by Carla Baron

Created on: January 25, 2009   Last Updated: February 18, 2012

Should colleges punish marijuana smokers more severely than underage drinkers on campus? My answer is no. There is no difference here. If they have a punishment set up for underage drinking, then  whatever that is should be the same for those who get caught smoking pot. Why would one think of punishing one more severely? It's the same thing to me. So you smoke pot instead of drink, to me you are just getting high. If there's a rule that says you can't get high regardless of the substance, then that's the rule. To me the rule on campus for underage drinking and/ or smoking pot should be the same. Whatever the punishment is for one it should be the same for the other.

Now we are only talking about getting high here, not dealing drugs. if someone is caught dealing drugs, obviously whether it's pot of something else, the punishment will be more severe than that of smoking it. Laws are different and punishment is different because they are two different types of offenses. When it comes to smoking or drinking however, the principle is the same, the offense is the same, so the punishment, whatever that might be for that college, should be the same.

The problem we have today is people tend to overreact. They think one thing is worse than the other so in their mind they have to punish the person differently. Well let's think of it this way, ask yourself; does it matter if you stabbed a person to death or shot the person to death? Did you not kill someone? Does it matter how you achieved it, no...murder is murder. How you did it is irrelevant, the punishment is the same. Same thing here with this question regarding smoking pot vs. underage drinking. What difference does it make how you choose to get high? So one person decides to smoke marijuana and the other decides to drink, it's the same thing just two different approaches to the same outcome.

When I see questions such as this and realize that there are people out there who think one is different than the other or one is worse than the other, it makes me wonder what they are thinking and why. Chances are in this case people will think because you can go out and buy liquor in a store that offense should be less punishable, but in reality, that's not true. What difference does that actually make? Look, smoking pot and underage drinking alcohol are pretty much the same thing, they are both illegal. In both cases you are getting high and doing something you should not be doing. Now if you were of age to drink it would not be against the law so there would be no impact of the law, as you are not breaking it. However, if you were to be in possession of marijuana, which is not sold in stores and is not legal, then there would be some consequence of the law. That's different because it's an illegal substance, regardless of your age. This could be a reason you may want to treat it differently, however in this case and in this question with regard to punishment on campus, both are illegal, so there is no difference as far as I am concerned.

To me the way you treat one is the same way you should treat the other. Try to put aside what the substance is. Remember, today they find household items they can use to get high. Those things are not obtained illegally either but if they use them to get high on campus and get caught, then that too should be treated the same as smoking and drinking.

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