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Show DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE londay, June 11,2007 iCannabis debate caught in smoky haze health-based argument. Cannabis smoke is cancerous, and the longterm effects of the drug's psychoactive chemical, delta-9thc, are a matter of medical debate. Some believe that it's responsible for permanent changes to brain chemistry. So there may be long-term health consequences. Yet this reasoning for criminaiization quickly dissolves when you consider both alcohol and tobacco are legal. Given the serious health and safety risks posed by both alcohol and tobacco —which, studies have shown, are often more addictive and harmful than cannabis—it would seem that an obvious paradox exists here. Despite considerable research, I cannot find a logical argument for why this legal contradiction is reasonable. For those who do, please e-mail me (I'm begging you). Some posit that cannabis is more harmful than alcohol and tobacco, or that it affects your long-term behavior more significantly, and some just submit that the Prohibition movement was on the right track. Some regurgitate the "gateway drug" argument. This masterwork of reasoning rests basically on the proposition that using cannabis encourages use of more serious drugs. This reason, though, has its own problems. Would the drug even act as a "gateway" if it weren't illegal? latt Petryni OREGON DAILY EMERALD OREGON) UGENE, Ore.—Arguments in favor and in opposition to the criminaiization of cannabis •are somewhat tired and repetitive. But what is fascinating is the level to which a stigma concerning marijuana has penetrated the American culture. Oregon was one of the first states to criminalize it in 1923. Fifty years later, in the 1970s, Oregon made possession of less than an ounce a misdemeanor —a form of decriminalization. Later, Oregon's '. libertarian spirit led it to solidify its place in cannabis decriminalization > history, being one of only a handful of states to make marijuana legal for medicinal use. * ' It is difficult to explain with any •accuracy the reason why over 60 percent of Americans continue to support the criminaiization of cannabis. Some may support the law because it's the law, and they don't : really care much more than that. The most common argument I've come across is that marijuana is bad for your health. This is, in many ways, true. Zach Mayko's "Wellness Wednesday" advertisement in Wednesday's Emerald is an example of this In order for users to get a hold of the drug, they often have tofinda sketchy personal acquaintance and interact with a cabal of small-time criminals. I'm just saying, in order to have access to pot, one must, by definition, be a criminal. If the drug, however, were available at Rite-Aid, it would be interesting to see if users would as frequently go to people who participate in other criminal behaviors to find it. We should also examine the reason the drug was made illegal in the first place. There are a number of prominent theories to explain this. One is that racism was at the heart of the depression-era campaign to criminalize the drug. The legal use of the Spanish word "marihuana," instead of the proper Latin "cannabis" or the English "hemp," is often referenced in support of this theory. The immigration of Mexicans into the United States after the 1910 Revolution triggered a form of xenophobia that resulted in our modern anti-cannabis laws. Some people believed that these immigrants brought marijuana with them. This sounds familiar. Another theory contends that proponents of criminaiization were targeting industrial hemp, the source for products including REIMHERR EXHORTS STUDENTS TO RECYCLE )o you like to pad until your feyes get blurry? continued from Page 6 expanding the program in the next couple years because students did not take initiative. E-mail b.krahenbuhl© chronicle.utah.edu The Chronicle wants you as a copy editor. WESTERN MOUNTAIN MANAGEMENT, INC. 1595EHwy40 Hoosoveii, We are requesting additional seasonal laborers to plant and harvest hay, com, and alfalfa. They will be transplanting, weeding, thinning anri prune crops, using hand tools such as shovels, trowels, hoes, tampers, pruning hooks, shears and knives. Repairing ol Irrigation ditches, laying Irrigation pipes. Assist with the fencing such as setting of posts, wiring and re-wiring. The time period we are requesting is from 7/12/07 to 4/12/08. Rate is $8.64/hr, 3/4 guarantees. Tools, supplies and equipment provided no cost to worker. Transportation to job site and housing provided if outside commute area. Calls accepted at local job service office 8:30-4:30pm M-F. Refer to Job # 8485443. mdnG. THOMAS CRITICIZES AMERICAN UNIONS If,the drug, however, were available at Rite-Aid, it would be interesting to see if users would as frequently go to people who participate in other criminal behaviors to find it. building products, fabric and paper. There is little