Campus police officers were called to a room in Desmond Hall to locate a student who was believed to be smoking marijuana in his room. When they arrived Thursday evening, the student showed them his state-issued medical marijuana card, as if that would be the end of it.

He was lucky. According to the police media log, officers let him off with a warning, saying only that the residence halls were not an appropriate place to smoke. But for the student – housing officials declined to release his name because of privacy concerns – things could have been much worse.

Sacramento State public safety officials say they are under no obligation to recognize state-issued medical marijuana cards. Attorneys at the CSU Chancellor’s Office have advised police that they do not believe the state’s medical marijuana law applies to college campuses.

California voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, which created a program in which people could obtain doctor’s recommendations to use marijuana to treat conditions like cancer and AIDS, but also simpler ailments like chronic pain and migraines. The state began issuing medical marijuana identification cards, which patients would use to obtain marijuana from state-regulated dispensaries.

This brought the state into conflict with federal law, which does not recognize any legitimate use for marijuana. But the details of the law are still being worked out, with case law being established by continued court challenges to the measure. This leaves open many questions to how specifically the law can be applied that can only be settled through future litigation.

The murkiness surrounding the state law on medical marijuana puts the California State University system in a difficult situation. Public safety officers are instructed to follow the more restrictive federal law within campus boundaries even though federal law’s jurisdiction is debatable.

CSU Chancellor Charles Reed issued a memo to CSU campuses in 2005, titled Executive Order 930, that outlines the current policy for handling drug offenses. Reed wrote that the CSU was required to be in compliance with the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 and the California Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1990, which mandates measures to prevent employees from using illegal drugs, because the system receives federal funding. Recognizing the state law would risk losing that funding.

Already, a lawsuit that settles this ambiguity may be in the works. Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said in an e-mail that the group, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, planned to sue Humboldt State University “to compel state officials to treat medical cannabis like any other scheduled drugs.”

Potentially, the case could affect the entire CSU system and how it enforces marijuana laws.

Under any circumstances, smoking marijuana is against residence hall policies, said residence life coordinator Josh O’Connor. Despite the ambiguity in medical marijuana laws, he said the residence halls set its own policies that were separated from state law.

“It does not change our views because we cannot allow illegal substances to be stored or smoked in the residence halls,” O’Connor said. He noted that smoking cigarettes, although legal, is banned in the residence halls because it is a fire hazard.

When students in the dorms are caught smoking marijuana, they can be referred to drug counseling through the Health Center. They are then required to attend four counseling sessions with Cyndra Krogen, the center’s drug and alcohol counselor. Students using medical marijuana end up speaking to Krogen about health problems associated with marijuana, even though they are using the drug to treat other health problems.

Krogen said that the students she sees view marijuana use as a relatively harmless act, and most are experienced users.

“By the time you’ve gotten caught, you’ve probably been doing it for a while,” she said.

She said that smelling marijuana smoke in the residence halls was fairly easy and that students who smoke typically do so to push the limits of residence hall rules.

Krogen said that when she talks to students, she tries to be non-judgmental and have an equal, two-way conversation, rather than a stereotypical anti-drug lecture.

“I don’t push any ideas in their heads or anything like that,” she said.

She said she believes that marijuana has some legitimate medicinal uses and understands how it can help relieve pain, but contended that the drug had side effects.

“Sometimes people don’t believe it, but it really has been proven to cause a motivational syndrome,” she said, adding that when people are high “they just want to sit around and play video games and things like that.”

Obtaining marijuana legally is supposed to be limited to those with valid medical reasons, but loopholes exist. Websites like potdoc.com promise quick recommendations for medical marijuana through doctors who are licensed professionals, but build their business on providing quick access to legal marijuana, even for patients who may not need it.

Krogen said that when marijuana was easily obtainable for relatively minor ailments, this distracted from more legitimate uses of the drug, like for treating more serious diseases. “None of the students I’ve met with really sounded like they had a really hard time getting it,” she said.

Cynthia Cockrill, housing and residence life director, said that students who wished to use medical marijuana should know better before moving into the dorms. Residence Life sends brochures and information to students and their families well before move-in day, which outline what the rules and policies are in the halls, she said.

“If you have to smoke dope because of a medical condition, living in the residence halls isn’t for you,” Cockrill said. “It doesn’t let you come into the institution and say because I have a card I get to smoke marijuana.”

Cockrill, a self-described “child of the ’60s,” said that she had a hard time sympathizing with students using medical marijuana cards. To her, the documents seemed inauthentic and not based on a legitimate need for the drug. All students living on-campus fill out a form where they are supposed to disclose health conditions, which are kept confidential and used during an emergency.

“No one has said, ‘I’m in chronic pain and I need to smoke medical marijuana,'” she said. “So, you know, it’s just kind of interesting.”

The license agreement that all students living in the residence halls must agree to cover drug use with a blanket statement: “Except as lawfully prescribed, drugs are prohibited.” But that only covers drugs that are lawfully prescribed under federal law.

The university’s Guide to Residential Life, which is updated annually and given to new residents, is more specific. “Marijuana is illegal,” it states. “Use of marijuana in any form on university property is prohibited. Medical marijuana cards are not recognized.”

Campus police public information officer Kelly Clark said that until a court case proves otherwise, the Chancellor’s Office would likely continue current policies. He said that public safety would treat university-affiliated housing, like the off-campus Upper Eastside Lofts, as subject to federal enforcement until told otherwise.

Clark said that while police officers were required to study the state penal code and understand the laws, it was not always as simple as rote memorization. “Even though the textbook says something, there’s lots and lots of interpretation that comes about,” he said.

Sam Pearson can be reached at [email protected]