| CSU
students get marijuana referendum on school ballot The efforts of three students to get Colorado State University administrators to declare marijuana safer than alcohol haven't gone up in smoke just yet. The students, with the help of a Boulder-based organization, collected the needed 2,085 signatures of full-time students to get their referendum onto the ballot for April's student election. About 2,500 signatures were collected. The elections committee of CSU's student body now is verifying the signatures. The student-initiated referendum asks university administrators to declare that marijuana use is safer than alcohol. It also asks that penalties for possession of marijuana not be harsher than alcohol violations. Also, the initiative calls on CSU to track the frequency of alcohol-related incidents before and after any such change in policy. If the referendum passes, it would be nonbinding, and administrators can choose to ignore it. "I think it shows students are willing to support what we are doing," said Zana Buttermore-Baca, a CSU freshman and organizer of the referendum. They could've collected more signatures, she said, but they were limited by CSU's student body's campaign rules to six days. The group is now planning a rally Thursday on the Lory Student Center plaza in support of the measure, Buttermore-Baca said. The students were aided by the Boulder-based Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER). The group also helped University of Colorado-Boulder students collect the 1,000 signatures needed to place a similar referendum on that school's student ballot. The base of the students' argument is that while up to 1,400 college students die from alcohol-related incidents each year, according to a National Institutes of Health study, there has never been a reported death caused by overdose of marijuana, Buttermore-Baca said. Stricter punishment for drug violations pushes students toward alcohol, organizers said. The initiative arrived on CSU's campus at a time when alcohol and drug issues have garnered much attention after the alcohol-fueled riots and alcohol-related deaths of two students in the fall. Anne Hudgens, executive director of campus life at CSU, said the school already treats infractions of alcohol and marijuana laws in a similar manner. Even then, she said, as a state institution, CSU has a moral, ethical and legal obligation to uphold Colorado's laws. |