Despite the legalization of recreational marijuana in the state, cannabis is still classified as a schedule II controlled substance, and is therefore barred on the Fresno City College campus under the California Health and Safety Code.

“Because it’s been legalized doesn’t mean it’s not a substance,” said Sean Henderson, the Dean of Students.

“The one right here that’s most sacred, if you will, is the right to an appropriate learning environment. So that’s what we’re trying to protect. Everybody’s right to learn,” he said.

It falls to police to enforce the prohibition on marijuana on campus, Henderson said, explaining that police will usually tell students they need to take their smoking somewhere else.

“I don’t know that our students are being cited for it,” Henderson said, adding that he will only meet with a student over marijuana use if they were arrested, normally for selling it on campus.

While students at Fresno City College are enthusiastic about the benefits of marijuana legalization, they generally agree that it doesn’t have a place in college.

“After hearing from my economics teacher about how she’s had to remove students from her classroom because they’ve come in, essentially reeking of the telltale smell, I don’t believe it necessarily has a heavy usage place in the classroom,” Qohle Martinez, a Fresno City College student and occasional recreational smoker, said.

“I feel smoking at school shouldn’t be tolerated as legal. It’s still a public area, and it makes people uneasy to be around it or to smell it,” Alexander Arias, another student and former medicinal marijuana user who doesn’t smoke anymore, said. “When I smoke, I prefer to be discreet as I don’t want to upset other people’s days; it’s a courtesy thing.”