Colorado colleges blaze the way

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Students at the University of Colorado, Boulder, gather at Norlin Quadrangle in celebration of the 4/20 event, April 20, 2010.

Despite state-level legalization, federally funded colleges in Washington and Colorado remain adamant about keeping marijuana off their campuses.

Title 21 of the United States Code, otherwise known as the Controlled Substances Act, outlaws marijuana use across the country, including land-grant institutions like WSU and other universities.

“It’s kind of an interesting situation,” said Mackenzie Whitesell, the director of health for the Associated Students of Colorado State University. “Even though it’s legal here in the state, because it’s illegal at the federal level, it’s not allowed on campus.”

A land-grant institution is one that receives funding from the federal government or was built on public or federally-owned property. In order to continue receiving that money, universities like WSU and CSU must abide by the federal ban on marijuana.

“Even if it were legalized at the federal level, I don’t think it still would be allowed on campus,” Whitesell said. “It would be a similar situation to alcohol. We’re a dry campus, so it’s not allowed on campus except for one particular spot.”

Students at the University of Colorado took a slightly less passive approach in the years prior to 2012, when April 20 (4/20) marked thousands-strong gatherings in Norlin Quad, the core of the main campus. The annual crowds, comprised mostly of non-students, exercised their right to protest freely in support of recreational marijuana use.

But what began as an activist display soon became diluted by commercial involvement, said Neelah Ali, a CU senior who leads in the university’s student government.

“It’s not really a protest as it was a big smoke-out,” Ali said. “It got to the point where planes would fly over campus with banner advertisements. It was really disruptive for this school that was trying to function normally.”

Ali leads a task force of students dedicated to providing solutions in the wake of the 4/20 celebrations. The task force organized a symposium this month to educate students on various aspects of the marijuana industry, from potential health effects to the considerations one might make in starting a cannabis retail business.

Lauren Cross, the director of communication for CUSG, said the group’s efforts help inform fellow students.

“It’s not so much a replacement but serves a more educational purpose,” Cross said of the symposium, noting that marijuana remains illegal on the CU campus regardless of age and other factors.

The university is treating marijuana like any other controlled substance that is not allowed on campus as no person is allowed to have it on them regardless of age, Cross said.

This will mark the third year of the shutdown with a heightened police presence on campus, Cross said.

“A lot of people felt uncomfortable with the means of how it was shut down,” Cross said. “You have persons (police officers) across the campus doing ID checks on 4/20.”

During the heightened police presence, officers conduct school ID checks at many of the colleges on campus, tape off Norlin Quad, and one year went as far as to lay fish-based fertilizer on the Quad’s field.

In an email statement from Cmdr. Robert Axmacher of the University of Colorado Police Department, Axmacher said the local college community was very supportive and that many students and others have approached police officers to express their appreciation for the effort.