question that legalization of marijuana would probably result in stronger competition for the cotton and woodpulp industries from hemp products. This reason may, though, make more sense historically than it does now. Industrial hemp is currently grown legally across the country, having Very few psychoactive properties. Being that only psychoactive marijuana, and not industrial hemp, is targeted by drug laws, it is unlikely that our laws are any longer intended to do much more than stigmatize this industrial use. We often ignore the culturally driven fears of cannabis. A good many people get trashed off alcohol every weekend, yet still we see cannabis as "incredibly dangerous." I can't say where this comes from. Fortunately, the new Associated Students of the University of Utah administration sees the importance of campus sustainability, and is talcing an active role in ensuring the program's success. The undertaking of the recycling program by ASUU legitimizes the matter and opens up the doors to other sustainability issues, such as energy efficiency. outlived and over-swelled with ego that they act as a stumbling block; they have gone from balancing the employer-to-employee scale to tipping that scale in an unfair advantage against the continued from Page 5 ••, employer. I recently worked for a a shorter workday, higher pay company that won a conand safer working conditions. tract to restore 90-year-old When employers would not bronze grills that line the comply with the demands of Philadelphia Museum of Art. the unions, they would call In that city, when performing for working strikes until their just about any kind of work, demands were met. by law we had to hire union Unions have been very suc- workers to fill the positions. cessful in meeting their goals We needed to have, by law, a foreman, a teamster, iron and and "defending1' the laborer, steel workers, operators and but, just like affirmative acall the rest. For us, that meant tion, unions have become so Perhaps it's simply a lack of accurate medical information. It may be the false assumption that it wouldn't have been made illegal if it were actually safer than alcohol. It could even be the lasting result of 1930s propaganda (i.e. "Reefer Madness") that led to criminaiization. The issue does offer us a lesson more generally: to know why our laws exist. The People should decide the laws, and to do so we must try to change the laws we can't really justify. For those of us who believe alcohol should remain legal, or who believe that the drinking age should be lowered (or are out there knowingly violating the drinking age), it is important for the cause of freedom that we try tofigureout why cannabis shouldn't be legalized as well. U-Wire If students want to improve energy efficiency on campus, they will need to put forth an effort similar to that required by the new recycling program. Students will need to demand it. Hopefully, the recycling program will show the administration that it is worth it to spend a little money now to save a lot of money later when it comes to improving the campus. In the long run, whether you agree with helping the environment or not, the fact is that recycling will save the university money. So remember to recycle this paper. You'll help the environment, and you may help lower your tuition. Patrick Reimherr is currently the ASUU recycling board director. we had an eight-man crew. It cost my company five digits every day just to have these eight union workers there, and I am sad to report that only two of them actually worked. After taking two weeks to do what non-union workers could have done in one week, I worked in New York installing a bronze gate in a ritzy part of Manhattan. The client is a land developer in New York and recently built some condos just outside of Brooklyn. Because the condos were built outside the city, he was not required by the law to hire union construction workers—saving him time and money. Somehow, the union caught wind of this, found out where he lived and showed up with a 35-foot inflatable rat that they flew over his house for a week! It is sad to see that the scales have tipped in such a, way that instead of balancing, union employees have simply switched roles with employ-" ers that take advantage and prey on the poor employers just trying to get some work done. After my experience over the past several weeks, I say, "Shame on Unions: Labor Dispute!" letters@ chronicle.utah.edu . JV1AG1C: TIME SPIRAL . . GAMES WORKSHOP.. . ROLE-PLAYING GAMES . . ONLINE COMPUTER GAMING. SVfcj m^w fr« -/? STOCK nouns HON • THUB& 1UM TO 10PM . FRIDAY X1AH TO MIDNIGHT SATURDAY* 10AM TO MIDNIGHT • SUNDAY. NOON TO BPM SANCTIONED MAGIC TOURNAMENTS wais. stun, SALT UIE a n • PHONEi SOI.352JMS OB l^nJUSTOFS WVTWJUSTUftaOBBlES.COM NEW I PRODUCTS: V J. 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Write letters to the editor! [ Contact Eric \a£ e.geerUngj@chronicle.utab.edu ietters@chronide.utah.edu |