CSUN On Point

Proposition 64 passed on November 8, 2016 in the state of California. As a result, adults over the age of 21 can possess and privately use marijuana. In 2018, commercial sales and production of the substance also became part of California’s economy. It has become a rapidly growing industry, but the new laws have not erased the confusion and controversy around the substance, and how it can be legally and safely used.

Last year, the Los Angeles Times reported that California has the largest legal marijuana market in the world, with more dispensaries, recreational users and consumer choices than ever before. But the new legalities did not erase the past completely.

“[Many people] thought that prior convictions they had would be cleared,” said attorney Lisa Mattern, who specializes in marijuana cases. Thousands have been overturned in California, but the process is not simple or automatic, and the debate over when and whether to overturn those convictions continues.

Mattern also said law enforcement officers still face challenges when pulling over drivers who are under the influence of marijuana. NBC Los Angeles reported last year “an increase of up to six percent in the number of highways crashes in states where recreational use of marijuana is now legal, compared to states where the same use is illegal.”

Mattern said when an officer smells marijuana in a vehicle,  the DUI investigation begins. But the substance can remain in a person’s body long after the effects have worn off, making the results of field tests problematic. The varying levels of THC in cannabis products also deliver mixed results when consumed. There are no standardized limits or tests yet, but data does show that marijuana impairs driving.

“[Police] don’t have the tools [to test for it],” Mattern said. “They don’t have any field sobriety tests.”

Aside from the legal issues, there are also health issues remaining for many recreational users. Despite a common belief that they can’t, some marijuana users do develop dependency, and, according to Healthline.com, can exhibit “mood swings, a lack of energy, and cognitive impairment.” when they stop using.

“There’s an assumption that because it’s legal, it means that there are no risks that come along with it,” said CSUN University Counseling Services Drug and Alcohol Liaison Dr. Steve Silver. He said a lot of users are misinformed about the effects of the drug.

New methods of consuming marijuana, like edibles and wax, can alter the time it takes for effects to be felt, and the magnitude of those effects. “It can be quite unsettling,” Silver said, when a reaction is stronger than anticipated. Levels of THC can vary greatly. The risk is ever-present to become dependent on the substance, or experience discomfort while consuming it.

California is among 21 states that have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. But the future of legalization remains uncertain due to the lack of support from the federal government, a growing range of properties and strains, and inevitable comparisons to alcohol regulations in the nation.

Producer: Alex Guerrero

Anchor: Brittany Smith

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Reporters: Alex Guerrero, Cindy Rodriguez and Brittany Smith

Many college campuses across the nation are ill-equipped to deal with the surge of students seeking help for mental health issues.

According to the California Faculty Association, the ratio of students to counselor should be about 1,000:1. But of the 23 California State University campuses, only three meet this recommendation, with most campuses having more than 2,500 students to one counselor.

“Every place could always use more staff, and we have a desire to support people as best we can,” said Dr. Steve Silver, from CSUN’s University Counseling Services. Silver said CSUN counselors are readily available to students who are in crisis. Still, the average student may have to wait two weeks to book a first appointment.

Depression, anxiety and social anxiety were three of the most common issues reported by college students. They face many of the same problems as their predecessors: exams, new environments, peer pressures. They also face some new issues: uncertainty about the future, job opportunities, and financial burdens on a larger scale, in the wake of the Great Recession and with the increase in student debt nationwide.

Between 2009-2015, the number of college students seeking on-campus counseling rose by 30 percent. Many colleges and universities are struggling to keep up with the demand, meaning many students have to go elsewhere for help.

But those students who do seek treatment off campus often find that the lack of counseling services is not just a college problem. “It can definitely get to a point where it feels there aren’t enough of us,” Associate Marriage and Family Therapist Amani Williams said. “It can definitely get hard [for us] to see everyone at the same time, and try to be effective still.”

Once students find treatment off campus, they still have to pay for it. Therapy sessions can cost upwards of $150, and many students find they just don’t have the funds necessary to pay for them.

“Money should never be a barrier to getting help, or to getting any mental health treatment,” Clinical Director of ACT Health and Wellness Dr. Megan McDonald said. “There are so many resources for those people who don’t have insurance, or those who don’t have a lot of money.” Many practices don’t charge a co-pay, and others offer patients the opportunity to pay on a sliding scale, where the cost is dictated by the patient’s ability to pay. McDonald said there are resources out there, if students know where to look.

