Pubdate: Thu, 25 Apr 2002
Source: Washington Square News (NY Edu)
Copyright: 2002, Washington Square News
Contact:  http://www.nyunews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1621
Note:  also listed as a contact
Author: Sarah Zadvinskis
Cited: http://www.norml.org (NORML)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

NORML STUDENTS FIGHT FOR UNUSUAL CAUSE

"My mom has an inkling of it - I have not told my father yet," freshman 
Nathan McClune says of the cause that consumes a great deal of his time. 
Born and raised in Kansas City, Kan., McClune, a philosophy major in the 
College of Arts and Science, is keenly attuned to conservative ideology and 
his parents' sensitivities. Nonetheless, his name appears boldly as 
"founder and president" on the Web site introducing NYU's newly-formed 
chapter of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

NORML has been the nation's leading voice against marijuana prohibition 
since 1970. Most recently the organization has been in the news for using 
the New York Mayor, Mike Bloomberg, as a grinning "poster boy" in one of 
their advertisements advocating the legalization of marijuana, based on a 
comment Bloomberg made to an interviewer saying that he had smoked pot and 
enjoyed it.

"I've been an advocate since my freshman year [of high school]," McClune 
said of his involvement with NORML. "Somewhere around that time, I wanted 
to take a political stance. But out of respect for my parents, and living 
in Kansas, which is an extremely conservative state, I just waited until I 
left. So, I was waiting to get here to do it."

At a typical NORML meeting, McClune arranges the chairs in a circle and 
sits comfortably among the group of 11 attending. Someone in the group 
comments that over half of the regulars are absent for this particular meeting.

Current projects include an ad campaign, an art exhibit, an NYU NORML 
newsletter and Web site, which McClune wants to use as a venue for artists 
and writers of the group to express themselves.

The group discusses putting together a three-page newsletter. Of the 11 
attending, almost everyone has committed to contributing. Faces smile at 
ideas for slogans: "Nugs not drugs" and "Different smokes for different 
folks." Someone suggests an icon for the letterhead: an NYU-like torch with 
a pot leaf. There is also talk of a new group called ParaNORML, which would 
not be directly related to marijuana, but would meet for introspective 
thinking and yoga classes.

Conversation is engaging, and students are open to debate. One person 
brings up the issue of the use of marijuana as a psychotropic drug, making 
himself vulnerable by discussing how marijuana has been helpful with his 
bipolar disorder.

Another student responds by asking, "But, isn't marijuana a depressant?"

"I guess it depends on the person smoking," McClune says, head tilted 
forward and occasionally pulling his fingertips, palms facing out, from 
roots to ends of his wavy blondish hair.

The group does not advocate that everyone should smoke, only that everyone 
should have the right to choose for themselves.

"People might just be coming [to the meetings] because they, I think, can 
identify with [NORML]," McClune says. "They'd like to be able to smoke for 
recreational reasons and not feel like a criminal. I mean, because that's 
basically what the system instills in all the smokers. As soon as you light 
up, you automatically feel like a criminal. The government makes you out to 
feel like you're doing something wrong. They assimilate you with hard 
drug-users - addicts, cokeheads, heroin users."

McClune fears that the government's labeling of marijuana in the same class 
as harder substances creates a dangerous situation for many young people.

"There's quite a difference between smoking a bowl and pulling a line," 
McClune said. "And if people go in thinking, 'Well, the government lied to 
me about pot, they probably lied to me about cocaine and I can use that the 
same way that I do pot,' it creates a horrible situation."

McClune proposed the concept of NORML to NYU's Office of Student Activities 
this fall. While the idea was approved, the group will not receive funding 
until next fall. Expenses are currently paid out of McClune's "own pocket," 
most of which go toward the flyers made to inform students of the group's 
weekly meetings. The flyers have been necessary because as a new group, 
NORML's meeting rooms often change from week to week. Unfortunately, 
advertising through flyers has been a difficult task. McClune hopes the Web 
site and newsletter will help.

"For every advertisement that we put up on campus, we have to ask 
permission from the guards of the building," McClune said. "We show them 
the advertisement and they say no."

"In a way, we are being denied our right to advertise," McClune said. "But 
there's no need to fight it. I just turn away."

"A lot of people think at NYU that they can make a difference," McClune 
says. "I think that's one of the things that really ties the people at the 
meetings together - that they care about it. They feel like in New York 
City and the Village that we have a chance to do something here that a lot 
of people don't at other universities."

"I want to wait until we have a little more establishment and our 
activities are going through before I tell them something," McClune says, 
referring to his parents. "So if they say anything like 'What the hell are 
you doing?' I can say, 'I'm doing this.'" And he will say it with pride.
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MAP posted-by: Ariel