The Marijuana Debate: Let's Check In & Other Fun Facts Part-2 - Women Campus

Do more men or women smoke weed in college?

It's pretty common to think of the typical stoner as a grungy male college student, eating potato chips and playing video games in a hazy apartment. And those suspicions prove correct. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found in a 2010 study that, "In sum, male college students tend to use most substances, licit and illicit, more than their female counterparts…males are also more frequent users of alcohol and marijuana." It was also reported that daily marijuana use is much higher among male college students compared to female college students.

However, a recent HC article "The Weed Files: College Girls and Marijuana" examined a study that proved girls now begin smoking marijuana earlier than boys, and sometimes abuse it at a higher level.

At what age are people starting to use marijuana?

So when exactly do people start smoking weed nowadays? Do they start at their best friend's bar mitzvah in middle school, or at their first fraternity party in college?

In an HC survey, we found out that 69% of respondents used marijuana for the first time in high school. The NIDA also reported in a 2010 press release, "Marijuana use is rising; ecstasy use is beginning to rise; and alcohol use is declining among U.S. teens."

This means that a majority of students are entering college already having tried marijuana at least once, if not using it regularly. Over 75% of the respondents admitted to ever having used marijuana and almost half of the respondents told us they smoke weed at least once a month. It's safe to say that weed is not a secret, but in fact a social norm.

Since Obama took office, the idea to legalize marijuana has been at the forefront of drug policy reforms. Where do students stand?

With more generations filtering into the higher education system with experience and knowledge of this drug, and with political activism at high levels across campuses nationwide, most college students have adopted a reformist attitude that goes right in hand with the drug policy debate.

Janet Brooks, a senior at the University of Oregon and an active member of the student government, supports the legalization. "Marijuana is so prevalent in our society, especially among college students, and it always has been. The major benefit to marijuana becoming legal is the potential revenue gain for the United States. Legalizing it could boost our economy out of this recession. It would also allow the government to control the distribution and regulation," she says.

We interviewed Stacia Cosner who is the Associate Director for Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), an international grassroots network of students whose aim is to make sense of the War on Drugs and political policies.

The SSDP group "neither encourages nor condemns drug use. Rather, we seek to reduce the harms caused by drug abuse and drug policies. As young people, we strive toward a just and compassionate society where drug abuse is treated as a health issue instead of a criminal justice issue."

It's no question that violence is connected with drugs and particularly drug trafficking. Cosner touched on the subject of regulation, "Black market violence would be dramatically reduced; money from marijuana sales would no longer go into the hands of criminals. Young people & minorities would no longer be unfairly targeted by aggressive law enforcement."

Contrastingly, Lauren Briggs, a junior at the University of Oregon, thinks that legalization laws should not be at the forefront of political debate. "I think there are much greater issues to consider that trump the marijuana debate. It's not that I 'hate' weed, but I think that this issue is distracting from greater ones like the War on Terror and illegal immigration."