Recently, The Maroon published an On the Record column by Dr. Daniel D’Amico, and I would like to thank him for his courage in criticizing the school’s drug policy. The War on Drugs is a misleading title; it gives the appearance that the enemy is drug abuse. This is not a war on drugs, though. This is a war on people.
Drug users are not an ambiguous, deviant group. Drug users are students, teachers, politicians and doctors. We all have an innate biological desire to alter our consciousness, and this is why prohibition will never work.
The question is not what compels Loyola to send otherwise law-abiding students to dwell with rapists and murderers in Orleans Parish Prison.
For colleges to receive federal aid, they are required to impose “a program to prevent the unlawful possession, use or distribution of illicit drugs and alcohol by students and employees,” according to the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act. When this, coupled with FAFSA stipulations that strip aid from students convicted of drug charges, colleges become active participators in the war against youth.
When you look at the arrest history for illicit drugs at Loyola, you recognize a pattern. They are almost entirely for marijuana, a drug that researchers will tell you is the least harmful (socially or physically) of recreational drugs and non-addictive.
Marijuana gives off a distinct smell and produces plumes of smoke when used, which makes it an easy target. Doing a line of cocaine or shooting heroin do not produce any scents or blatant and immediate visual evidence of their use. Alcohol is treated very lightly at Loyola, even though recent studies have found it to be more socially harmful than heroin, and its consumption can be lethal.
When broken down, it reads something like this: Loyola receives money to enforce drug laws, the easiest drug to detect is marijuana and the effects of marijuana pale in comparison to other drugs. The real question we should be asking is whether Loyola is doing this maliciously or out of ignorance.
If Loyola wants to do what is right and protect students, it needs to stop reporting simple drug offenses to the New Orleans Police Deparment. As long as drugs provide various means to ends (inebriation, heightened cognitive abilities, spiritual enlightenment, inspiration, medicine, etc.) humans will utilize them. The idea that drug use will ever go away is naïve. What is more prudent is education and instilling values of moderation in students.
Josh Warren is a political science sophomore. He can be reached at [email protected]
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