Colorado Mesa University ranked 13th nationally in on-campus drug arrests per capita in 2012, according a Rehabs.com report published by the Huffington Post Mar. 26.

The report collected Clery Act data from all American colleges and universities with over 5,000 students.

At CMU, on-campus drug arrests spiked from 2011 (53 arrests) to 2012 (79 arrests), largely in part to the enactment of Amendment 64, which legalizes the possession and consumption of marijuana for Colo. residents 21 and older.

“With the passing of the law, everyone knows marijuana is available,” Junior Michael Eldridge said. “You can get it anywhere.”

Eldridge, a business major and veteran RA in Orchard Avenue Apartments, is one of many RA’s responsible for reporting the consumption and possession of marijuana on campus. He has experienced campus life before and after the implementation of Amendment 64, and noticed a slight change in campus culture, noting that “100 percent” of his drug arrests and referrals in the dorms have been marijuana related.

“I think the students didn’t quite understand the law,” Eldridge said. “A lot of students thought it was legal for everyone. I don’t know if that’s an honest misunderstanding or an illusion of a misunderstanding.”

Vice President of Student Services John Marshall acknowledges that the legalization of marijuana is the main cause for a spike in drug arrests, but challenged the implications of the report. He claims the report is “irresponsible” because of its failure to acknowledge the many “moving parts” that are at play in a drug arrest or disciplinary referral, such as campus and city police departments, resident assistants, state and local laws and administration. Many schools report arrests, referrals and Clery Act data differently, which can skew the perception of drug culture on college campuses.

“There’s nowhere you can go centrally to collect all this information,” Marshall said. “Therefore, the data has no context.”

Marshall noted that schools such as Boston College and Georgetown University reported zero drug arrests in 2012, and finds it unrealistic that schools similar in size to CMU would have zero drug arrests.

“You’re telling me that Boston College and Georgetown have zero MIP petty offense marijuana arrests?” Marshall said. “It’s not real.”

Ultimately, Marshall believes the people of Colorado, as well the state’s emergence as a cultural hub for marijuana, are to blame for the spike in arrests.

“In some ways, our policymakers, lawmakers and voters haven’t done us any favors,” Marshall said. “There was a million dollar pro-marijuana campaign, saying how safe it is, and how voters should approve [Amendment 64], and students were saying the same thing,” Marshall said. “I think it would be silly to pretend those things don’t have an impact on our student’s choices. We can’t control national, state, local, political or cultural views on marijuana. What we can do is control what we can control. We have great students here, and a very small fraction of them are making bad decisions.”

dlmeyer@mavs.coloradomesa.edu