I had been teaching at Wittenberg for maybe two weeks when, hiking across campus one day, I found a plastic baggie containing maybe a few pipeloads of marijuana lying in the grass near Weaver Chapel. It made me smile -- it was proof that my new home might be a church-affiliated school in the heart of the frozen mid-West, it was still a typical college after all.
I've gotten to know Witt's student body a bit better since then. I've heard the stories and read the surveys, I've had a few students -- but only a few! -- come to class reeking of reefer, and I've been to a few of those parties with the closed-door room upstairs. Still, I'm obviously not really qualified to evaluate Witt students' drug use. From what I've seen, I still think Witt is fairly typical -- but I'm sure there's a lot I haven't seen. For example, in our recent conversations no one has mentioned hallucinogens -- does that mean they aren't used much at Witt, or do that fall into that category of drugs that people use but don't discuss?
In general, I'm more troubled by Witt students' prodigious consumption of alcohol than I am by their drug use. There's always the danger of letting drugs become too big a piece of your life, of course, and I think anyone who comes to class stoned is wasting both their time and their dope. I like the idea that coke is treated as a dirty secret rather than something cool -- you're playing with fire there, kiddies, so please keep it away from the other children.
To me, the guidelines for drug use at Witt should be about the same as they are at any other college -- be smart, don't get carried away, and don't get caught. Oh, and don't go leaving your baggies lying in the grass -- you never know who might find it!
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