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

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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

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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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Bartending at The Palms. Andy Gress takes Jolene Trapp ' s order. Gress ' 15-hour-per- week job also involved ctJ mixing shots, stockmg coolers, bouncing and locking up. Cindy Powers makes change for a customer at Casey s General Store where she works flexible hours to help •= accommodate her 15 hours of classes. Powers said her job also allowed her time to halfway socialize. 30 P Student Life