LORMAN - According to an estimate by researchers with the Council on Substance Abuse
at Morehouse College in Atlanta, the percentage of students who either buy,
sell, or smoke marijuana on predominately black college campuses is between
49 and 53 percent.
But some Alcorn State University students say they believed those numbers
are higher.
Eric Brown, 23, a physical education major who said he has smoked marijuana,
said he believes about 75 percent of the men on campus, either buy, sell, or
smoke marijuana. He said most of the people he knows smoke marijuana on a
regular basis.
"I know, because I used to be one of them," Brown said.
"Most of the guys out here smoke weed every Thursday, Friday and Saturday
night."
Brown said students who are involved in fraternities or are in athletics are
more likely to be involved with marijuana.
Campus police were not available for comment.
One student, who said she wanted to be called Bailey, said she believed that
about 30 percent of the women on campus smoke marijuana regularly.
"I see them on my hall every night, either coming from the club or Men's
tower, getting high and sweeping the ashes into the hall," Bailey
said.
Bailey, a sophomore, said she has smoked marijuana and was first exposed to
it during her freshman year at a party sponsored by a fraternity.
"Some of them started smoking it because of some guy. . . especially these
freshman girls that just want to date someone in a fraternity," she said.
"They [men] get them hooked on it so that they can use their addiction to
blackmail them into having sex," Bailey said.
Brown said students who want marijuana can buy it on campus. He said because
there are so many students smoking marijuana on campus, individuals who sell
it make a lot of money at Alcorn.
"You can sell a pound of weed in small bags and probably make $3,500 in no
time," Brown said.
One student, who did not want to give his name, said he makes at least $700
a week selling marijuana to Alcorn students.
"Man, these guys out here smoke weed like crazy," he said. "I usually sell
out in a matter of hours."
Many students said they don't smoke marijuana, but are aware of the problem
on campus. Shannon Watts, 20, a student from Port Gibson, said smoke from
ignited marijuana blunts [cigarettes] covers the halls of his dormitory
every night.
"I have to cover my mouth and nose every time I walk down the halls because
the smoke is so thick," Watts said. "The ashes from the blunts cover the
hall floors every morning."
Watts said students knock on his dormitory door regularly, seeking to buy
marijuana.
Brown said the marijuana problem seems to have gotten worse in the past
three years, but said he believed university officials are doing all they
can to put a stop to it.
"The campus police are imposing stiffer penalties on drug dealers and
users," said Brown, who said he was once jailed and fined $100 for
possession of marijuana on campus.
Brown said he had to go before a disciplinary committee and was given 14
demerits. Students who collect 15 demerits may be expelled from the
university.