College can be a very impressionable time for young adults. For many college students, it is their first real taste of freedom. It is a transition from living at home and having the supervision of their parents, to becoming an adult, with more freedom than ever and no supervision. As I am sure most all of us know freedom without supervision can be a dangerous combination to young inexperienced adults. I feel even though college students are at the adult age, their way of thinking may not be as mature often leading to the "will my punishment outweigh my crime" theory. Therefore, I believe that with college students especially, one crime should not have any less punishment than the other. When confronted with drugs or alcohol all colleges should have a strictly enforced no tolerance rule.
Both underage drinking and the use of marijuana are not only illegal but they're also addictive and dangerous. This makes it crucial that colleges make it very clear they will not tolerate either and the best deterrence in my opinion for that is by making the punishment so harsh that hopefully the student doesn't feel committing that crime would be worth risking their college education.
To punish marijuana smokers more severely than those caught drinking underage is insinuating that underage drinking is not as serious as smoking marijuana, a misinterpretation that could be deadly.
Many students begin college with the impression; drinking and parties are just a part of the college experience.
With underage drinking obviously comes inexperience and irresponsibility making unavoidable troubles or harm for these young adults just starting out in life. There are the obvious troubles and harms like getting caught, lower grades, and more frequent absences then there are the more permanent serious repercussions to their underage drinking like alcohol poisoning, the chance of a date rape, killing themselves or an innocent person drinking and driving, becoming addicted. There are too many scenarios to mention everything that can happen due to underage drinking so I think that it is potentially harmful to say the use of marijuana should carry a more sever punishment that underage drinking. The immediate dangers of underage drinking are just as dangerous if not more as any of the dangers that are directly caused by smoking marijuana. That is why it is imperative student are well informed that underage drinking or smoking pot will not be tolerated.
