2005 Boulder Weekly Contact: http://www.boulderweekly.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57 Author: Evan Ackerfeld BOOZE VS. GANJA I have been following the recent and ongoing coverage of the various efforts underway to curb dangerous student drinking on and around Colorado's college campuses, and I think our schools are going about it the wrong way. Consider the potential harms associated with alcohol: fatal alcohol poisoning, sexual assault, fighting, unprotected sex-the list goes on and on. Now, consider the greatest harms associated with marijuana, a similarly inevitable and highly penalized activity on college campuses. There has never been a single fatal marijuana overdose in history, and the use of marijuana has never been conclusively linked to violent, aggressive or sexually devious or vulnerable behavior. So, why are colleges' penalties for student marijuana violations still greater than those imposed for student alcohol violations? Colorado's universities should consider this policy discrepancy and stop implicitly steering their students toward a less penalized, albeit more dangerous recreational drug. Evan Ackerfeld, Boulder - --- MAP posted-by: Josh