Herb. Ganja. Dope. The “chrons.” Have you heard these words lately? These words, along with many others, are nicknames for the illegal drug Marijuana.
Unfortunately these words are not uncommon with the staff at the Fairfield University Security Department.
The campus crime statistics are stark: drug violations at Fairfield have gone up from 32 in 1999 to 67 in 2000 to 107 in 2001. The Campus Crime Beat section of The Mirror reports additional violations in Fall ’02.
But the statistics come as no surprise to students and administrators.
“I actually just saw a kid get caught with a lot of marijuana in his dorm room the other day,” said Cara Milo, ’05. “That just shows you that people are doing it and there’s a lot of it going on.”
Jeanne DiMuzio, director of wellness and prevention at Fairfield University, has also become aware of the escalating numbers of students getting caught using marijuana.
“When I get judicial referrals, there is an increase in violations that are related to marijuana,” she said.
Mike Lauzon, assistant director of the security department at Fairfield University agrees.
“By the statistics, you can see marijuana use has steadily been increasing at Fairfield.”
Has marijuana use increased at Fairfield University? Is security cracking down harder on the illegal substance? Or is increased usage just part of a national trend of more young people tokin’ up?
Lauzon thinks that the increase in marijuana violations is mostly due to an increase in pot smoking.
“It is a combination of more students using marijuana and an increase of awareness of the Resident Life staff. I believe mostly though, that it is an increase in marijuana use,” said Lauzon. “It’s nationwide, no matter where you go, there is more marijuana use.”
Jonathan Mackin, ’03, believes this too.
“I think there is an increase in pot use at Fairfield and it is in direct connection to the increase of alcoholic busts. It has become harder for minors to buy alcohol, so they use supplementary drugs as a result.”
Mackin recalls when he was a sophomore and lived in Jogues Hall.
“Security would wait for kids to be carrying in bulky backpacks and then they would bust them for their 30 pack.”
Robyn Brady, ’04, sees marijuana use becoming a norm in today’s society.
“In general, it seems as if marijuana use is more accepted now. It’s now in the same category as drinking.”
Fairfield University is not the only school that deals with marijuana violations. According to the Daily News in Muncie, Indiana, a student was caught with six pounds of marijuana, along with 200 steroid pills, syringes, scales and $1,000 in cash at Ball State University in Indiana last year.
At Syracuse University in New York, 31 cases of the illegal possession of marijuana were reported since January. According to the Daily Orange of Syracuse, Liz Kostin, ’04, of Syracuse University said she can even study while being high on marijuana.
“It’s not a big deal to study after I smoked,” said Kostin. “It may take a little longer and I usually have to reread the information a few times, but at the end I’ve definitely learned it.”
DiMuzio explains that marijuana is the mind duller of all substances.
“It’s the drug that dulls your senses and dulls your memory. It turns on the paranoid activities on the brain. Everything is over exaggerated.”
DiMuzio believes that drugs go through phases.
“Substances go through cycles and the era of your parents was an era that marijuana use had surfaced on college campuses. In our society in 2002, there is resurfacing of drugs of the past, in addition to new substances being added such as pharmaceuticals like oxycotin.”
DiMuzio continues to explain that the most important thing to remember about marijuana is that it is an illegal substance and it carries with it very stringent sanctions from the university. Also, DiMuzio adds that students using marijuana are putting themselves at risk for a permanent public record as well.
“It’s not good for the brain. It twists and turns it way too much. It is not good for your lungs,” said DiMuzio.
Despite the physical, mental and legal dangers of marijuana use, statistics prove that the drug is back on the rise, as it once was in the 1970’s. Students are willing to pay the price for what they call a good time.
“Next month in Nevada, an election is taking place on whether or not they should legalize the drug. This just shows how popular the drug is, and how it eventually will be legal everywhere,” said Jonathan S. Kenyon, ’03.
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