Pubdate: Mon, 20 Apr 2009
Source: Daily Reveille (Louisiana State U, LA Edu)
Copyright: 2009 Daily Reveille
Contact: http://www.lsureveille.com/submit_a_letter
Website: http://www.lsureveille.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2879
Author: Kyle Bove

MARIJUANA ARRESTS ON CAMPUS CONTINUE TO RISE

Marijuana arrests on campus are rising like smoke.

The LSU Police Department has made 38 drug arrests this semester, and 
a majority involved marijuana.

LSUPD spokesman Maj. Lawrence Rabalais said the number of marijuana 
arrests has significantly increased since the implementation of the 
Crime Interdiction Unit in 2008.

Formed in response to the murder of two University doctoral students 
in December 2007, the CIU is made up of four officers who patrol 
campus in plain clothing. Their goal is to stop and identify 
suspicious people, Rabalais said. Drug arrests nearly tripled between 
2007 and 2008 - climbing from 56 to 152.

"Since we have enacted the Criminal Interdiction Unit, they are 
making more stops for probable causes such as expired license plates, 
speeding and red light [violations]," Rabalais said. "In doing so, it 
has become more apparent to them - through the number of increased 
violator stops - that people are using marijuana."

Rabalais said if an officer smells marijuana during a traffic 
violation stop, he or she will question the driver.

"Typically, the persons admit to either having the marijuana in the 
vehicle or having smoked the marijuana - subsequently giving consent 
to search," Rabalais said. "Most people - whether they have marijuana 
in there or not - allow the officers to search."

If someone smoked marijuana before driving and smells because of it, 
officers cannot arrest the driver for marijuana possession. A driver 
can also refuse to give consent to search, but officers can still 
detain the driver and get a search warrant.

Rabalais said LSUPD recently switched from using verbal consent to 
search to written consent, where a person signs a statement saying 
the police are allowed to search his or her property. He said this 
rule eliminates the "he said, she said" issues that may arise in court.

Many marijuana violations occur in residence halls too. Rabalais said 
officers can only search rooms if they have probable cause - like 
smoke billowing from the room, for example. If there's more than one 
person living in a room, officers can only search the consented 
person's portion of the room.

"We have laws to follow - we have the Constitution to follow," 
Rabalais said. "A lot of people don't understand that. We can't 
arbitrarily just search your room or stop you for any reason without 
that probable cause."

Eric Norman, Student Advocacy and Accountability associate dean, said 
there is a "separate but parallel process" when students are caught 
with marijuana. A student generally has to deal with the criminal and 
academic aspect of the violation.

Norman said students aren't normally expelled for marijuana 
violations unless they are caught with a felony amount - 28 grams - 
or have multiple offenses. Students caught will normally take 
courses, become part of a group, are suspended for one to two years 
to clean up or - if more serious - will seek input or output treatment.

Norman said his office typically receives incident reports from 
police as a starting point for student treatment. Most student drug 
violations involve marijuana and Adderall, Norman said.

"The point for us is to make sure that they're going to change the 
habit," Norman said. "Most students don't roll back with another one, 
and if they do, they probably have an addiction issue that we need to resolve."

Rabalais said LSUPD's goal is to prevent students and other citizens 
from using again. "The bulk of what we're dealing with is if 
someone's got a gram or two," Norman said. "We just want to make sure 
we turn around the behavior."

According to the CORE Institute's 2007 Drug and Alcohol Survey, 23.7 
percent of LSU students used marijuana in the past year, 13.5 percent 
used marijuana within the past 30 days and 8.5 percent use illegal 
drugs other than marijuana.

"That's our goal in police work - whether we arrest you or let you 
off with a warning or a traffic ticket, our goal is to make sure that 
you do not repeat that type of behavior," Rabalais said.

As for legalizing marijuana, Norman is torn.

"I am still debating this in my mind," Norman said. "It might ease up 
our court system, but the adversarial health effects of the marijuana 
use may offset any gains in that regard.

Marijuana is a gateway drug, so if legalizing the use or possession 
increases the use of other drugs with increased psychological and 
[physiological] addiction issues, I would not be in favor."

Rabalais said he is against legalization.

"It's a controlled, dangerous substance," Rabalais said. "I think if 
you legalize it, at that point, where does it stop? What will be next?"
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart