Northwest Missouri State University - Tower Yearbook (Maryville, MO)

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asual HIGH IEJIiors note: The names of the people featured In the stcny have been ehani;ecl to proteel their identity. was an inslanl pot head, Crystal said. In the four years that had passed since she first experimented with marijuana, she had used acid, coke, crystal, crank, marijuana and ecstasy. It was all experimental at first. Crystal said. I guess I did have a problem, but I had no desire to stop having my problem. Crystal was not alone. Many students experi- mented with controlled substances. According to the Northwest Student Handbook. 37 students were arrested in drug-related offenses in 1994. The most typical (drug case) thai we got was people in their rooms that smoked marijuana, Sgt. Shawn Collie; of the University Police Department Investigations, said. It was the most popular because it was easiest to get hold of and probably one of the cheapest drugs. Tiffany was introduced to marijuana her first semester at Northwest by a friend. I experimented with it in college more because there was less chance of being caught by my parents. Tiffany said. Kent Porterfield, Assistant Dean of Students, said leaving home may have contributed to experimentation with controlled substances. For many students, the University experience was. ..an experience of exploration, Porterfield said, Unfortunately, for some students that involved using drugs. ■tudent Life Users make personal choice in experimenting with chemical substances By Lesley Thacker To remain in school, recreational drug users had to learn to balance exploration and education. Crystal said she was actually more moti ated because of her drug use. If I had (smoked) a joint, then I didn ' t have to worry about wanting one. Crystal said. I could just get what I had to do done, instead of trying to do it and thinking about having a joint instead. It was distracting — wanting to get high and couldn ' t. Jeremy, who tried marijuana and acid, said drug use had only interfered once with his classes. 1 missed a class after my first trip, but that was because I did not know what affect the acid would have on my body when I tried it. Jeremy said. Tiffany ' s schoolwork was also affected once. She said she had learned her lesson, but many of her friends had not. They would not wake up, or get stoned the night before a test, and then said they were sick, Tiffany said. They would basically use the pot as an excuse. Although many students were able to control their drug use. Collie said he thought recreational drug users impacted the campus in many ways. It affected everybody. Collie said. When people smoked in their rooms, the smell carried. Then they had police knocking on the door, waking people up. Across the campus, it had probably affected, or will affect, everybody. Doing drugs was a personal choice, but in all cases, it came down to accepting responsibility for their experimentation.

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uw . • nme BUSTERS Students do laundry by the pound or by the load As siudcnls ' clothes piled up in kumdry baskets, students eanie to the realization that the dreadful task ol laundry was looming. Flashbacks of doing laundry tor the first time hit many students hard when they sat around the laundry mat lor hours. I was still learning to do my laundry when I came to school Melanie Mann said. I couldn ' t figure out which one was the dryer and which was the washer. There were several alternatives in doing laundry. One way students could have their laundry done was dropping it off at Uptown Dry-Cleaning and Laundry. Uptown weighed the dropped-off laundry and, for 75 cents a pound, cleaned it the same day it was brought in. it could then be delivered for an additional $1 . We got a couple of students dropping oft their laundry, Tammy Anderson, Uptown Dry-cleaning and Laundry owner, said. A lot of students didn ' t know about our drop- off services. The real c|uesiii)n was which was cheaper students doing their own laundry or dropping it off. Students who did their laundry in the residence halls paid % a load using the debit card or $1.25 without. When dropping laundry off, the minimum charge was $2. It (the price) depended what laundry was drojiped oil, .Anderson said. ' Sheets. By Michelle Murphy coiiilorters and blankets cost a little bit more. Basically, it worked out the same. It may ha e cost a little bit more to drop off. For a top-load washer it was $1 per wash, double-load washers were $1 .75 per wash, and dryers were 25 cents for 10 minutes. Some people preferred to do their own laundry because Mom and Dad were not convenient, o r because their parents were loo particular with the laundry and it was easier for them to do it on their own. I did my laundry myself, unless I was going home. Mann said. Then my parents did it for me. While some students did their laundry because Mom and Dad were too picky, they lound doing laundry could be difficult. Mistakes doing laundry were often embar- rassing or at least expensive. Mi.xing colors and w hites was a frequent mistake. I did my laundry myself, because no one else would do it for me. David Hrisman said. One time, a while back. 1 turned a whole bunch of whiles blue because I washed them with a new pair of jeans. Piled clothes and sweat shirts worn inside oul w ere a sure sign of the need to wash clothes. Students learned more than what was taught in class, they also learned that whites were washed in hot water and cottons w rinkled easily. Laundry, whether done by the pound or the load, became a harsh tact of life. Laundry ■ 27

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A female sludent inhales through a homemade pipe as she flicks a lighter to ignite the marijuana. According to Sgl. Shawn Collie, merely possessing a pipe or any other drug paraphernalia was a Class A misdemeanor. Casual Drug Use p29