Dangers of doping\nNatalie A. Avon\nMy ceramics class last year took a turn for the worst when I realized that everybody at my table was forming pieces with their creative spirits and artistic fingers.\nI am not talking about bowls or flowerpots. I'm talking about pipe pieces.\nKnowing what smoking pot can do to people, I naturally got very upset when I heard about campus proposals by a group in Colorado called SAFER.\nSAFER is attempting to legalize marijuana -- or at least warrant it the same penalty as a minor would get for underage drinking. To me, this sends a message to the public that smoking marijuana is as harmless as a couple of beers. Many people try pot or continue to use it because they think it's "safer" than drinking alcohol.\nAnd really, what is safer than a quadrupled chance of a heart attack in the first hour after smoking pot?\nDon't get me wrong. I am a firm believer that neither alcohol nor pot is a good decision. But what makes people think that lung damage is less traumatizing than liver damage?\nAccording to research from the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, both alcohol and marijuana have many short-term and long-term effects -- most of these effects being undesirable.\nSo why don't we all get high on life and forget about the temporary feelings of relaxation that marijuana can bring? Real happiness is only an ice cream away.
Consequences unbalanced\nJacob Stewart\nConsidering IU's reputation as a party school and several IU students' recent alcohol-related hospitalizations, adopting a proposal similar to those at other major universities regarding marijuana use would be an improvement to current policy.\nStudies have shown that 50 percent of car-accident fatalities are caused by drivers with alcohol in their blood stream, while only 7 percent to 20 percent are caused by drivers with THC, the mind-altering substance found in Cannabis plants, in their systems. And 70 percent to 90 percent of those with THC in their blood stream also have alcohol in their blood stream. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Task Force on College Drinking, alcohol plays a part in 1,400 deaths, 500,000 injuries and 70,000 sexual assaults each year.\nWhen these statistics are entertained, it is no wonder that some students are standing up in the name of equal penalties for the substances. After alcohol-related deaths at the University of Colorado and Colorado State University, both schools voted last year to bring their marijuana policies in line with their alcohol ones.\nDespite the legal implications of marijuana use, SAFER is spurring a stance on the debate that makes sense. If lowering the penalty for marijuana use ultimately saves lives because more people choose to smoke rather than drink -- as the statistics indicate it will -- then the benefit for the college community will be exponential. Marijuana acts as a substitution for the statistically more dangerous alcohol. IU should consider this and perhaps take action as the two Colorado schools did.
