Hersh said the University's Code of Student Conduct could adopt programs run by the D.C. criminal justice system requires marijuana offenders to do community service instead of other sanctions.
"Anyone would rather clean toilets than lose their housing," Hersh said. "It's something we've never really proposed to GW as a way of changing the Code of Conduct."
Other universities, including New York, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Georgetown and Brown universities have lesser restrictions on marijuana usage than GW, Hersh said.
"I would not be in support of changing the current policy as it has continually had a positive impact on the University community for many years," Woolfson previously told The Hatchet.
University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg previously said that any changes made to GW's rules should be compliant with federal law.
"It probably makes sense (for students) not to seek an act that actually calls on GW to violate the laws of the District of Columbia or the United States of America," Trachtenberg said.
This spring, NORML created a resolution in the Student Association senate to lower marijuana sanctions. Though the legislation passed the senate, former SA President Lamar Thorpe vetoed the proposal. Hersh said NORML is working to re-examine changes to the Code of Student Conduct for next year.
A committee composed of members of the Student Association and various faculty members will be formed next year to formulate a proposal, Hersh said. Sociology Professor William Chambliss, an expert in drug law and drug abuse, is one of the faculty members on the committee.
Chambliss said he believes the increase in the number of arrests is not the result of more drug users or distributors.
"If there are more cases it is because they're enforcing the law more," Chambliss said. "It is certainly not because there are more students using drugs on campus."
"There's a predictable number of students every year who want to experiment with drugs of various types and the drugs they experiment with change from year to year, but the usage of drugs is very constant whether you're talking about the students at GW or the population as a whole," Chambliss said.
None of the four students arrested on distribution charges were enrolled at the University as of May 1, Director of Media Relations Tracy Schario said. She declined to provide any other information about the student's status at GW to maintain their privacy.
All four students declined to comment and did not respond to e-mails from The Hatchet.
"Anyone would rather clean toilets than lose their housing," Hersh said. "It's something we've never really proposed to GW as a way of changing the Code of Conduct."
Other universities, including New York, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Georgetown and Brown universities have lesser restrictions on marijuana usage than GW, Hersh said.
"I would not be in support of changing the current policy as it has continually had a positive impact on the University community for many years," Woolfson previously told The Hatchet.
University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg previously said that any changes made to GW's rules should be compliant with federal law.
"It probably makes sense (for students) not to seek an act that actually calls on GW to violate the laws of the District of Columbia or the United States of America," Trachtenberg said.
This spring, NORML created a resolution in the Student Association senate to lower marijuana sanctions. Though the legislation passed the senate, former SA President Lamar Thorpe vetoed the proposal. Hersh said NORML is working to re-examine changes to the Code of Student Conduct for next year.
A committee composed of members of the Student Association and various faculty members will be formed next year to formulate a proposal, Hersh said. Sociology Professor William Chambliss, an expert in drug law and drug abuse, is one of the faculty members on the committee.
Chambliss said he believes the increase in the number of arrests is not the result of more drug users or distributors.
"If there are more cases it is because they're enforcing the law more," Chambliss said. "It is certainly not because there are more students using drugs on campus."
"There's a predictable number of students every year who want to experiment with drugs of various types and the drugs they experiment with change from year to year, but the usage of drugs is very constant whether you're talking about the students at GW or the population as a whole," Chambliss said.
None of the four students arrested on distribution charges were enrolled at the University as of May 1, Director of Media Relations Tracy Schario said. She declined to provide any other information about the student's status at GW to maintain their privacy.
All four students declined to comment and did not respond to e-mails from The Hatchet.
