In December 2012, Colorado legalized marijuana for recreational use. This new law has been met with mixed reactions by the nation and residents of neighboring states. However, many students on the University of Wyoming campus are for the legalization of the substance in Colorado.
“I’m for the legalization of pot, but from a legal standpoint I know there are a lot of ramifications,” said Kirsten McAlexander, a senior majoring in criminal justice. “I’m for the legalization because there are no more long term effects than alcohol would have. It is not addictive, it is not a gateway drug and it does not change your brain chemistry. However, by legalizing pot, you have the issue of DUIs, which can no longer be tested for because marijuana stays in the blood stream for 60 days so you can’t tell if people have been recently smoking or smoked last month.”
The lingering affects of the drug also raise concerns with those considering the plant’s recreational use.
“I was in Colorado over the break, and wanted to smoke with some friends of mine,” Tyler Tresch, a junior in secondary education, said “but didn’t because I could have been drug tested for my new job here in Wyoming. It stays in your system for about a month and if the test had been positive, how could I prove that I didn’t smoke it here?”
Other students, like senior Ashley Orpen, does not see the point in legalization because of conflicting laws. The substance is legal in Colorado but not in the United States.
“My honest opinion is — I don’t care,” Orpen said. “You know it’s legal, but it’s not if the feds catch you and then you are still in trouble. So it doesn’t really matter. Yes, people can smoke it legally now but it can still cause you problems, but now it is more of a choice than it was. It’s like the gun control thing, so I look at it this way—if weed was illegal before and people still got it and smoked it, just legalizing it didn’t change anything.”
However, for Jason Steed, senior in criminal justice, allowing marijuana to be legalized was wrong.
“I think legalizing it was a mistake,” Steed said. “It can lead to health effects similar to tobacco smoke — It can cause the loss of brain cells, blood vessel blockage and lung cancer. There is also not much deterrent for students to bring it back with them from Colorado. The only way they can be pulled over coming into Wyoming is for a moving violation and then the marijuana is discovered.”
The idea of legalizing marijuana in Wyoming brought out more conservative views of students.
“Legalization would create no more problem than we have, if you view it as a problem,” art major Robin Lyons said. “I think Wyoming and the whole country should follow suit. Do I think it is going to happen? No. We live in one of the most conservative states in the country so the likelihood of it happening in my lifetime — I don’t believe it will happen.”
More students feel hesitant about Wyoming’s legalization until the situation in Colorado has had more time to play out, partly due to the Cowboy State’s conservative nature.
“I think Wyoming should wait and see what happens with Colorado. In other words, let Colorado work out their bugs” McAlexander stated.
“It may be legal to smoke in the state of Colorado, but it is still illegal in the United States,” Tresch said. “Also, the problem of smoking and driving. Obviously for alcohol we have Breathalyzers, but what is too much for weed? Each person can react very differently and we have no way to test that very well with weed.”
