For indefatigable marijuana booster Mason Tvert, founder of the advocacy organization Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), April 1 is a very big day. Rallies are scheduled to take place at more than eighty colleges and universities across the country (see the complete list below) arguing that students who use marijuana are far safer than those who opt for alcohol.

Meanwhile, at 1 p.m. today, Tvert will join a group at the Auraria campus targeting Stephen Jordan, president of Metropolitan State College. Jordan is a supporter of the Amethyst Initiative, which argues that lowering the legal drinking age to eighteen would help reduce the culture of binge drinking on campuses.

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Earlier this week the Vermont State Senate yanked a bill that would have legalized marijuana dispenseries. But the pot debate isn't over.

Thursday -- the beginning of alcohol awareness month -- a student at the University of Vermont joined others around the country with a similar message to say that smoking marijuana is safer than getting drunk.

The students behind the movement want more relaxed consequences for marijuana violations.

Marijuana is safer than alcohol. That's the message from a group at the University of Virginia Thursday afternoon. 

"Students for Sensible Drug Policy" joined students at more than 80 other colleges nationwide to push universities to stop driving students to drink and allow them to use marijuana, which they call a safer recreational alternative.  They argue that policies on campuses punish students more harshly for pot than for alcohol violations. 

Katherine Fishbeine, with Students For Sensible Drug Policy, says "We're trying to, across the country, hand it out to all of college campus presidents and have them sign it to say that they acknowledge that marijuana is a safer choice than alcohol and they appreciate that this is a choice that should be made." 

There were also rallies at Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth and Old Dominion universities.

DENVER (AP) ― College students at nine Colorado campuses plan protests calling for easier penalties for students who smoke pot.

A national group in favor of marijuana legalization is putting on the rallies at campuses nationwide Thursday. The students argue that stiff punishments for being caught in a campus dorm with pot steer students to booze and promote binge drinking.

The group has helped students at 13 colleges pass measures calling on their schools to set pot penalties no worse than alcohol violations. So far, no schools have changed their penalties.

Colorado colleges ban on-campus marijuana use, even for students with medical marijuana clearance.

PULLMAN - Thursday marked the beginning of Alcohol Awareness Month across the country. And at WSU, some students were promoting the idea of recreational drug users setting down their beer and picking up a joint.

Students For Sensible Drug Policy set up shop on the WSU campus in front of the CUB, comparing one drug to the other.

"Alcohol Awareness month basically for us is we're promoting SAFER, which is Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation," said Students for Sensible Drug Policy President Tyler Markwart. "We are providing students with a different alternative to alcohol, which is basically very very dangerous to students, causes overdoses. Basically what we are doing is providing an alternative such as marijuana which is a safe alternative for students who are looking for something else."

A group called Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) said students at the University of Oregon and 80 other colleges and universities plan rallies April 1 "to urge their universities to stop driving them to drink and allow them to use marijuana as a safer recreational alternative," according to a press release.April 1 marks the first day of National Alcohol Awareness Month -- as well as April Fool's Day -- and the group's press release claims students will be out on their campuses distributing information about the relative harms of alcohol and marijuana, as well as holding signs and banners that read: "This is NOT a joke ... Let us make the SAFER choice!", according to SAFER.

During the day, the group said students will visit the office of the university president to deliver a copy of the book, "Marijuana Is Safer: So why are we driving people to drink?", along with copies of the "Emerald Initiative," which they will urge their respective presidents to endorse.

The Emerald Initiative is described as SAFER's response to the Amethyst Initiative -- a statement endorsed by more than 130 college presidents and chancellors, calling for "informed and dispassionate public debate" on whether lowering the legal drinking age to 18 would reduce levels of student drinking and incidences of the serious problems associated with it.