The fight for marijuana comes to college campuses

Even in the wake of the legalization of marijuana for medical and recreational use, some colleges are refusing to allow it on their campus. Students in states where medical marijuana is legal and have proper permissions to use medical marijuana for health reasons are getting in trouble for bringing it or using it on campus.

According to a report from the Hartford Courant, Sheida Assar said she was expelled from Gateway Community College in Phoenix, Arizona last month for testing positive for marijuana use. Assar uses medical marijuana to treat chronic pain from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome but typically only uses it to help her sleep, and never used it while she was in class.

An instructor apparently told Assar that she wouldn’t have any issues with the college if she presented her Arizona medical marijuana card.

At Gateway, students studying nursing and other medical specialties must undergo drug testing. Assar was studying medical sonography. This policy is common for many schools that offer programs in medicine.

Assar said in an interview, “They yanked me out of class in the middle of the school day. They escorted me to the administration like I was a … criminal.

It’s discrimination, and it also violates my rights under the Arizona medical marijuana law.”

Representatives from colleges often explain that they need to ban marijuana on campus, even for medical use, because federal law labels marijuana an illegal drug with no accepted medical use.

Failure to comply with this federal law, no matter what the state law is, could mean the school loses federal funding.

A representative from Gateway Community college could not confirm Assar’s status at the school and only said that the school continues to prohibit marijuana use.

Assar intends to sue Gateway Community College for $2,000.

Here in Connecticut, nursing student Kathryn Magner sued Sacred Heart University last month for a similar situation. Magner was tested positive for marijuana and was prohibited from attending medical rounds.

Magner began using marijuana legally over the summer in her home state of Massachusetts to treat an unnamed medical condition.

Magner had even filed the proper paperwork with the office of student accessibility and obtained approval to use medical marijuana, but the nursing school officials still wouldn’t allow it.

Connecticut state law currently recognizes medical marijuana and prohibits public and private colleges from discriminating against students who use it.

A judge cited this law and allowed Magner to continue attending medical rounds.

This lawsuit and others occurring around the country can set a precedent for medical marijuana use on college campuses where state laws classify the drug as legal, even if the federal laws still classify it as illegal.

Pro-marijuana advocates say that in the meantime, universities should lighten the penalties on medical marijuana use for students so they are not expelled.