One silver-lining, as more students flock to campus counseling services, is the de-stigmatization of therapy. “I think people are seeing therapy more for what it is, which is the ability to get support from a caring individual who is trained to help support people,” Silver said. “People are experiencing therapy as a more grounded thing, instead of a mysterious thing that happens behind closed doors.”

This is a growing trend not just among college students, but in the larger population as well, as more Americans feel comfortable talking about their mental health with family, friends and on social media.

CSUN students may have to wait a little longer for the situation to improve in the CSU. But if they are in need of help, they can find resources for group therapy sessions, workshops and individual services at Bayramian Hall.

Moderator: Manny Luissi

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Anchor: Liliana Ramirez

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The Pew Research Center says approximately one-quarter of all veterans say its difficult to transition from military life to civilian life, and nearly half the veterans who served after the September 11 attacks say their adjustment has been difficult.

About 700 veterans attend CSUN. CSUN Veterans Affairs Coordinators Vanessa Ochoa and Noe Aguirre said there are plenty of veterans resources on campus. “We process applications, transcripts, do the evaluations, and they [veterans] make the decisions,” Aguirre said. “We’ve also been given the flexibility. If we need to make any exceptions [for admissions], we’ll go ahead and do that.”

Aguirre said one of the difficulties in providing services to help, is that many veterans and active duty military are so used to following orders that sometimes it is difficult for them to “accept their own decisions.” She described it as a form of brainwashing, caused by years in the service.

Dr. Abram Milton served in the United States Marine Corps for 23 years before retiring in 2016. He’s now a clinical psychologist at CSUN’s University Counseling Center.

“The transition services [personnel] they had back then weren’t as familiar with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as they are now,” Milton said. “A lot of the time, what we see in individuals is that they may have a traumatic experience that could be combat related, or even [from something like] a traffic accident,” Milton said. “When you are coming out of combat areas, there are [now] psychologists or many health professionals who help with PTSD.”

Veteran  and CSUN student Kevin Ogletree said he joined the military to follow a family tradition. Both his parents also served. Ogletree was in the U.S Army and the U.S Marine Corps for a total of seven years. He said his transition to civilian life was difficult. He didn’t have a good enough support system, and he had to drop out of his first attempt at college life. “It wasn’t until years later, now I have matured in life experiences, and I was able to come back to school in a better state of mind.”

Robert Graves, of Disabled American Veterans Department of California, said those who have spent years in the military don’t always know what life is like after the military. “When you leave the military itself, you leave behind your network of knowledge” Graves said. “When veterans with disabilities come out of the military, they don’t know how that will affect their placement in jobs, how they study in college, or how to reintegrate with their friends or their families.”

He said transitioning is a never-ending process.

Moderators: Leslie Estrada and Emmanuelle Yang

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Anchor: Matt Roth

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Habitual marijuana use seems to be becoming the norm on many college campuses, as our society’s perceptions regarding the cannabis culture continue to change.

According to the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future study, marijuana use among college students is at its highest in more than three decades.

Marijuana’s rising acceptance in the media has had an impact on the way many college students view this drug.

“I think that the media has influences on all aspects of our lives,” said Shannon Franklin, a CSUN University Counseling Services therapist. “I think having that system that is surrounding us, telling us what is good and what is bad can definitely influence what a student thinks is appropriate for them.”

The last few years have seen a dramatic shift in the public’s attitude towards legalizing marijuana, and marijuana has become an alternative treatment for individuals with physical ailments such as cancer and other illnesses.

Marijuana’s popularity among college students is also due to its potential psychological benefits. When the pressure of college becomes too much to handle, some student may turn to marijuana as a way of dealing with feelings of anxiety or stress.

“I do see students who come in [for counseling], who are stressed, anxious, depressed,” Franklin said. “They might have tried marijuana to manage those symptoms, [but] the thing I’m really concerned about is why [they turned] to marijuana. Why was it interesting to them and how were they trying to reduce their symptoms? Were they trying to feel more calm? Were they trying to get away from their problems?”

Many college students may be unaware that smoking weed is potentially harmful for them. It can affect the brain’s development if it has not yet fully matured.

“Our pre-frontal cortex develops until we’re the age of 26,” Franklin said. “What that regulates, is your ability to make decisions and decide whether something is good for you.”

Marijuana can also have a negative impact on a college student’s academic performance, if it’s used inappropriately, such as in class or while studying.

“I think that being under the influence of anything will definitely alter your focus,” said Margaret Spryzynski, a Registered Nurse.

“If you smoke right before class, you’re not going to be able to concentrate as well,” Franklin said. “You might experience some symptoms of paranoia, [and when you’re] focused on what other people are thinking, [you are not] able to retain the memories that you need.”

