Despite Rhode Island's small size and population, it has very high ratings regarding the use of alcohol and marijuana. College students from The University of Rhode Island and Brown University both take part in adding to those totals. Both universities have a very diverse student population and tend to get many out of state students. URI is labeled as a dry campus, which is when the university bans the use of alcohol despite the age of the person. Brown University is the opposite, alcohol is allowed on campus and these factors definitely have an impact on the drug use in these colleges. .
Since I am a part of the URI community, I notice a lot of things. The marijuana use is definitely something big at URI. Everyday students walk on campus smoking their marijuana. After going around campus and hearing other people's thoughts about marijuana use on campus, all answers were basically the same. There are well more than an average amount of recreational marijuana smokers and they feel that the campus restrictions on it are more than fair. Since URI is in Kingston, it is way more rural than Brown. Brown University is located in Providence, which is a very historical city. After spending a few nights with friends in Providence and around Brown, I have witnessed many kids smoking marijuana. It was very similar to URI just more urban. The students felt the same way as the URI students did and they both push for marijuana to be legalized. In Providence within a mile radius of Brown, there were many homeless people who were on more hardcore drugs such as crack, cocaine, and heroin. All of those are common around Brown University but most students do not get involved with hardcore drugs. Marijuana on college campuses is always going to happen. Students who attend both of these schools will be around marijuana almost every day whether it is from kids who live in the area or kids who actually attend the schools.