The New London Day reported March 27 that students at the two schools have been circulating petitions to put the nonbinding proposal on an upcoming student ballot. The plan also calls for school administrators to study the potential impact of dropping punishments for marijuana use altogether for students over age 18.

The campaign is being spearheaded by a group called Safer Alternatives for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER). The group's executive director, Mason Tvert, said that schools spend too much time and money on marijuana enforcement and not enough on alcohol enforcement, which he said was far more dangerous. "Our stance is that alcohol is more acceptable in our society and that is just bad public policy," he said.

Students at both CU and CSU have died within the last year as the result of alcohol poisoning. "Tons of kids are dying every year from alcohol, and we just think there is an alternative to that," said Havi Nelson, a CSU junior.

But Anne Hudgens, head of CSU's campus life department, said marijuana can negatively impact academic performance and relationships. "I don't think we are interested in our school experimenting with making marijuana use nonpunishable," she said.

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