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The arrests this month of a Fairfield University student and two Sacred Heart University students for selling marijuana shows local authorities are serious when it comes to students selling the drug. "Drug-dealing is drug-dealing whether it occurs on the streets of Bridgeport or in a dormitory in Fairfield. We view it with equal seriousness in either case," State's Attorney Jonathan Benedict said last week. But state Rep. Michael Lawlor, co-chairman of the General Assembly's Judiciary Committee, disagrees with prosecutors who would send college students to jail for selling marijuana.
"Prosecutors don't have to send these kids to jail. They choose to. These kids are getting more time than the violent offenders," he said.
Lawlor said that he advocates alternative punishments for college marijuana dealers if they're first-time offenders. "If they end up with a prison record it makes it difficult for them to get jobs down the road," he added.
Last week, members of the Statewide Narcotics Task Force arrested a senior at Fairfield University, after they allegedly found him with more than 5 pounds of marijuana in an off-campus apartment.
On Feb. 1, police raided a Madison Avenue apartment in Bridgeport that was the residence of a student at Sacred Heart. Police said they found 9 ounces of marijuana, $925 in cash and drug packaging materials inside the apartment.
On Feb. 6, Fairfield police went to Sacred Heart University's Merton Hall dormitory on a complaint of students with drugs. Police said that inside a desk in one of the rooms they found a total of 41 grams of marijuana in one large plastic bag and 26 smaller bags. There were also some empty bags and a scale, police said.
According to state law, a conviction for sale of marijuana is punishable by up to seven years in jail. Sale of marijuana within 1,500 feet of a school is punishable by a minimum sentence of three years and a maximum of 10 years.
But Lawlor said a bill signed into law by then-Gov. John G. Rowland before his 2004 resignation gave judges the right to go off the minimum mandatory sentence.
Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Review of Marijuana Laws, said the get-tough policy in Bridgeport is an aberration and not a pattern across the country.
He said 80 percent of marijuana arrests are for people younger than 30, and half of marijuana arrests are for people younger than 25. "Regardless of gender or one's station in life if one is between 15 and 25 you are in the crosshairs of law enforcement," he said. St. Pierre said marijuana dealing is going on at colleges all the time, but 80 percent of the sales are by individuals to finance their own use. "One of the things so problematic is that the marijuana laws are so subjectively applied," he said.
One of the major backlashes against drug crimes involving college students is that they put their student loans in jeopardy.
St. Pierre said that in 1998 the federal government passed a law revoking student loans from students convicted even of minor drug offenses.
He said that since then 175,000 students have been denied access to student loans as a result.
Pubdate: Sun, 19 Feb 2006
Source: Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, CT)
Copyright: 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc
Contact: edit@ctpost.com
Website: The Connecticut Post Online - ConnPost.com - HOME
Details: MapInc
Bookmark: MapInc (Cannabis)
"Prosecutors don't have to send these kids to jail. They choose to. These kids are getting more time than the violent offenders," he said.
Lawlor said that he advocates alternative punishments for college marijuana dealers if they're first-time offenders. "If they end up with a prison record it makes it difficult for them to get jobs down the road," he added.
Last week, members of the Statewide Narcotics Task Force arrested a senior at Fairfield University, after they allegedly found him with more than 5 pounds of marijuana in an off-campus apartment.
On Feb. 1, police raided a Madison Avenue apartment in Bridgeport that was the residence of a student at Sacred Heart. Police said they found 9 ounces of marijuana, $925 in cash and drug packaging materials inside the apartment.
On Feb. 6, Fairfield police went to Sacred Heart University's Merton Hall dormitory on a complaint of students with drugs. Police said that inside a desk in one of the rooms they found a total of 41 grams of marijuana in one large plastic bag and 26 smaller bags. There were also some empty bags and a scale, police said.
According to state law, a conviction for sale of marijuana is punishable by up to seven years in jail. Sale of marijuana within 1,500 feet of a school is punishable by a minimum sentence of three years and a maximum of 10 years.
But Lawlor said a bill signed into law by then-Gov. John G. Rowland before his 2004 resignation gave judges the right to go off the minimum mandatory sentence.
Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Review of Marijuana Laws, said the get-tough policy in Bridgeport is an aberration and not a pattern across the country.
He said 80 percent of marijuana arrests are for people younger than 30, and half of marijuana arrests are for people younger than 25. "Regardless of gender or one's station in life if one is between 15 and 25 you are in the crosshairs of law enforcement," he said. St. Pierre said marijuana dealing is going on at colleges all the time, but 80 percent of the sales are by individuals to finance their own use. "One of the things so problematic is that the marijuana laws are so subjectively applied," he said.
One of the major backlashes against drug crimes involving college students is that they put their student loans in jeopardy.
St. Pierre said that in 1998 the federal government passed a law revoking student loans from students convicted even of minor drug offenses.
He said that since then 175,000 students have been denied access to student loans as a result.
Pubdate: Sun, 19 Feb 2006
Source: Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, CT)
Copyright: 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc
Contact: edit@ctpost.com
Website: The Connecticut Post Online - ConnPost.com - HOME
Details: MapInc
Bookmark: MapInc (Cannabis)
