Author: Gladys Angle
The U.S. Justice Department revised long-standing federal marijuana policy in an Oct. 19 memorandum. The policy shift, a campaign promise of President Obama, means that citizens in states with legalized medical marijuana use will no longer be subject to federal raids and arrests except in extreme cases.
Justice Department officials speaking with the Associated Press said that federal agents would be encouraged to focus on situations with violence or ties to other illegal activities and ignore operations working within state law. The goal of this change is to make “efficient and rational use of its limited investigative and prosecutorial resources,” according to the memorandum. This will impact all 14 states with marijuana legislation – Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
Some dismiss the Attorney General’s announcement as ineffective due to recent raids on dispensaries. The Mission Local News in San Francisco reported that federal agents raided Emmalyn’s California Cannabis Clinic less than a week after the Justice Department’s announcement. The clinic, a nonprofit dispensary funded by the city, follows all of the guidelines laid out by the state of California: it is not-for-profit, has only club member customers with prescriptions and only licensed growers. On the day of the raid, cannabis was confiscated but no arrests were made.
California Law (Health and Safety Code Section 11357-11362.9) finds people with 28.5 grams or less of marijuana guilty of a misdemeanor, and though the individual cannot be arrested, he or she faces fines up to $100. A minor possessing that amount can face up to 10 days in jail and a fine of $500. Any amount exceeding 28.5 grams of marijuana constitutes a felony and results in up to six months of jail time and/or $500 in fines. People caught growing marijuana without a proper license can spend 16 months in jail – selling any amount of pot gets two to four years of jail time. Additionally, anyone under 21 guilty of the above misdemeanors are subject to having their drivers’ licenses revoked for a year.
Although these state laws are well-defined, proposition 215, passed in 1996, deems ill persons with a prescription or recommendation from a certified physician exempt from criminal prosecution. By this proposition, known as the California Compassionate Use Act, patients and their primary caregivers (growers and distributors) may legally use marijuana for medical purposes.
Cannabis is most often recommended to aid serious ailments such as multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, cancer, arthritis, cachexia and chronic pain. As research continues to prove marijuana effective in assisting with a wider variety of illnesses, the drug is becoming more widely prescribed. Advertising for medical marijuana prescriptions and clinics has become common-place in L.A.
Despite this proposition, the Drug Enforcement Administration has continued to aggressively seek out marijuana users and growers in California, seizing a sizeable 187,627 kilograms of pot in 2008 alone, according to the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) Almanac, and 60,111 arrests were made in 2002, accounting for 23 percent of drug arrests that year.
The memorandum should have little impact at Oxy, which operates under a policy that takes into account federal and state regulations on marijuana, but is generally a self-regulating institution. Campus Safety director Hollis Nieto said it will have “no change on how we do business.”
Oxy deals with substance abuse as dictated by its alcohol and drug use policy in the student handbook, which states that the school must be in compliance with federal and state laws and “fully supports these laws by prohibiting the possession, use, sale, and/or distribution of illegal drugs on campus.”
Section B in the Standards of Conduct section of the student handbook also explicitly states that Oxy “does not allow exceptions to this drug policy including the possession or use of marijuana for medical purposes, even if it otherwise meets the qualifications of the California Compassionate Use Act.” While this section on drug use has remained the same for quite some time, policy is updated every two years to reevaluate California law and the needs of Occidental students.
For the most part, Campus Safety’s role ends with investigating suspicious activity. Upon receiving a report (generally from another student) of alleged illegal behavior in a residence hall dorm room, Campus Safety is obligated to investigate. For instance, if student A calls Campus Safety complaining of marijuana smoke coming from a room in X Residence Hall, an officer arrives on the scene and knocks on the student’s door, given that they smell and/or see the smoke emitting from the room. An officer has the right to enter a student’s room with probable cause – that is, if the officer has reason to believe that someone is actively violating a rule.
Depending on the situation (which varies according to severity of the alleged violation), if the student does not open the door, Campus Safety may obtain a key to open it. Campus safety no longer issues written citations, notes Nieto, as they have found it much more efficient to refer students to a sanctions process overseen by the Dean of Students, Honor Board and Residence Life. Rarely, however, students can be arrested. Ms. Nieto says that “we don’t often arrest our students,” but Campus Safety “will do what we have to do to keep campus safe.”
Students tend to have mixed feelings on the subject of pot as a problem on campus. One junior female, when asked whether she’s heard of more negative experiences associated with marijuana or with alcohol, said, “it’s really been about half and half for me, but I don’t really think it’s a problem, people should just be aware of their limits.”
A few students have seen more negative effects with alcohol abuse. A senior male said, “I don’t think it’s a bigger problem than alcohol because last time I checked, no one dies from marijuana poisoning or has to go to the hospital because of a weed binge.”
One female sophomore, who does not smoke, said, “I feel like I see the effects of alcohol more. So, I’m more inclined to say alcohol because I’ve seen its mass consumption and that it is hazardous to your actual physical health, especially when in a party setting where it is easier to lose track.”
Another junior female thinks weed and alcohol should be treated the same. “I believe in the right to make this a wet campus – but in terms of marijuana use, I would argue that the punishments should be the same.”
In 2008 six arrests were made on campus by the Los Angeles Police Department, all drug-related. Oxy’s annual crime report also lists 36 alcohol violations, (in which officers filed incident reports and imposed sanctions), 37 drug violations and one weapon violation. Although none of these drug violations were arrestable offenses, RLHS Assistant Director Maureen Regan considers marijuana “a serious problem, and we need to treat it as seriously as other drugs.”
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