Editor, Daily Nexus,

The article entitled “On-Campus Review Committee May Expand Authority Into I.V.” (Daily Nexus, May 9) infuriated me. Who is the university to try to step into the personal lives of students? The only rightful jurisdiction UCSB has in Isla Vista is over their own property: I.V. Theater and Embarcadero Hall.

The last I heard, Isla Vista was an unincorporated part of Santa Barbara County. It’s not part of the UCSB campus. No government institution has ever wanted Isla Vista. So, why should Isla Vista accept the first bureaucracy that wants to step in to govern it? The university is trying to play “big brother” and only govern on the issues it wants to: sexual assault, arson, alcohol and drugs. Two of those are noble causes. But would you choose a government that only has a large police force and no social security, health service or fair business bureau? Housing sucks in Isla Vista. It’s dirty. Make the university tackle this issue if they want to govern I.V.

Furthermore, prove to me that criminalizing substance abuse is the most effective cure. The current position of the United States government is to build overcrowded gladiator academies and throw in nonviolent offenders. They also created an amazing waste of tax dollars called the “war on drugs.” I recall a quote from the movie “Blow”: “I had a bachelors in marijuana and when I was released, I had a doctorate in cocaine.” Here is a better solution: education. Why didn’t the university think of this first? The university should offer to educate about drugs. Which they already do… I took the substance abuse class and loved it. The university could expand on this with outreach classes. I wouldn’t mind letting the university invade my privacy by sending me a letter offering help if they found out I was arrested.

Compare the “drug problem” in Amsterdam with the drug problem in the United States. In California the penalty for selling any amount of marijuana is almost as severe as the penalty for selling an AK-47 assault rifle: two to four years versus four to eight years. Which one kills? Is education a better solution? You decide.