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00SL2
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Students probing drug reform questions at conservative Kettering
Posted by Beata Mostafavi | The Flint Journal December 11, 2007 16:44PM
Categories: Higher Education
FLINT -- This year, a group of students at Kettering University tried to start a club that the private campus with a conservative image has never had.
Not the usual athletic or religious group -- but a chapter of a national organization supporting the legalization of marijuana.
It didn't go so well.
But the efforts got students here talking about the controversial political issue, prompting the Student Senate to bring a speaker of a group against drug prohibition to Kettering this week.
"There's obviously student interest here in the topic of drug policy reform," said Charles "Chaz" Ott, 22, (He a senior representative of Kettering's Student Senate.
"I think it's kind of a new discussion that we're bringing to the table."
Greg Francisco, a former United States Coast Guard member and now of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), will speak to students Thursday on "Is the war on drugs worth it?"
Francisco, who was involved with drug cases off the Massachusetts coast, is expected to talk about the costs and ineffectiveness of prohibition and alternative solutions that would include regulating and legalizing drugs.
"Here's a group of police officers who say 'we were drug enforcers for a long time. We've seen this policy inside out and we don't think it makes sense,'" Ott said.
"I think we can challenge the drug policy and let students decide. We're in Flint where (drug crimes) happen everyday. I think it's relevant to the community"
Meanwhile, many of the approximately 25 Kettering students who tried to form a chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) earlier this year, plan to attend.
NORML's mission is to convince the public to repeal marijuana prohibition, according to the group's Web site.
Jim Rollenhagen, 19, said he and other students wanted Kettering to be among more that 50 college chapters of NORML -- including one at the University of Michigan.
"Our campus produces a lot of high-level professionals," he said. "Most students graduate with a job in the engineering industry and I thought if we had a chapter here we could show that (reformists) are not a bunch potheads trying to legalize pot."
Rollenhagen and peers collected a list of interested Kettering students through Facebook and created a constitution and by-laws but didn't get much further.
Administrators had a pretty clear answer.
"They said there was no way they could have a club that promoted illicit drug use," said Rollenhagen, who understood the private institution's position.
"Obviously this is a first time thing for Kettering, being a school with such a conservative student population," he added of the LEAP speaker.
"I don't think a lot of students here are researching things like the drug war. I think people who come will learn a lot."
Kettering student Titus Appel, 21, said he probably disagrees with the speaker but isn't opposed to the event.
"I'm against legalizing drugs but I think it's good to have discussion" he said. "His opinions would be interesting to hear."
Source: http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/newsnow/2007/12/students_probing_drug_reform_q.html
Accessed: December 11, 2007 |
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Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:06 pm |
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last time here
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honestly, i could care less...
been there/ done that. i will say i have
shown my boy all my friends who never quit
and he has noticed the shambles they are, and
i pray he keeps that in mind. maybe i'm just old and cynical..  |
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Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:22 am |
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Adam Ford
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It looks like Kildee voted for medical marijuana
http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=10095931
. I'm supporting Ron Paul for president who supports the constitution. Drug laws ae unconstitutional. There should be an ammendment to the constitution like they had for prohibition to make the drug laws constitutional.
http://www.leap.cc/webcal/view_entry.php?id=2634
has the event.
I'm not a big fan of any drugs. I generally try and avoid all drugs although once in a great while I do take a stimulant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine
It's interesting that our government makes carcinogens that kill people (additives in cigaretts) legal to give to people and kill them but makes medical marijuana illegal. |
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Adam Ford
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Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:44 am |
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twotap
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Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:38 am |
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Cory M Lorincz
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I agree with Adam. The regulation of drugs( illegalization)is not constitutional, but since we have given up so many freedoms already, that does not matter much.
If a drug has no medicinal purpose there is no reason for it to be allowed or denied.
The real problem is the educational system as a whole. Without teaching the Constitution or Bill of Rights to our students, we allow these laws to go out of control. Generations of citizens are indoctrinated into believing government can bend the will of the people.
Should drugs be legal in college towns? I guess it depends on your perspective.
If you believe the rights granted to us by our forefathers are
inalienable then government has no right, without an amendment to the Constitution, to tell us they are illegal, and this topic would not exist.
If you believe that banning drugs without an amendment, and the loss of your freedoms is the way to go, then ban them all together.
While your at it you may want to join the socialist or communist parties.
By the way, I do not support the use of any drugs used for other then medical reasons.
I do support the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the rule of law, and the belief that the government by design is the servant of the people, and not the other way around. |
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Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:06 am |
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Demeralda
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I don't get why you support all those things at the end and then tag that you only support drug use for medicinal purposes. When's the last time a Bloody Mary cured something?
