"High" School

Stoners, blazers, and occasional potheads rejoice. If you smoke sweet aunt Mary in your aunt Mary’s basement or free and about the streets, take a toke of relief, because vindication is finally upon you. A recent Gallup poll suggests that 58% of Americans favor the legalization of the most quintessentially American, Colombian produced herb in the world, Cannabis Sativa (though some connoisseurs may prefer the Indica strain). Furthermore Gallup indicates, that since Washington and Colorado approved the use of recreational cannabis in 2012, support for legalization has jumped a whopping 10%, and now, 38% of Americans admitted to having tried Marijuana sometime in their life. In contrast, in 1969, when Gallup conducted its first poll of support with regards to recreational use of Marijuana, only 12% of Americans agreed with legalizing weed. Marijuana policy reform parallels and mirrors support for Gay marriage, which has also gained majority approval in the past two years and many states are considering referendums over both issues.Public and government alike seem bent on reforming Federal and State policy towards Cannabis Sativa, given the resounding failure of the war on drugs. After Nixon issued a holy war on drug use in 1971, about a trillion dollars has been spent trying to prevent consumption, production and commerce of banned chemical substances, chief among them, Marijuana. Today, the United States incarcerates 2.3 million individuals, half of these for drug violations. And according to the U.N, although illegal drug trade is worth 320 billion dollars, and there are 230 million drug users in the world, over 90% are not deemed problematic or harmful for society. Pew Research provides more staggering figures; namely, that the U.S government spends 30,000 dollars to incarcerate an inmate for drug offenses, while spending 11,665 dollars to educate a public school student.Tom Steyer, investor and environmentalist, spoke in a recent assembly on the importance of ethical decisions that will reflect our morals in the future. Environmental issues will be equal to the civil rights debates of the 1950’s and 60’s; the Academy must be in the forefront and lead the way to a newer more just and ethical society. That provokes the following question: where does the Academy stand regarding the use of Marijuana?Many students live in fear of their own mistakes, afraid that one puff of “misguided conduct”, not reflective of the totally ambiguous and unexplained “Exonian” values, will damn them to expulsion. As a new student, I am astounded by the amount of students that are kicked out, simply because they smoked pot.The Academy need not condone drug and marijuana use, but its almost one strike policy seems draconian in the face of changing societal attitudes towards the drug. Friendships are torn apart, lives are ruined, because it is unforgivable to seek a bit of reprieve. Likewise, marijuana use is equated to hazing in the handbook. One is the active demeaning of another human being and the other is drawing puffs off a funny plant, yet this institution fails to see the difference, providing equal penalties more fitted to a Sumerian code of law than a contemporary school handbook.Expulsion from the Academy is not light punishment; it might hound individuals and shame them in their communities. Yet instead of being on the cutting edge, and providing students active resources to escape drug use, Exeter imposes a game of catch and mouse. If a member of faculty even suspects that one might have used an illegal substance, and that student seeks medical help to kick “addiction”(only 9% of Marijuana users are considered addicted btw), he or she might still be subject to disciplinarian action.I will end this piece with a more personal message. I have no qualms with saying that I have and had friends back home that were habitual pot smokers. Some of them were the most morally coherent, and academically outstanding individuals I have ever met. Some of them weren’t. To define someone as immature because they choose to engage in pleasure, and peg him or her as a belligerent individual is simple misconstruction. And although the Academy is entirely within its rights to prohibit the use of pot on campus, and to actively discourage said use, it is not within its own ideological obligations to persecute the offenders. Allow for second chances, speak with their parents and strive for a more focused learning environment that doesn’t try to banish these “harmful”(although applying such word to a marijuana user is dubious) elements from our community, and pretend they don’t exist.George Soros, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Lebron James and even Bill Gates are among many noted individuals who have tried and consumed Cannabis in their youth. If these noted individuals had been prevented from having a complete education because they were caught smoking grass, society might have been very different. Time and time again we are reminded of how drugs destroy lives, but in truth, it might be our simple persecution and condemnation of these smokers, that entails such consequences. If we do disagree as a community with the use of marijuana, let’s not marginalize these smokers and push them further away. These actions will only reflect negatively upon us in the future, and cause resentment between the administration and the student body. Relax Academy, 58% of the country has already done so. 38% has taken a puff.