Medical marijuana has been a hot-button issue in the United States for decades, particularly since it was first legalized in California in 1996 (California Legislative Information). Since then, 28 other states have passed laws legalizing medical marijuana, including Maryland. But there is still controversy surrounding medical cannabis — a controversy that is evident right here at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, particularly for UMBC graduate school student and medical marijuana user Lauren Hall. 

Hall, who is pursuing her teaching certificate and her master’s in arts in teaching, was diagnosed with depression as a teenager; she began seeing a therapist and psychiatrist and was prescribed a cocktail of medications. Though they were effective, they came with severe long-term physical effects that Hall was not fond of, so she decided to pursue other treatments.

The alternative medication that Hall eventually decided to try was medical marijuana. Specifically, Hall uses the indica strain, which has what Hall calls a “body high” that helps her to relax and calm down. Unlike pharmaceutical antidepressants, Hall does not need to use marijuana on a consistent, regular basis — she simply smokes whenever she feels she needs to. Hall affirms that this has greatly helped to improve her mental health and that she now only has to take one additional antidepressant. However, this fix did not come easily: in order to use medical marijuana, Hall had to undergo an approximately three-week process filled with doctor’s appointments, applications, paperwork and other hoops to jump through.

The process began with Hall meeting with a doctor who is certified to allow people to obtain medical marijuana. She had to bring her existing prescriptions for her antidepressants to prove her diagnosis and then was required to fill out an application with the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, or MMCC. In fact, the Commission initially sent her application back because the picture she submitted was not as clear as they required, but she re-submitted her form and received approval. Next, she returned to her doctor to pick up papers that legalized her to go to dispensaries to obtain and legally possess marijuana. Since then, she has been using medical marijuana for about a year.

This process was entirely worth it for Hall, who states, “I’m just doing really well on medical marijuana,” and that it has had a profoundly positive effect on her health. However, she does attribute its success partially to her therapist; she explains that, like any medication prescribed for mental health reasons, it is best to couple the medication with talk therapy. Additionally, her therapist is very supportive of her and her usage of medical marijuana.

Unfortunately, this support is not universal; Hall frequently encounters people who do not understand the benefits of medical marijuana or believe negative stereotypes about medical marijuana users. In fact, she has yet to find a psychiatrist that approves of or understands why she uses marijuana to treat her depression, rather than pharmaceuticals. Furthermore, she has found that the stigma against medical marijuana remains prominent and that people tend to perceive medical marijuana users as slackers or lazy potheads.

But Hall does not at all fit those stereotypes: “I’m a single mom of two kids, I graduated with honors, I work for the university … I’m making it work,” she says.

The obstacles faced by Hall and other medical marijuana users extend beyond facing other people’s preconceived notions. For example, there is one very important place that Hall cannot smoke or even possess any cannabis: right here at UMBC. 

Despite the fact that medical marijuana is legal in Maryland, UMBC is a federally-funded school, and under the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act Amendments of 1989, every school that wishes to receive federal funding must take a strict stance against illegal drugs — which cannabis still is, according to federal law. Therefore, the “possession, use or distribution of prescribed medical marijuana in university housing, on university property and at UMBC-sponsored off-campus events violates Rule 4 of the UMBC Code of Student Conduct and violates drug and alcohol-free workplace policies,” according to the official UMBC Student Conduct and Community Standards.

Hall considers this law “outdated and unacceptable.” Though she understands the necessity of receiving funding, she calls on the university to re-evaluate its stance on medical marijuana, saying that “sticking to a policy from the War on Drugs era and not considering new scientific research is ignorant.”  

Hall is certainly correct in saying that this law is outdated: the specific amendment that forces the university to take such a strong stance on drugs was passed in 1989, seven years before medical marijuana was first legalized by any state in the U.S. Regardless, the law prohibits Hall from being able to possess medical marijuana when she is on campus. Since Hall does not and never has lived on campus, this is not a major problem for her specifically. But any residential student who needs medical marijuana would be in a very difficult position.

According to Deputy Police Chief Major Bruce Perry, UMBC campus police occasionally search the Park Road smoke shelter for weed, but have only discovered marijuana once; more frequently, they get called to residence halls to investigate when the strong odor of marijuana is reported. This, Perry says, occurs approximately once every two or three weeks. If the student agrees to let them search their room, they will; if they find marijuana (which happens about 25 percent of the time), the student will be written up and will await a sanction. According to Dr. Jeff Cullen, Director of Student Conduct and Community Services, the typical punishment for a student caught smoking or in possession of marijuana would be “12 months of [d]isciplinary [p]robation, a status called ‘housing termination held in abeyance,’ a drug assessment and a reflection paper.”

As of now, UMBC police have never found anyone in possession of marijuana that was being used for medicinal purposes. But even if a student was caught with medical marijuana, they would likely be subject to the same school policies and punishments that a student who was illegally using the drug would be. Cullen does say that sanctions given to students are awarded with consideration to “mitigating or exacerbating factors,” but it is unlikely that medical marijuana usage would be applicable under those terms, because if UMBC were suspected of having a “permissive” attitude towards an illegal controlled substance, they would be at risk for losing federal funding. 

