A new study on college drug use concludes that 1 in 17 college students is getting high on marijuana on a regular (daily) basis. There are approximately 4,700 colleges offering either two-year or four-year degrees across the United States. These schools enroll around 20.6 million students every fall.

Breaking down those numbers, this means approximately 1.2 million college students may be high on marijuana at any one time. The findings indicated that daily marijuana use is currently at the highest rate among full-time college students than in the previous three decades.

"It's clear that for the past seven or eight years there has been an increase in marijuana use among the nation's college students," noted Lloyd Johnston, Ph.D., the principal investigator of the study and a senior research professor at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.

The study also found 39 percent of enrolled college students used illegal drugs in the previous 12 months, and marijuana accounts for a high percentage of the drugs used. Researchers utilized a nationally representative sampling of 1,100 full-time students from two- or four-year colleges. The survey is part of an ongoing research project funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse.

While Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Alaska now all allow recreational use of marijuana for those over the age 21, colleges must take federal regulations into consideration. The Drug Free Schools and Communities Act (DFSCA) requires that colleges follow federal guidelines. Failure to comply with the DFSCA regulations can in loss of federal funding.

Furthermore, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) still considers use of marijuana to be illegal. The NCAA voices concerns about the impact of marijuana on student-athletes. Due to the academic and athletic demands an athlete faces, marijuana may create challenges in multiple domains of function impacting performance.

"The legalizing of marijuana in Colorado and Washington does not impact the NCAA drug-testing rules," the NCAA said in a statement to Yahoo Sports. "The NCAA banned drug and testing policies are not tied to whether a substance is legal for general population use, but rather whether the substance is considered a threat to student-athlete health and safety or the integrity of the game."

Not all athletes are concerned about health or safety as it relates to marijuana. Take Oregon, which has a history of being more tolerant of marijuana than other states. Oregon was the first state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, and among the first to provide for the medical use of marijuana.

The state's more recognizable football program at the University of Oregon is reflective of this liberal attitude toward marijuana. According to ESPN, several former Oregon players and officials acknowledge use of marijuana by the football student-athletes. A 2012 report stated between 40 percent and 60 percent of the football players at the University of Oregon smoked marijuana.

The recent legislation allowing for legal consumption of marijuana in several states leads to questions and confusion among all students. There are 7,000 students at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and administrators are finding that attitudes about the use of marijuana are more tolerant among students.

Brenda Amenson-Hill, dean of students at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, reports that students disciplined for marijuana use often say they don't understand why the administration even cares. Ms. Amenson-Hill reports that students might say, "What's the big deal?" or "But you can smoke it in Colorado."

Regardless of whether a student is a student-athlete, on academic scholarship or attempting to work and pay for school, caution must be taken when using anything that takes away from the goal of attending college — acquiring an education. Legal or illegal, alcohol or drugs, anything that is used on regular basis that impairs learning has no place on a college campus.

Everything in moderation, and daily consumption is not moderation.