These red balloons aren't
just for decoration. Each one represents 100 college students who die
of alcohol related incidents every year. That's why students are out
spreading the word about medical amnesty.
"Drugs
really are a medical problem and not a criminal justice problem. We
feel that by enacting sensible policies that reflect the fact that
people are going to use drugs but reduce the harms associated with drug
usage, we feel that those are the best policies," said John Mola,
Students For Sensible Drug Policy.
These students aren't asking
anyone to legalize marijuana use or discredit the potential
consequences of illegal drugs. But they are saying if students live in
fear of getting in trouble, they're going to continue to binge drink,
and not use more safe recreational choices.
"A majority of students,
including us, aren't aware of what the punishments are already. So I
feel like greater education is always a plus and this policy in
particular would help that in addition to creating a nice safety net,"
added Carson Zimmer, Students For Sensible Drug Policy.
Students
for Sensible Drug Policy group members say the response from folks at
Florida State has been overwhelmingly positive and because of this
initiative some states and individual universities have already adopted
medical amnesty policies.
"It's
really nice to just have that network behind us. we're in constant
communication with national SSCP and other chapters that have been
successful, just to get ideas from them," said Lauryn Harris, Students
For Sensible Drug Policy.
April
1st is the beginning of Alcohol awareness month and that's why the
students chose to get the word out now. They passed out flyers, had
informational sign-ups and plan on continuing to educate the college
population so that they can get administrators to make changes.