Urdedpal
New Member
Whether we like it or not, alcohol is the lifeblood of Chico State - in a historical sense, anyway. Unfortunately, that's gotten this school a lot of bad press over the years. You know the kind: riots, alcohol poisoning, drunken dildo-ring-toss.
During the summer before my first year, family friends would poke fun at me, telling me I was going to a "party school."
Meanwhile, I never heard family friends poke fun at me for going to a "stoner school." Marijuana, while commonly used in the Chico State community, has never had any negative impact on the school's reputation. Why then, you might ask, does the university boot students out much quicker for marijuana offenses than for alcohol offenses?
"Because it's an illegal gateway drug," says the geeky conservative kid in front-center. Yeah, everybody knows pot is illegal, but the gateway drug thing is pretty much been accepted as nonsense.
Last fall, 71 students received marijuana violations in university housing. Current University Housing and Food Service policy says that any student found with marijuana in his or her room will be asked to leave university housing immediately, said Lizanne Leach, Coordinator for Residence Hall Student Conduct. For alcohol violations, students are allowed one warning and asked to leave housing after a second offense.
University officials seem to have singled out marijuana smokers as a greater threat to campus safety and performance than the alcoholics this school is known for.
The last time I checked, the heavy drinkers that hit the downtown scene are beating the crap out of each other (and sober people) on what seems like every Friday and Saturday night. I also remember seeing a KTVU news story in which drunken kids were screaming and generally acting like idiots on Bay Area TV.
Humboldt State is a school that will always be known for students rolling big joints of stinky weed for breakfast. Sure, people snicker about what stoners the students are, but when has negative news come out of Humboldt State?
Hardly ever, and that's because the students there probably do the same thing that Chico stoners do: light up, eat piles of food and giggle at "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." This is pretty harmless stuff. Marijuana enforcement is not a huge priority or concern in Humboldt, and the area remains quiet and peaceful.
Chico State could adopt a more progressive drug policy without compromising the quality of education in any way. A woman in Oroville, only 20 minutes away, made headlines in the major papers when her medical marijuana garden was raided by the DEA in 2002. She took her case to court.
This is a pro-medical-pot area, and having a university behind the compassionate use movement would be of use.
Other schools have approached student usage with a partially blind eye, which maintains order and accommodates the recreational desires of students. UC Santa Cruz has an honored tradition on April 20, or "420 day" when officials turn a blind eye to the cloudy Porter Meadow. The University of Colorado at Boulder has a similar thing. Neither of those schools is known for dull students, and furthermore, it's never a big deal.
You don't hear about many stoners who go off and swing at their best friends after toking up, and, generally, nobody blacks out or is raped. Demonizing marijuana smoking over drinking is just an ignorant move on this school's part.
The more we learn about marijuana, the more we see there is little harm with recreational use. Pre-clinical data published in the "Journal of Clinical Investigation" is rocking the medical marijuana community with research that shows synthetic cannabinoids (compounds in weed - only some pack a punch) stimulated the growth of new nerve cells and significantly reduced stress-related behavior in lab rats. Oooh.
If Chico State truly were an institute of education, it would shun the pseudo-science that marijuana perceptions are based on and embrace research that is leaving McGruff the Crime Dog in the past. Pot can help people, and for those who just want to have fun, who's it hurting?
Source: Orion, The (California State Chico, CA Edu)
Published: March 29, 2006
Copyright: 2006 The Orion
Website: The Orion
During the summer before my first year, family friends would poke fun at me, telling me I was going to a "party school."
Meanwhile, I never heard family friends poke fun at me for going to a "stoner school." Marijuana, while commonly used in the Chico State community, has never had any negative impact on the school's reputation. Why then, you might ask, does the university boot students out much quicker for marijuana offenses than for alcohol offenses?
"Because it's an illegal gateway drug," says the geeky conservative kid in front-center. Yeah, everybody knows pot is illegal, but the gateway drug thing is pretty much been accepted as nonsense.
Last fall, 71 students received marijuana violations in university housing. Current University Housing and Food Service policy says that any student found with marijuana in his or her room will be asked to leave university housing immediately, said Lizanne Leach, Coordinator for Residence Hall Student Conduct. For alcohol violations, students are allowed one warning and asked to leave housing after a second offense.
University officials seem to have singled out marijuana smokers as a greater threat to campus safety and performance than the alcoholics this school is known for.
The last time I checked, the heavy drinkers that hit the downtown scene are beating the crap out of each other (and sober people) on what seems like every Friday and Saturday night. I also remember seeing a KTVU news story in which drunken kids were screaming and generally acting like idiots on Bay Area TV.
Humboldt State is a school that will always be known for students rolling big joints of stinky weed for breakfast. Sure, people snicker about what stoners the students are, but when has negative news come out of Humboldt State?
Hardly ever, and that's because the students there probably do the same thing that Chico stoners do: light up, eat piles of food and giggle at "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." This is pretty harmless stuff. Marijuana enforcement is not a huge priority or concern in Humboldt, and the area remains quiet and peaceful.
Chico State could adopt a more progressive drug policy without compromising the quality of education in any way. A woman in Oroville, only 20 minutes away, made headlines in the major papers when her medical marijuana garden was raided by the DEA in 2002. She took her case to court.
This is a pro-medical-pot area, and having a university behind the compassionate use movement would be of use.
Other schools have approached student usage with a partially blind eye, which maintains order and accommodates the recreational desires of students. UC Santa Cruz has an honored tradition on April 20, or "420 day" when officials turn a blind eye to the cloudy Porter Meadow. The University of Colorado at Boulder has a similar thing. Neither of those schools is known for dull students, and furthermore, it's never a big deal.
You don't hear about many stoners who go off and swing at their best friends after toking up, and, generally, nobody blacks out or is raped. Demonizing marijuana smoking over drinking is just an ignorant move on this school's part.
The more we learn about marijuana, the more we see there is little harm with recreational use. Pre-clinical data published in the "Journal of Clinical Investigation" is rocking the medical marijuana community with research that shows synthetic cannabinoids (compounds in weed - only some pack a punch) stimulated the growth of new nerve cells and significantly reduced stress-related behavior in lab rats. Oooh.
If Chico State truly were an institute of education, it would shun the pseudo-science that marijuana perceptions are based on and embrace research that is leaving McGruff the Crime Dog in the past. Pot can help people, and for those who just want to have fun, who's it hurting?
Source: Orion, The (California State Chico, CA Edu)
Published: March 29, 2006
Copyright: 2006 The Orion
Website: The Orion
