Pubdate: Tue, 12 Apr 2005
Source: Daily Camera (CO)
Copyright: 2005 The Daily Camera.
Contact:  http://www.thedailycamera.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/103
Author: Elizabeth Mattern Clark, Camera Staff Writer
Cited: SAFER ( www.saferchoice.org )
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/props.htm (Ballot Initiatives)

VOTE IS ON: POT VERSUS BOOZE

CU Students Casting Ballots For Marijuana Referendum

Student voting began Monday on a measure supporting weed as a safer
alternative to alcohol at the University of Colorado.

About 20 students gathered at a rally to promote the referendum,
asking CU to be more lenient when it comes to marijuana offenses
because they say the drug is much less dangerous than alcohol. =09
"The university's policy on this is intellectually dishonest, and it
has been for 35 years," former Boulder County Commissioner Paul Danish
said at the campus event. "CU has to face that its problem is an
alcohol problem, not a marijuana problem."

Monday's rally was organized by the Boulder-based group called Safer
Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation, which helped get marijuana
measures on spring ballots at CU and Colorado State University.

CU's nonbinding referendum, part of the online student election that
runs through Friday, asks that marijuana-related sanctions be no more
severe than those for alcohol offenses. It also asks for CU to study
the effects of a change in marijuana policy on alcohol-related problems.

School officials would not have to take action if it passes. In fact,
CU officials say they already treat alcohol and marijuana offenses
equally -- with probation, community service and a drug and alcohol
program.

Under a former policy, sanctions were stricter for marijuana use, said
Bob Maust, head of the school's substance-abuse education efforts.
That changed within the last two years.

"If this comes to us as it's written, we're going to be puzzled by
people asking us to do what we've already done," Maust said. "We'll
try to be thoughtful and treat the advice with respect, but we may not
be able to comply with whatever is being recommended."

The school is not about to start ignoring drug offenses, Maust said.
CU requires that students obey state and federal laws, and students
can be suspended after two drug or alcohol offenses.

Vice Chancellor Ron Stump said arguments for marijuana would be more
appropriate before the Legislature than the school's
administrators.

Mason Tvert, director of SAFER, said CU students caught smoking
marijuana tend to be required to do more community service than those
caught breaking alcohol rules. He also said residence hall advisors
sometimes let drinkers off the hook but turn in pot smokers.

That's not fair, he said.

"People argue that there are things marijuana affects, like class,
relationships and getting up in the morning," Tvert said. "Of course,
that happens with alcohol, too. But look at all that you don't have
with marijuana -- like death and rape."

Alcohol consumption among college students contributes to about 1,400
deaths, 500,000 injuries and 70,000 sexual assaults each year,
according to a 2002 study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism.

Ali Geiser, a senior, said she might vote for the referendum.

"How many kids die from driving drunk or alcohol poisoning?" she said.
"Drinking contributes to throat cancer, liver disease, brain damage...."

At CSU, a similar student measure passed last week. Administrators
will consider whether to take any action.

"It's probably impractical that it would go any further," CSU student
representative Katie Clausen said.

Tvert, a graduate of the University of Richmond in Virginia, said the
Boulder SAFER group was formed by an initial $40,000 grant from
billionaire Peter Lewis, founder of Ohio-based Progressive Insurance.
Tvert said he decided to start the group in Colorado partly because of
recent alcohol-poisoning deaths at CU and CSU.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin