Should colleges punish marijuana-smokers more severely than underage drinkers on campus?

Yes

1 of 11

by Enigmatic

• 

Write now Print Invite a writer™ Add to Favorites RSS Feed Contact this writer

Colleges should have a no-tolerance attitude to those who are using drugs such as marijuana. I believe by doing so, that it would discourage those students from harming themselves so that they may make the most of their stay during college by focusing on their studies. The addictive effects of marijuana-smokers greatly diminishes their capacity for wanting to learn, and taking the initiative to do so.

For a place like college, it's imperative that they begin learning (or reinforcing) self-control and discipline. The whole point of college is to train students for their career, and that they do it professionally. But by not putting in the proper punishments for going against the law because of a drug craving ends up giving the students the sense that it's not as bad as they think it is. It's the wrong kind of encouragement.

The need for marijuana also ends up burning a hole in the pockets of the college students. With the already high school costs, they're just spending the money on something that they really have no business in needing, let alone using. The fact that marijuana is socially acceptable among students makes a student less of an individual and basically tells them that if everyone's doing this one thing, that is actually illegal and unhealthy, it's completely fine if you do it as well. Which is a horrible mindset.

The health effects for marijuana are also no joke in the short-term and long-term. For many students, it could be their first time and they have very little knowledge about what kinds of marijuana there are and what they do. For all they know the marijuana has more than the common 5 percent THC that most plants have, which results in the initial effects being quite drastic. Most of the effects that happen in the short-term make the person look like they just woke up after a 24 hour sleep. Not to mention the students that smoked marijuana a day before tending classes with reddened eyes with the usual odd body temperature makes a bad impression on how the school looks.

If marijuana-smokers don't get rightfully and properly punished, it won't break up the cycle of peer pressure where newer college students would be tempted to try and get hooked on the stuff. It's a terrible experience for a new group of people to enter college only to be surrounded by other students that live and breathe the drug.

Learn more about this author, Enigmatic.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.