Cannabis use may be more harmful to students than previously thought, according to one health expert.

Amelia Arria, an associate professor in the department of behavioral and community health at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, gave a talk in Williams Hall Oct. 13 discussing the impact of cannabis use on student success.

In her presentation, Arria described the negative effects of cannabis use on students both during and after college.

Using Vermont-specific research, Arria discussed the dangers not only of what the impacts of cannabis are on students’ futures, but the dangerous rise in the belief cannabis use is harmless.

Arria noted a connection between cannabis use and prescription drug abuse.

Administrators should focus on countering the idea that cannabis is safe, she said. Interventions with students shouldn’t be seen or act as punishments, but rather to be intended to help set them back on track.

“[The lecture] was a clear sort of perspective, looking at peer-reviewed public health literature,” medical student Catherine Antley said.