A rise in daily marijuana use among college students could also be due to its accessibility, and that accessibility may be making it as popular as prescription drugs. But medical experts warn there are risks involved with replacing prescription medication with weed.

“From a medical perspective, I don’t think that marijuana is a good alternative for prescription medications because you have to look at why they need it,” Spryzynski said. “There are so many medications that we have, that marijuana should never be your first line of treatment.”

“Weed definitely has side effects such as withdrawals,” Franklin said. “You can be diagnosed with a cannabis addiction, and those are the things I keep my eyes open for.”

The American College Health Association conducts a survey every year to determine students’ habits and behaviors. The 2014 study reported that 37 percent of CSUN students said that they have tried marijuana at least once. It also found that only 15 percent of CSUN students said they smoked marijuana on a more regular basis or within the last 30 days.

“This is part of human nature and social norms,” Franklin said. “What we think everybody is doing isn’t necessarily what they’re actually doing.”

“Marijuana can be a quick fix for some people, but I want to work on skills you can take into your adulthood,” Franklin said. “[That way] you can figure out what to do when you’re stressed, and what to do when you’re anxious. Students can come over to the University Counseling Services, and meet with one of us, and have that conversation and that attention, and get the knowledge that they need.”

Moderator: Jon Gripe

Anchor: Daisy Lightfoot

Producer: Andrew Pitters

Reporters: Jon Gripe and Ashley Horton

Social Media Editor: Sarina Sandoval

How can sleep improve your quality of life?

Experts say getting the right amount of sleep contributes to energy, productivity, memory, concentration, and overall physical health, and growing evidence suggests college students are particularly likely to skimp on sleep, not realizing the dangerous effects.

“It is very important to get sleep,” said Dr. Saimir Thano, a CSUN University Counseling Services psychologist. “It plays a repetitive role, psychologically as well as physiologically. It helps the brain create hormones that help new pathways for concentration and memory, and it sort of plays the role of a battery re-energizing our body. At times, it has been found that sleep produces certain hormones to fight common illness and help organs rest.”

A study published in the current issue of The Sleep Journal said people who sleep fewer than six hours per night are more likely to catch colds than those who sleep seven hours per night, and reach what experts call full rest.

“The goal is every night to get into REM sleep,” said REM Sleep Labs’ Angie Simon. “There are different sleep cycles, but if your body does reach REM sleep, then you’re getting that good quality sleep that you want. However if you have a sleep disorder, the sleep disorder will stop you from getting to that REM sleep.”

The first part of REM sleep lasts about ten minutes and the final part may last up to an hour, according to The Better Sleep Council. People don’t feel well rested if they don’t get REM sleep.

“The best route is to weigh out all your options and figure out what exactly is hindering your sleep and why you need assistance to sleep better,” Simon said. “The best way to figure that out is by getting properly diagnosed by getting the test done in a sleep lab.”

According to the National Sleep Foundation, untreated sleep disorders can cause heart disease, stroke, depression and diabetes.

“Depending on the person, some individuals may need more — some less — but on average research recommends seven to eight hours — nine at the most — but different individuals may need different amount of sleep,” Thano said.

‘Early to bed’ actually is good advice: experts say every hour of sleep between the hours of 9 p.m. and 12 midnight is equal to two hours of sleep after midnight.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says the best way to increase performance on final exams is to study the day before, and then get a good night’s sleep.

“Studies have shown that those individual students that do overnighters, their GPA tends to be lower in general, and that’s because the brain needs to rest, and when it does, there are new pathways for memory and attention,” Thano said. “When you cram and do everything in one night, your brain is not able to create those new memories…It is best for students to study during the day versus the night before.”

The National Sleep Foundation has found that while asleep, people have the ability to combine different experiences in the parts of their brain that generate problem-solving skills.

“When you are getting good sleep your overall well-being is better,” Simon said. “[Sleep] makes you want to exercise, it makes you want to eat healthier, you feel better about yourself, and you are not as sluggish.”

“Everyone should use the bed only for sleep and sex, and nothing else,” Thano said. “If you’re studying in bed, or lying and just watching Netflix, then your body gets used to it, [and you say to yourself] ‘this is what I do in bed; I watch and read and do other things.’ Taking that away really makes a difference.”

Moderator: Anna Akopyan

Anchor: Nick Popham

Producer: Ericka Sims

Guest Booker: Ashton Smith

Reporters: Mirna Duron and Nick Popham

Social Media Editors: Nick Popham and Ericka Sims