Marijuana could be legalized by the 2014 fall semester. Although it would take 50,000 signatures and a majority vote, polls say public opinion supporting legalization is at a record high.

According to a survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, 18-25 year olds smoked marijuana the most in 2012.

The question is, how would marijuana legalization affect EC, whose population is also predominantly in the 18-25 range?

North Seattle Community College (NSCC) has experienced the situation firsthand due to the legalization in Washington (along with Colorado). The changes they have seen have been “none.”

“Nothing’s changed,” Alex Maldonado, health security officer at NSCC, said. “It’s been uneventful. There was about one complaint of a student being high in
the past year.”

Another question arising from the issue is the boundaries on the substance. Would it be acceptable to smoke anywhere anytime if it’s legalized?

Maldonado said it does have its limits in Washington. “Marijuana is treated the same as alcohol. People can use it in their houses, just not in the streets.”

The before and after at NSCC has been the same. Here at EC, marijuana infractions come up at about the same rate as any other crimes, EC Police Sergeant Dal Toruno said.

“Marijuana is not more of a problem on campus right now than any other issue,” Toruno said. “We’ll get a disturbance call, a burglary, a theft; it’s just part of the things we come across.”

“What happens is, somebody smells it, they call us and we investigate,” Toruno added. “If somebody says, ‘Hey, we smelled it by the Art Building, by the stairwell,’ we investigate. If we find something, we deal with it when we find it.”

Toruno said the EC police hasn’t yet considered what changes would take place if marijuana is legalized, but that they will follow the laws as they come.

The current consequences for being caught with pot are trouble with the police and the EC administration.

“The common consequence for being caught with marijuana is receiving a citation for possession less than an ounce,” Toruno said. “If it happens on campus, students will be sent to the director of student development.
Students are not supposed to be smoking on campus. It’s a violation of the student conduct, which includes drinking, fighting and other things.”

Some students already agree that marijuana doesn’t have a place on a college campus, even if it’s legalized.

“I think it should be legal, I just don’t think it should be allowed on campus because we can’t drink on campus,” Sergio Ibarra, 20, theatre major, said. “It will inhibit people. Especially if we’re working in groups, I don’t want to be working with a bunch of potheads. I think it should be treated as a legal drug like alcohol; you can’t be driving when you’re drunk. The same precautions should be taken about weed.”

Other students find it to be as trivial as a cigarette.

“I see a bunch of people smoking cigarettes on campus,” Vanessa Rodriguez, 19, undecided major, said. “It’s pretty much the same thing in my eyes.”

Time will tell if California joins the likes of Washington and Colorado in marijuana legalization.

An employee of the snack shop in the Art Building courtyard, who goes only by “Nate,” said he has noticed students smoking weed occasionally in the courtyard, but he said he could not be sure if legalization would increase snack sales or not.