Pubdate: Thu, 02 May 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: Jessica Wakeman

MARCHING FOR A NORML LIFE

Who needs the Million Marijuana March as an excuse to smoke up? Not NYU 
students, according to the 2001 Princeton Review report which NYU ranked 
No. 1 out of 331 colleges in the category of "reefer madness." Ironically, 
the Million Marijuana March, which will take place this Saturday, is 
actually a day when students should not smoke up - at least not in public.

"There is a difference between going down there and voicing your opinion 
and trying to get something changed, and just smoking a joint," said Nathan 
McCune, president of NYU-NORML (National Organization for Reform of 
Marijuana Laws).

The Million Marijuana March begins with a noon rally at the corner of 
Washington Place and Broadway, followed by a march down Broadway to Battery 
Park. There, protesters organized by several pro-marijuana groups, 
including Cures-Not-Wars, Clergy for Cannabis, the Marijuana Reform Party, 
Queers for Weed and NYU-NORML, will engage in a "hempfest" protesting 
strict marijuana criminalization laws and calling on NYU to hurry up with 
the ibogaine trial.

"The No. 1 demand is to stop all cannabis arrests," said Dana Beal, founder 
of Cures-Not-Wars, a grassroots marijuana decriminalization and ibogaine 
legalization group. "It's also about a health movement to offer melatonin 
to marijuana users and ibogaine to heroin and hard-drug users."

According to Beal, NYU has been "half-supporting, half-tripping up the 
research" about ibogaine, a psychedelic drug derived from the African iboga 
plant which has been known to accelerate the process of overcoming drug 
addiction.

Michael Haberman, the director of Government and Community Relations at 
NYU, said that even though NYU supports the NORML branch which exists on 
campus, NYU does not support the march.

"NYU and a lot of community groups have been working for a number of years 
to get drug dealers out of Washington Square Park," he said. "This parade 
promotes the exact opposite of that."

Yet organizers say they adamantly discourage protesters from smoking 
marijuana at any point during the rally, march or gathering in the Battery.

"It's not about smoking pot," Beal said. "It's about protesting the laws."

Greg Benjamin, a sophomore in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, 
plans on participating in the march with NYU-NORML but not smoking at it.

"I'm going to stick with the tactics that are legal," he said. "I'm going 
to the march because it's something I believe in and I'm willing to take 
the necessary steps to make it a reality."

Despite some negative attitudes towards NYU-NORML's views on marijuana 
legalization, McCune feels participation in the rally supports a realistic 
cause.

"Our goal is restricted legalization," he said. "A government-controlled 
substance, like nicotine or alcohol."
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