LAS VEGAS (KSNV & MyNews3) — While Nevada moves forward to make medical marijuana available to patients who need it, the Board of Regents has decided to prohibit its use on state university and community college campuses.
Students who choose to violate the prohibition risk losing federal funding and could face criminal charges.
Student reaction was mostly negative on the regents’ ruling.
“I mean some people actually need that; that’s why they got the prescription,” said one student who chose to remain anonymous. “But other than that I know people just want to walk around campus with it and that’s not cool either.”
In their September decision, regents decided that since possession of marijuana remains a violation of federal law, even though many states are legalizing its use for medical purposes, it should be banned for students and faculty on all eight state campuses, including UNLV, the College of Southern Nevada and Nevada State College.
“Yes, it would be treated as if it were recreational. We’d have to treat marijuana as marijuana,” said Las Vegas Regent Michael Wixom.
“I am sick of being a patient and feeling like I am a criminal,” said another anonymous student. “It is extremely necessary to have your medication on campus because classes can be spread throughout the day.”
Nevada now accepts marijuana as a legal prescription drug and the Obama administration has indicated it will not crack down on use, even though technically puchase and possession are still a violation of federal law.
“Federal law is supreme and the fact that a particular administration chooses to not enforce the law doesn’t mean a subsequent administration won’t choose to enforce the law,” Wixom said. “And it doesn’t mean this administration might not change course.”
He said with the federal government contributing more than half-a-billion dollars to higher education in Nevada, it’s not worth the risk.
“That’s a situation the student will have to grapple with individually,” Wixom said.
While banning the use of medical marijuana on campuses, the regents also decided that students who have a card to use the drug will be released from their housing contracts.
“Someone with a medical marijuana card wouldn’t be able to take that prescription onto school premises?” said another student. “My thoughts are I think that’s wrong for sure, I don’t think it’s any different from any other medication that helps people.”
“We are not allowed to publicly consume– that’s okay– but you have to make considerations for the patients. They are not being offensive to anybody.”
“If you are on Xanax, Oxycotin, methadone– anything– you don’t have your rights taken away,” a student said. “You can still carry a gun, you can still get student loans.”
Regent Ron Knecht was the lone dissenter on the prohibition.
“What we need to do is find ways to accommodate them,” Knecht said. “Unless we were really flagrantly promoting a violation of federal law — and I mean promoting it– the feds aren’t going to come after us and make a test case out of us.”
The regents did not rule out marijuana research on the state’s campuses, if the studies are approved by the federal government and the institution’s president.
Medical marijuana banned from state university campuses
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