When it comes to substance abuse on the University campus, many students do not think cocaine use is a major issue when compared to consumption of alcohol and other drugs. "I haven't seen it as a problem," LSA freshman Greg Baumann said. "I've been to enough parties, but I haven't seen any use of it." According to the 2001 University of Michigan Student Life Survey of undergraduate students conducted by the Student Abuse Research Center, the percentage of students who reported cocaine use is small compared to other substances. [continues 521 words]
The nearest locale of exotic clubs, alcohol and gambling that caters to 19-year-old college students may be adding another party favor to the list of legal entertainment marijuana. As soon as next semester, pot could be made available to Michiganders via Windsor, Canada. Concerning students' traveling to Windsor, Ann Arbor Police Department Sgt. Blackwell said that the best thing to do is to remain in Windsor until sober. "If marijuana is legalized in Windsor, it's not going to change our enforcement activity," Blackwell said. [continues 376 words]
Long-term cannabis use impairs memory and attention beyond the time of intoxication, according to experiment results that the Journal of the American Medical Association released yesterday. These effects worsen with continued smoking and potentially affect users' academic and occupational production, relationships and other daily activities. "This has been an issue of substantial discussion for a long time," Interim Director for University Health Services Robert Winfield said. "The big question has always been, is (cannabis) temporary to being intoxicated or is it permanent?" [continues 348 words]
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- One week ago, British Home Secretary David Blunkett announced that marijuana possession will no longer be punishable by arrest within the United Kingdom. The plans for reform by the Home Office mark the first significant relaxation in British cannabis law in 30 years. Under the new proposed national policy, marijuana will be reclassified as a "Class C" or "soft" drug, giving it the same status as antidepressants and other prescription drugs. The United States should look to Britain's example of a more practical drug policy. [continues 336 words]
Just one month ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously to ax yet another proposal to legalize medicinal marijuana, with Justice Clarence Thomas boldly stating that the plant has no valid medicinal uses; at the American Medical Association's annual policy-setting meeting in Chicago last week, the AMA was urged by one of its own committees to support the "compassionate use" of the drug. Hopefully, the AMA will adopt this proposal, thus lending some credibility to the many patients who've found it helpful. [continues 489 words]
In 1996, California's Proposition 215 decriminalized the use, possession and sale of marijuana for medical purposes. Although voters have passed similar measures in eight other states, terminally ill patients with doctors' prescriptions can still be prosecuted and thrown in jail under federal law for merely possessing marijuana. No matter what our views are on general legalization, as informed citizens, we must recognize cannabis as valuable medicine and crop and implore our government to legalize it. Marijuana helps people keep food down, especially those who must swallow daily drug cocktails and endure nausea-inducing chemotherapy. "It's important to keep weight on because HIV eats away body-muscle mass," says a 43-year-old AIDS patient with "wasting syndrome." Another man told author Jack Herer that "without pot you are dying with cancer, while with pot you are living with cancer." Marijuana decreases seizure frequency in up to 30 percent of epileptic patients for whom side-effect-ridden drugs like Valium and Percodan fail. It also eases glaucoma patient's ocular pressure and assists patients with such debilitating problems as multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, lupus, post-polio syndrome and severe arthritis. [continues 389 words]
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - John Sinclair, whose arrest and subsequent 10-year prison sentence in 1970 for possession of two marijuana joints sparked the first Hash Bash in 1971, was present Saturday along with 6,000 others to celebrate the event's 30th anniversary. "Today is one of those days when it is good to be an American," Sinclair said. The main events of the day took place on the Diag from "high noon" until 1 p.m. during which several speakers, including Sinclair, addressed the audience assembled in front of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library. [continues 592 words]
John Sinclair, whose arrest and subsequent 10-year prison sentence in 1970 for possession of two marijuana joints sparked the first Hash Bash in 1971, was present Saturday along with 6,000 others to celebrate the event's 30th anniversary. "Today is one of those days when it is good to be an American," Sinclair said. The main events of the day took place on the Diag from "high noon" until 1 p.m. during which several speakers, including Sinclair, addressed the audience assembled in front of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library. [continues 597 words]
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A lot of ink has been spilled over civil rights battles. Blood too, for that matter. And pontificators have given us our last civil rights fights for a long time. They say affirmative action is the last battle. They say gay rights is the last battle. They might even say that political correctness is a civil rights battle. But what has not been addressed is the freedom of consciousness movement. Let's get this out in the open: I'm talking about psychedelics -- the taboo little topic that few have dusted off since the fallout of the '60s. But that word "psychedelic" is loaded with fear. A more straightforward label is entheogen, which literally means "generating the divine within." In laymen's terms, that means "becoming god." We could also go with a purely phenomenological description and call them "consciousness expanding agents" because that's what they do. [continues 552 words]
In December 1970, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Alan Ginsburg and other popular political activists came to Crisler Arena for a freedom rally in support of John Sinclair, a Michigan resident who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of two marijuana joints. Several members of this rally decided that on April 1 of the following year, they would all converge on campus for a national "smoke-in." This event, which is now known throughout the University and the country as "Hash Bash," will celebrate its 30th anniversary Saturday. [continues 603 words]
