In the firmament of celebrated Americana, there is Mom, apple pie, football and beer — but there most certainly is not marijuana. As it relates to drugs, this bizarre culture has us accepting that people will use mind-altering substances. But through our statutes, we allow law-abiding citizens to use only one recreational substance — alcohol — that happens to be more hazardous than pot.
Such idiocy is the product of interest-group maneuvering, temperance- movement hypocrisy, reefer-madness paranoia and — most invisibly — college. Though little noticed for its role in America’s selective war on drugs, the university system has now become a key player shotgunning the oxymoronic “alcohol is acceptable but pot is evil” mentality down the beer-bong-primed throats of America’s youth. To see how it all works, consider the University of Colorado.
CU is the higher-education gem of a state whose governor made his millions on beer breweries. Today, the school’s catering service sells alcohol and university officials license CU’s logo for use on beer-drinking merchandise. Meanwhile, CU forces kids to attend an annual convocation in a beer-themed arena — the Coors Events Center — to learn about the “meaning and responsibilities” of student life.
Not surprisingly, CU now has a binge-drinking problem, as evidenced by last week’s news that another of its students died after a night of heavy imbibing. This headline-grabbing tragedy is but one of the 600,000 alcohol-related student injuries each year, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse. But because (like other schools) CU is intertwined with alcohol culture, the university has danced around the issue — simultaneously acknowledging the problem and not doing much about it beyond urging students to “drink responsibly.”
This libertarian attitude seems laudable for appreciating that kids will party regardless of prohibitionist rules. However, it is counterproductive in the context of the school’s no-tolerance posture toward marijuana — a substance that has been connected to far fewer problems.
In recent years, the Boulder Daily Camera reports that university regents have been looking to “crack down” on students’ unsanctioned ” 4/20″ pro-pot protest because officials say it gives the school a “party image” — as if CU’s beer-soaked tailgating festivities don’t do that already. While students over 21 may possess alcohol in university residences, the Camera reports that “CU bans marijuana in its dorms, even if students have medical licenses.” And whereas underage drinking typically results in soft punishments from university officials, CU campus police have been increasing citations for marijuana possession, which can result in students losing financial aid.
CU embodies the norm in our universities, almost all of which have harsher penalties for marijuana possession than alcohol use. Though students at schools across the country recently voted for referenda demanding administrators equalize punishments, the initiatives have been ignored. Instead, school officials are fighting to instill America’s destructive drug-war mentality in the next generation.
The result is the perpetuation of a toxic ethos that encourages us to party hard, but only with a substance that is far more dangerous than marijuana.
