Do College Students at UNR Even Care About Marijuana Legalization?

Experience with drug possession seems to be the driving passion behind voting ‘YES’ to legalization of marijuana for college students at UNR.

When asked about the upcoming vote to legalize marijuana in Nevada, three UNR students expressed their divided opinions to the hot debate.

According to Brittani Brothers, a junior at UNR, her support for the legalization of marijuana is because her aunt and uncle lived by a man who owned an elementary school and only received house arrest for sexually abusing ten little girls.

“You can go away for more time on having a possession charge than for a child molestation charge,” said Brothers.

A charge for drug possession has a long-term effect on anyone, but especially college students who can lose out on financial aid, scholarships, grants and loans, post-graduation employment, and admittance to graduate programs.

“Any federal or state drug conviction, whether it be for the possession, conspiring to sell or sale of illegal drugs, can disqualify a student from receiving federal student aid grants and loans,” said Betsy Mayotte for Us News.

According to an article in the New York Times, because of a 1998 law being enforced by the Bush administration, ineligibility for loans and financial aid go up to two year for students convicted of drug charges.

Possession of Marijuana is one of the top 5 crimes committed by college students, according to a statistic from Gambone & Associates Attorneys At Law,

“There are more people who are going away for hard time just for having a pound of marijuana on them,” said Brothers.

When interviewed, students at UNR, who had never experienced the effects of drug possession charges were indifferent to the legalization vote.

“I think people will do it regardless,” said Natasha Corny, and ASUN club member and junior at UNR.

Research done by Dewey Cornell, an education professor who studies school discipline at the University of Virginia, shows that students who observed punishments given to their peers did not undergo reduction in their personal drug use, according to a Washington Post article.

A pre nursing major and junior at UNR, Serena Carrion, says “I think people would stop sneaking around because that’s how they get in trouble most of the time”.

In an article about a high school student in Fairfax county who was found in possession of marijuana his senior year said, “a high-achieving student being disciplined for a marijuana-possession infraction during his senior year worried so much about the impact on his college plans that his mother took him to a hospital’s suicide unit”.

Colorado, a college-friendly state, was the first to legalize marijuana.

According to an article in the Daily Nebraskan, drug citations on campus decreased from 442 in 2011 to 199 in 2013.

“To my knowledge, we don’t have major issues with minors other than at the beginning of the university school year where we deal with issues for Minors in Possession, but those are usually adults between the ages of 18 and 21 who possess or consume alcohol,” said Laurie Ogden, an executive administrative assistant for Boulder’s police department.

The legalization of marijuana in Nevada would make a difference for college students who may suffer from a possession charge.

“I think people are not realizing the direct benefits to the legalization,” said Brothers.

Students at UNR should use their platform and contribute their voice to issues that matter in the political world.

“We [students] should care because we make up the population of Nevada, we can make a difference,” said Brothers.