It's non sequitur. One drug is totally legal and one is not, yet study after study shows the effects of alcohol are even more devastating than those of pot (Partially because pot is not PHYSICALLY addictive, and please don't confuse that with emotional addiction. You do not go through withdrawals if you stop using pot eh?). And I don't care about how damaging it is at all, my point is that it is completely ARBITRARY.
The government doesn't need to worry about what I do in my own house for my own entertainment, as long as it's not harming anyone else.
And of course children are a whole separate subject. I wouldn't condone anyone drinking and doing drugs as a teenager, simply because it inhibits a developing brain. My brain is fully formed and I'll treat it how I want. |
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Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:58 pm |
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twotap
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Anyone catch the "Conservative" label being put on Kettering University by Beata Mostafavi. I wonder what that term means and how she arrived at that conclusion. cmon Beata be a little more specific. Maybe she will do a followup and report on the goings on at a "non conservative"school which I guess would have to be labeled a LIBERAL university. Wait I forgot their aint no such thing.   That Flint journal sure has some A-1 journalists, reporters, news folks,columnists, or whatever term they are using nowdays. Anyhow back to the pot issue I gotta say we used to enjoy watching the stoners having their little fits and temper tantrums coming down from a night of toking. Man you talk about a ticking time bomb. Alcohol more damaging? could be, bad for the heart, liver kidneys, destroys brain cells. But cmon pot sure aint the harmless little recreational drug that many claim. I have a good friend as well as a sisterinlaw who were heavy pot smokers from their early teens to where they are now in their early 40s. The weird thing is they both have defibilators installed under their skin, almost identicle health problems. Caused by heavy pot smoking? who knows but that is the one thing they have in common. Legalize it regulate it and tax it sounds OK to me let folks do what they want in their own home but harmless I doubht it. |
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"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Wed Dec 12, 2007 4:17 pm |
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Cory M Lorincz
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[quote="Demeralda"]I don't get why you support all those things at the end and then tag that you only support drug use for medicinal purposes. When's the last time a Bloody Mary cured something?
[/quote]
What i was trying to point out is that constitutionally they have no right (except the one they contrive from interstate commerce) to regulate any of the drugs. From my viewpoint I support the constitution, but personally wouldnt recommend or use any of the drugs unless they were a prescription and prescribed to me.
Alcohol was prohibited through an amendment to the constitution(later repealed through another). I would suggest they pass an amendment that allows them to make it illegal to use illicit drugs, then the debate would be over.
The main point I was trying to make is that even though I disagree with a drug addict using a drug (or anyone else), currently the constitution does not prohibit it, congress does. |
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Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:31 pm |
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twotap
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quote:
It's non sequitur.
I havent heard that one before whats it mean?  |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:36 pm |
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00SL2
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Go to google.com and type in the search box: define non sequitur
You'll get several results, including one from Merriam Webster with audio pronunciation. |
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Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:51 pm |
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Tegan
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i once heard a couple radio guys talk about how if weed was totally legalized in Flint, the economy in this town would explode.
Its an interesting topic. Personally, I agree with liberterians in that the constitution should not illegalize drugs. |
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Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:15 pm |
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Dave Starr
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| Legalized weed would have to be taxed. Therefore, it could not be sold on the street, only in stores that collect the tax. taxing makes it more expensive, so there would still be a street market for untaxed weed. Even if it wasn't taxed, the users will need money to buy it. Where would they get the money? How would this make things any better? |
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I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:33 am |
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twotap
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[quote] Even if it wasn't taxed, the users will need money to buy it. Where would they get the money? quote]
Excellent point since most real stoners aint the most industrious among us. |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:46 am |
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Demeralda
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You guys are full of stereotypes that just aren't true.
I know many who regularly partake and are very productive members of society. TRUST ME ON THIS ONE. People you have NO idea do it.
What does legalizing and taxing it do? It lets people not be criminalized for something so arbitrary. Pot only became illegal as an effort to rid the US of Mexican immigrants in the 20s (who were associated with using marijuana).
To the person who wasn't sure it was less destructive, I ask you: how many stoners have you seen in a fight? compared to how many drunks? take that logic out to include domestic disputes and other violence; there's no comparison in my mind. |
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Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:36 am |
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twotap
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quote:
You guys are full of stereotypes that just aren't true.
Believe me when I say that the guy I was assigned to work with for a couple of years was totally under control of the amount of weed he had consumed the night before. You never knew what to expect he could be mellow one minute and fly into a blind rage over nothing the next. If like you say you know many who partake than you know exactly what I am talking about. Mood altering drugs like pot and alchohol have undesirable side effects and regardless of what stoners claim their aint no free ride. By the way as I said take the penaltys off marijuana and divert the resources to fighting the heroin, cocaine ,crack war, which will never be won as long as its being hampered by PC correct rules of engagement. |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:49 am |
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