This Saturday is the 30th anniversary of what has become a well-known Ann Arbor tradition: The annual Hash Bash. At "high noon" on the Diag many students, professors and others from across the nation will meet to protest the ongoing prohibition of marijuana. This commemorative event will kick off a petition drive that will attempt to bring the issue of marijuana decriminalization before Michigan voters this fall. Hash Bash attendees are hoping to collect the 302,711 necessary signatures statewide to put the Personal Responsibility Amendment on the ballot for referendum vote. This will allow voters to directly determine whether or not marijuana should be illegal for personal use. All students, regardless of their opinion about marijuana prohibition, should sign this petition because it is important that Michigan citizens get the right to vote on an issue that affects so many people. [continues 377 words]
Greg Schmid, the Saginaw attorney behind the Personal Responsibility Amendment drive aimed at decriminalizing the use of marijuana in Michigan, hopes to gain enough signatures to put the amendment on the 2002 Michigan ballot after a similar drive failed last year. The six-month campaign to compile the 302,711 necessary signatures will begin here in Ann Arbor at the Michigan Theater on April 6 -- the eve of the 30th annual Hash Bash. This is not the first time Ann Arbor has been at the center of controversy regarding the decriminalization of marijuana. Last August, the City Council nullified a petition to put a medicinal marijuana referendum before Ann Arbor voters. [continues 398 words]
According to the recent University of Michigan study "Monitoring the Future," adolescents are increasingly abusing methlyphenidate, the drug more commonly known as Ritalin, in order to study longer, party harder and suppress their appetites. Ritalin is a mild stimulant most commonly prescribed to school-age children to control Attention Deficit Disorder. But the drug is sold for about $3 to $5 per pill on the black market. University students, like many across the country, are willing to pay for Ritalin's varied effects including appetite suppression, wakefulness, increased focus for studying and euphoria. [continues 245 words]
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - According to the recent University of Michigan study "Monitoring the Future," adolescents are increasingly abusing methlyphenidate, the drug more commonly known as Ritalin, in order to study longer, party harder and suppress their appetites. Ritalin is a mild stimulant most commonly prescribed to school-age children to control Attention Deficit Disorder. But the drug is sold for about $3 to $5 per pill on the black market. University students, like many across the country, are willing to pay for Ritalin's varied effects including appetite suppression, wakefulness, increased focus for studying and euphoria. [continues 245 words]
(U-WIRE) ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Among those who are tried on drug-related charges in Brooklyn's Supreme Court, Yitzchak Fried is not a regular. Nevertheless, the 52-year-old Orthodox rabbi was brought before Judge Plummer E. Lott on charges of selling seven ounces of marijuana to a police informant. The rabbi, who has had a history of trying to help heroin junkies quit, is seeking a mitigation of his sentence on grounds that he was selling marijuana for medical purposes. The case is yet another reminder of the need for reform of drug laws concerning marijuana. [continues 404 words]
A report released yesterday by the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project found that medical marijuana laws, currently instituted in 30 states, have been unaffected by federal threats. These laws protect the thousands of patients who grow, possess and use marijuana with the permission of a doctor. The medicinal use laws have raised great debate concerning their legitimacy and whether legalization will encourage recreational use of the drug. Michigan is one of 20 states that have not legalized marijuana for medical purposes. [continues 364 words]
Medical Marijuana's Supreme Court Battle Last June, California resident Peter McWilliams choked to death on his own vomit because he was denied the right to use medical marijuana, the only substance that would allow him to stomach a potent combination of AIDS and cancer drugs. Though California legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes in 1996 with Proposition 215, McWilliams was denied the right to mention the proposition in his federal trial for marijuana possession, despite his constant nausea, weight loss and the spreading of his cancer. [continues 453 words]
New Drug Laws Target Minorities, Poor Our criminal justice system is in dire need of reform. Nothing has contributed more to this problem than the "War on Drugs." The concern is specifically highlighted in laws that target minorities and deal out harsh sentences based on mandatory minimums. According to Mark Mauer, assistant director of "The Sentencing Project," a national organization based in Washington, D.C., these "get tough" policies have led to a rise in black incarceration rates across the board by attaching harsher penalties to those drugs used by minorities and the lower socio-economic classes. [continues 559 words]
Marijuana Vote Wrongly Blocked By Council A petition was brought to the Ann Arbor City Council this summer to add a medical marijuana referendum to this November's city ballot. In a controversial move, the Council nullified the petition, along with any hope of allowing the public to vote on it in this coming election. Short of bringing suits against the city, 6,000 signatures and months of hard work have been wrongly blocked. Supporters of the petition say they were given an incorrect due date for signatures by the Washtenaw County Clerk and the Ann Arbor City Clerk. Thus the signatures were turned it in six days late. Both clerks confirmed that the error was their own and not the petitioners'. [continues 452 words]
Medical marijuana in Ann Arbor Ann Arbor is very close to getting a local initiative that would legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes on the ballot in November. With only a few days of petitioning left, the local Libertarians spearheading this effort need students and local advocates of medical marijuana to register to vote in Ann Arbor and sign the petition that would put this issue to a city-wide vote. This initiative is important for the large number of Ann Arbor residents who have found that their use of marijuana is a relief from painful symptoms caused by a myriad of diseases. Aside from lessening the symptoms of glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and some forms of asthma, marijuana can be used help cancer and AIDS patients deal with the effects of powerful drug cocktails and chemotherapy treatments. It relieves their pain, but, unlike prescription painkillers that numb patients, marijuana allows them to live their lives normally. [continues 373 words]