It is for reasons like these that so many groups advocate for the full legalization of marijuana. “There are still people in jail cells right now for marijuana possession,” says Hall, noting that those people are disproportionately people of color. In fact, Hall feels that the movement for legalization has become “very whitewashed,” noting that “throughout history, marijuana users and sellers were predominantly people of color, and that is where a lot of this stigma is coming from: a deliberate and systematic attempt to suppress those people through criminalization of marijuana.”

Hall spoke about this issue recently in a Creative Labs informational panel about race, marijuana and the criminal justice system. This panel is one of many local events that aim to educate the public about medical marijuana, because, as Hall has found, “there are a lot of misconceptions … people aren’t very informed” about medical cannabis, which she feels can add to the negative stigma surrounding it. For this reason, many dispensaries (such as local dispensaries PureLife Wellness and Trilogy Wellness) hold informational sessions and classes to help people gain an understanding of medical marijuana; additionally, there are resources such as “Maryjane of Maryland” that seek to inform patients about medical marijuana. 

Hall herself even advocates for acceptance of medical marijuana users; though she confessed that she was initially hesitant to speak so openly about her usage of medical marijuana, she knew that coming forward was a necessary step in helping people to understand medical marijuana. Above all, Hall states, “I really want it to be de-stigmatized … I believe in people coming forward and saying ‘Hey, I’m a functional person and I’m highly intelligent and I use marijuana on a regular basis and I’m being a successful person in society.’”

Moving forward, OFAS will begin to develop new DocuSign projects, including forms for their Work Study program. By continuing to pursue efficient solutions, OFAS is helping UMBC advance as a modern university.

More Info:

• Visit the DocuSign myUMBC Group

• Visit UMBC's FAQ knowledge base

 

This is a work of satire.

Bursting onto the scene with as much gusto as his aging 77 year-old body could muster, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders declared that the time to “complete the revolution” is at hand. Though he was bested by Clinton and Democratic National Convention’s possible monkey business the last election, Bernie Sanders refuses to just, as his opponents wish, lay down and die.

His platform focuses on three of his most important issues. With his presidency, he hopes to bring free education, increase the minimum wage, and fight off his impending old age. Stating his primary motivation for running as, “a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s,” Senator Sanders hopes to keep his mind healthy and young through the mental gymnastics associated with being the president of the United States.

“At first,” Senator Sanders said, “I wanted to help this world.” With the insanity of the previous general election, however, he quickly realized he needed to change gears and, “stop having a conscience.” From there, the pieces fell into place, and he realized he needed to prioritize, above all else, “[his] own well-being.”

Nonetheless, Sanders is still putting up a nice illusion of passion, an emotion long understood to be incomprehensible by anyone above the age of 30. One of the most salient features of his presidential run, as pertinent to UMBC students, is Sanders’ policy on college tuition. “By ensuring free tuition for everyone,” Sanders explained, “I’ll have to keep my mind active to think of an insane enough way to generate that kind of money.”

Should this come into effect, it would have no bearing on any current students. This is a great relief to all because there will be no feelings of disappointment when these plans inevitably never happen because of a lack of funding, a veto in Congress, or — in the most likely situation — both.

After interviewing a wide array of students on campus, the general opinions boiled down to three main opinions. Some people were totally apathetic, holding the belief that their voice into how their country functions had no weight. Others were extremely hopeful, holding onto the delusion that somehow their college tuition would be waived. The majority opinion, however, was simply excited for the return of what is commonly known as Bernie Math. “Let’s see what kind of crazy numbers will be generated to justify that wily old man’s victory,” one student said. “Silly Bernie.”

Despite accumulating over six million dollars very shortly after his announcement to run, Senator Sanders still has his doubt about his chances. “In all likelihood,” he said, “my body will probably shut down while I’m in office. And not shut down in the government sense of the word.” He shrugged and gave a smile that only comes after many years of being a great grandfather. “Though I must say, a little youthful optimism never hurt anyone.”

The countdown is on! UMBC's Giving Day kicks off at midnight and we need your help to hit the goal of 1,000 donors in 24 hours. #blackandgoldrush 

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I was scrolling through Twitter, when I came across the now infamous Esquire cover article about “The Life of an American Boy at 17.” There was so much to unpack—from the pictures, to the article, to why Esquire even thought it should be published on the front cover during Black History Month.

Donald Trump’s America is awfully appealing to the same people who claim that the “old days” were the “good ol’ days.” The “good ol’ days” meant you could say offensive things because you were white and they were the norm. Privilege is quite the security blanket, and while not having to think about other people’s feelings may be far easier than taking a few seconds to consider the consequences of your words, things are changing.

The subject of the “American Boy” article was Ryan Morgan, a fairly average conservative kid who lives in the middle-of-nowhere Wisconsin. The article is a decent length, following him, his relationships and his under-researched thoughts about deeply serious issues, including his opinion on James Gunn.

