By Evan Le’Mon (Whetstone Staff Writer)

When it comes to marijuana, the No. 1 piece of advice senior and resident assistant Terrance Wingate tells his Williams residents is not to smoke it in the dorm.

“Don’t draw attention to yourself,” he tells them.

Students seem to be taking that advice to heart.

According to Wesley’s crime statistics, there were only 17 Wesley students arrested by the Dover Police Department for drug-related offenses between 2011 and 2013, and 101 drug-related incidents that resulted in disciplinary action by Wesley College.

Some students found these statistics surprising.

“I would’ve thought it was way more,” said sophomore NaTasha Warnock. “I see people smoking weed all the time.”

Other students found that the statistics matched their expectations.

“It’s not too many students that actually end up getting arrested,” Wingate said. “I really can’t remember the last time I saw one of my residents get arrested.”

However, just because not many students are being caught with marijuana does not necessarily mean that it’s not a problem at Wesley College.

There are students who don’t smoke who would agree, said sophomore Kevin Johnson.

“I definitely see it all the time,” Johnson said. “It’s more blatant than high school, for instance, and I can kind of understand why in college you have so much more freedom.”

“It can definitely get annoying, though, especially if you’re constantly smelling it in your dorm.”

Some students who smoke argue that marijuana is something to help them get through the day.

“College life can be stressful between school, work and everything else we have going on,” said a sophomore woman who requested anonymity. “A lot of people see it as an outlet.”

“It definitely works for me,” she said.

“It can be a good outlet, I guess,” said sophomore Tatiana Haywood. “Is it a healthy outlet? No. It has its effects on the body like any other drug, and it can develop into a bad habit. But everyone’s different, so I guess that depends on the individual.”

Johnson agreed with that sentiment.

“Even though I don’t smoke, I’m not one the one to tell someone what to do, or to take a blunt out of someone’s hand and stomp it into the ground or something like that,” he said. “People have their habits and things that they do and they feel a certain way from doing them, and they feel a certain way about them.”

MarijuanaStory 480x640