A recent national study has revealed that marijuana use among college students is high.

Monitoring the Future, a University of Michigan-based drug research group that authored the 2015 study, reported that on-campus consumption of marijuana has reached a 35-year high. A nationwide focus group of several thousand college students showed that approximately 6 percent of college students across the country are regular marijuana users.

The study also noted the increase of marijuana usage among students was linked to a 6 percent increase among students who use illicit drugs: from 35 percent in 2006 to 41 percent in 2015.

The upshot on college campuses mirrors marijuana’s rise to being the most commonly used illicit drug nationwide, according to The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a government organization.

With the increase in usage, public perception of the drug is changing rapidly. In the past 10 years, only 35 percent of 19- to 22-year-olds believe that regular marijuana use is dangerous, compared to the 55 percent who held that same belief in 2006.

This has led to numerous states legalizing recreational marijuana usage, including Colorado, Washington, Alaska, and Oregon. The District of Columbia also legalized recreational marijuana.

Lauren Czudak, a freshman education major at Syracuse University, said she attributed the slow destigmatization of marijuana to the vastly changing legal landscape of marijuana policies. The spike on college campuses, however, may have more to do with students “going crazy with their freedom,” she said.

“Once kids get away from their parents, they feel free to experiment with drugs if they’ve never had the chance to before – marijuana usually being the first one they try,” Czudak said.

Annie Lincoln, a freshman engineering major, added that occasional marijuana users often become regular users on campus due to the ease with which they can indulge the habit. Lincoln said that marijuana is both “easy to hide on campus” and also easy to use in “discreet, wooded areas around campus.”

However easy, prevalent or free of judgment smoking marijuana may be on campus, SU maintains a strict “three-strike” policy toward usage and possession of the drug, according to the Student Policy Handbook.

The first offense penalty for being caught in possession of or using marijuana, any illicit drug or drug paraphernalia will land a student immediate placement on disciplinary probation and possible relocation to another “on-campus” living space, among other penalties.

For students who violate these policies and don’t think their parents will find out, the student handbook says otherwise. If students are disciplined by the university for any incidents related to underage drinking or drug use, the university lets their parents know.

John Sardino, the associate chief of law enforcement and community policing division for the Department of Public Safety at SU, said DPS responds to 1-3 marijuana complaints per week, usually pertaining to small amounts of the drug.

Sardino said he has seen no palpable increase in drug usage since the start of the school year, despite the numbers from the study.

It is unknown whether the increasing prevalence of marijuana usage and the continuously changing perception of the drug will change university policy.

Published on September 8, 2015 at 10:21 pm

Contact Chris: cplucey@syr.edu