After reading it, I debated whether or not I even wanted to give it more attention than it was already getting, but I thought it was important to pick apart and decipher some of the real problems with what Ryan Morgan and many other Americans seem to be confused about.

I worked as an intern at the Newseum in Washington DC, and while we “champion the five freedoms” of the first amendment, everyone in America should be well aware that every amendment has its limitations. I’m constantly interested to see that many “American Boys” like Ryan seem to believe that freedom of speech should allow him and his friends to spout hate speech.

When I entered college, I realized more concretely that there are things you can do and there are things you should do. Everything really falls under one of those categories. While Ryan is protected in his thoughtless explanations of complicated problems, and the KKK is also protected in their hateful ways, these are things you can do, but definitely shouldn’t.

This article gave Ryan the opportunity to say the things he wanted to say. This was in a series of articles Esquire plans on publishing on how it feels to grow up in America. What a good idea, in theory. And I do believe that every person deserves a voice, but this article fell absolutely flat.

It was poorly executed, and completely tone deaf. Esquire easily could have released all the articles at the same time, creating a comparison point. By releasing the “white boy” point of view first, it confused and polarized many people, including myself, who are used to seeing this representation of the “American Boy” but never seeing themselves represented.

I don’t and will never feel bad for people who complain about not being able to say whatever they want. The fact of the matter is that you can say whatever you want, but you better be damn ready to face the backlash.

If you received one copy of the Baltimore Sun every week for fourteen weeks, it would cost you about $35. The price of high-quality, local reporting is, as dictated by the Sun, $2.49 a week. With the proposed budget for the 2020 fiscal year, each full-time UMBC student would pay approximately $5.05 for a year’s worth of The Retriever’s print publications (14 issues) and online content. The proposed budget cuts to The Retriever total a loss of $30,000, which is half of our current Student Government Association allocation and only a third of our total yearly operating costs. The $60,000 allocation from SGA has traditionally been supplemented by advertisement revenue.

We know we’re not the Baltimore Sun, and we’re not asking you to treat us like we are. But the numbers make it clear — student journalism is not a priority on this campus. For proof, look towards UMBC’s two other charter organizations. The Student Events Board, an organization that puts on hundreds of events each year, including Quadmania and Homecoming, was funded $246,000 in the 2019 fiscal year, and SGA has proposed to maintain their funding for 2020. SGA has a proposed FY20 operating budget of $1,113,000.

Both of these organizations do valuable work on our campus; SEB is important in maintaining a vibrant campus life at UMBC, and SGA spearheads numerous student-led initiatives. Call us bold, but we think The Retriever also does important work. Not only does student journalism provide hyper-local reporting on the happenings of the campus community, but it is also important for keeping institutions accountable.

Why, then, doesn’t our organization get the same level of respect that our fellow charter organizations receive? Is it because our computers and other equipment barely function well enough to make it through a single bi-weekly production? Is it because our office is tucked in the far corner of the University Center away from the heart of student life? Is it because we are the only organization on campus who has consistently spoken out against various campus institutions (and lived to see another day)? Is it because our entire organization is based on the idea of dissent?

Yes. And also because we are only allocated $60,000 a year.

Our lowest paid writers make $320 a year — that amounts to $10 a week for the five to ten hours they spend on even their most simple articles. Anyone going above and beyond to produce great journalism is working for pennies. No wonder we currently have only 11 writing positions filled out of a possible 20; many talented journalists on our campus don’t have the financial means to work for our paper and instead take paid internships or positions elsewhere to support themselves.

There are other things we could do with an increased budget. We could deal more easily with technical issues on our website and in our office. We could fund more travel, including sending more of our staff to the Associated Collegiate Press’s annual student journalism conference, which is especially important for The Retriever, seeing as UMBC does not have a formal journalism school. Most importantly, we could fund our writers well enough to allow them to work on larger investigative projects.

But we’re not asking for any of that; The Retriever Editorial Board thinks that last semester and this upcoming semester should be an indication of the impressive work we can do with a $60,000 SGA allocation. And while we would love to continue fantasizing about all the ways an increased budget could change our newspaper for the better, we know that just isn’t feasible for now.

But it also isn’t feasible to expect us to operate under a $30,000 SGA allocation. SGA might argue that we have our reserves to survive on, but as addressed publicly at the SGA Senate meeting on Feb. 18 and in a subsequent article, that’s not a viable option for our organization. Furthermore, we have yet to be informed of whether we will be funded again at the $60,000 level in two years, once our reserves have been drained.

In partially de-funding The Retriever, the SGA, regardless of intent, is sending the message that student journalism is not a valued part of the UMBC campus community. We’re calling on SGA to reconsider this budget cut, and to reflect on the values they want their organization to uphold and exemplify. After all, this decision will not only affect the staff of next year’s newspaper; it will also have a ripple effect that will impact free speech and stifle student voices on our campus for years to come.

To provide feedback on the SGA’s proposed FY20 budget, please click here.

“My journey is far from over!” – Jessica Linus