The Article below was published in Vol. 135, Issue 5 of the Lake Forest College Stentor on February 7, 2020
By Emma Overton ’22
Editor-in-Chief and News Section Editor
On December 30, 2019, with the legalization of recreational marijuana in Illinois a mere two days away on January 1, 2020, Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Andrea Conner and Director of Public Safety Rick Cohen sent a jointly-authored all-campus email explaining the College’s policy toward the newly legalized drug.
Noting that “campuses like ours—that accept federal financial aid—still adhere to the federal law that prohibits cannabis use,” Conner and Cohen explained that “during the first week of classes, a new Student Handbook will be published that will include a refreshed drug policy . . . but, in these interim days, we want to be sure you know that the college policy has not changed: cannabis/marijuana use on college property continues to be prohibited.” (emphasis added).
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Cannabis Regulation and Taxation Act into law on June 25, 2019, making Illinois the 11th state to legalize the use and sale of recreational marijuana. The text of the Act notes that “in the interest of allowing law enforcement to focus on violent and property crimes, generating revenue for education, substance abuse prevention and treatment, freeing public resources to invest in communities and other public purposes, and individual freedom . . . the use of cannabis should be legal for persons 21 years of age or older and should be taxed in a manner similar to alcohol.”
Individual cities and counties in Illinois, however, are able to limit the sale of marijuana within their boundaries. According to the Lake Forester, the city of Lake Forest voted on October 7, 2019, to prohibit the establishment of “businesses related to recreational marijuana,” despite the possibility of “$95,000 in estimated tax revenue” from marijuana-related businesses within city limits. Additionally, according to the Chicago Tribune, the nearby municipalities of Lake Bluff, Bannockburn, Vernon Hills, and Highland Park joined Lake Forest in banning marijuana sales within city limits, whereas Highwood, Waukegan, and Deerfield voted to allow the sales.
Despite Illinois’ legalization, marijuana remains illegal at the federal level and is classified as a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act, a classification that, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s website, includes “drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse . . . [and include] heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), 3,4-methy lenediox ymetha mpheta mine (ecstasy), methaqualone, and peyote.”
The distinction between federal and state law allowed College administrators to explicitly ban the possession and use of marijuana on the Lake Forest College campus, with the college’s updated handbook noting that “while Illinois state law legalized recreational cannabis use in January of 2020, federal law still prohibits use and colleges must comply with federal law.”
When asked about her reaction to the state’s legalization and the College’s policy, Wellness Peer Educator and Belle Tseitlin ’22 of Buffalo Grove, Illinois stated that “I was definitely aware of [marijuana] use [on-campus] before legalization . . . being illegal wasn’t stopping users before, so I don’t see how legalization would change anything—I believe that most students who choose not to use, myself included, base that decision on values outside of it being against the rules.”
Supporting Tseitlin’s claims that marijuana use occurred on campus before Illinois’ legalization, Director Cohen shared that “in 2019, Public Safety generated 22 Drug Law Violation Referral reports involving 50 individuals related to marijuana & paraphernalia possession & use. An additional 8 reports were generated for suspicious odor investigations of suspected marijuana use involving 16 individuals.”
When asked about changes in attitudes regarding marijuana use on campus after January 1, Dean Conner stated, “While I’m sure some students were hopeful that the College would be able to loosen our policies to match state law, I’m afraid that’s not possible due to the federal act . . . beyond that, I don’t yet have any evidence of significant changes in attitudes or behavior regarding cannabis use.”
Emma Overton can be reached at overtoneg@mx.lakeforest.edu
