The Battalion
Hemp use clouded by controversy
By Libe Goad and John LeBas
The Battalion
0
nee farmers
grew it under
strict orders
" from the gov
ernment. People paid
their taxes with it. It
was a major component
of paper, money, cloth
and rope. Benjamin
Franklin used it to
start one of the first
American paper mills.
George Washington and
Thomas Jefferson grew
plenty of it on their
people are realizing that it’s not such
such a bad thing.”
Greenwood said marijuana use
has less of an impact on students’
grades than alcohol does.
“Most people, when they picture
people who use, think of people who
just sit on their bed all day,” he said.
“I know more people who sit around
and drink alcohol and screw up just
as easily.”
But drinking is legal — at least for
the 21*and-up crowd •— whereas
marijuana use, possession and distri
bution remains against the law.
Greenwood said the benefits of
marijuana are why most smokers
support legalization.
“Most people want it to be legal so
they can smoke without going to jail,”
he said. “At NORML, we emphasize
the uses you can get from the plant
itself— it’s pretty beneficial.”
Smoking is often “prescribed” for
cancer and AIDS patients, and hemp
is a durable material used in making
clothes, shoes and even wallets.
But most smokers are willing to
face the risks involved with using the
drug, Greenwood said.
“The fact that it’s illegal doesn’t
stop people from doing it,” he said.
Statistics provided by the Uni
versity Police Department support
this statement.
Bob Wiatt, director of the UPD,
said that between Sept. 1, 1995
and March 31 of this year, UPD
made 21 marijuana-related arrests
on campus.
something laced last year,” he said.
After a night of driving around
smoking marijuana, Karl lost track of
his whereabouts. Thirty minutes later,
when he returned to reality, Karl found
himself parked in front of Extreme.
He said he blacked out five times
after he parked in front of the Col
lege Station dance club.
A friend took him home and
watched him until the horror ended
at 4 a.m.
Karl said he doesn’t care when his
friends smoke pot, and though he is
disillusioned with the recreational
drug, he would smoke it again.
“If I absolutely knew the person who
was supplying it and I trusted them,”
he said. “There are only a few people
right now that I trust about that.”
Not your NORML
students
At a NORML meeting last Tues
day night, several members voiced
their views on and concerns about
marijuana issues.
Adviser Don Arnold, a longtime
Bryan resident, said marijuana use
is not a recent trend.
“I suspect use of marijuana on
campus has been fairly constant
since the ’70s, which is when I was
aware of it,” he said.
Arnold said societal pressures
keep him from using marijuana for
medicinal purposes.
“I need to try to use it for my glau
coma, but I don’t because of my job,
"There's no hard evidence, but we're coming into con
tact with it more, usually with younger people who ap
parently think that marijuana is a social drug and that
it's not a violation."
— BOB WIATT
director of University Police Department
plantations.
It was a major cash crop for years,
and its name is hemp.
Cannabis saliva, commonly known
as marijuana, pot, weed, hemp,
reefer, grass and ganja, was even
grown in Texas A&M’s back yard —
Hempstead.
Marijuana use is illegal now, but
some A&M students are keeping the
“tradition” alive.
Smoking marijuana makes up a
small portion of the marijuana ques
tion. Groups like the National Orga
nization for Reform of Marijuana
Laws fight to end hemp’s prohibition,
but they exist in the minority.
The moral and legal questions sur
rounding this issue divide the cam
pus into three groups: those who like
it, those who hate it and those who
would rather talk about other peo
ple’s mothers.
Several A&M students and staff
shared their views on the marijua
na question.
Jason Mitchell, former NORML
president and Class of ’95, said pot
use among A&M students is not nec
essarily on the rise.
“I think that there was a lot of
talk about marijuana being glamor
ized over the past five years or so,”
Mitchell said.
He attributes this apparent rise in
the drug’s popularity to a greater lev
el of honesty among those polled
about marijuana use.
“I’ve seen studies showing an in
crease among high school students,
but I think more people now admit
it,” he said.
Mitchell said marijuana use is not
necessarily detrimental to school per
formance. As with any drug, he be
lieves this is determined by a user’s
level of responsibility.
“Everybody’s different,” Mitchell
said. “There are people who could use it
every day and end up with a 4.0. Some
people have been taught to be responsi
ble by their parents (regarding drug
use), while some people have never
been taught that. But any addiction
can be detrimental to performance.”
Wade Greenwood, president of
NORML and a freshman English
major, said he believes marijuana
use is pretty stable among A&M
students, but users are now more
open about smoking than they have
been in the past.
“People are less afraid and don’t
hide it as much,” he said. “I guess
Wiatt said he has observed an in
crease in marijuana use among stu
dents through these arrests and his
work with the Brazos County Nar
cotics Task Force.
“There’s no hard evidence, but
we’re coming into contact with it
more, usually with younger people
who apparently think that marijuana
is a social drug and think it’s not a
violation,” Wiatt said. “It’s certainly
not decreasing.”
Wiatt said penalties for possession
vary with the quantity. He said hav
ing even a few seeds is a misde
meanor offense, punishable by up to
a year in jail and up to a $4,000 fine.
“If you have a quantity, the pre
sumption is that you’re selling it, and it
could escalate into a felony,” Wiatt said.
Most of the arrests on campus
since September were for possession
of small quantities of the drug, indi
cating that those arrested were only
interested in personal use.
But Wiatt stressed the dangers of
the drug, even when used in such
small amounts.
“First of all, it does alter the
thinking process,” he said.
A recent arrest was made after a
UPD officer pulled over a driver who
was at first thought to be drunk. As
it turned out, the driver was high —
and incarcerated.
Wiatt said students should not as
sume UPD officers will resort to le
niency in marijuana incidents because
they won’t.
“If anyone out there is trying to
see if law enforcement will be wink
ing,” he said, “that’s a fallacy.”
Officers and residence hall staff have
been acquainted with the smell of burn
ing weed, and they will not hesitate to
bust smokers if the odor is detected.
“The main thing is that it is illegal,
and whether or not people think it’s a
panacea, if they are caught with it,
they will be charged with a criminal
violation,” Wiatt said. “The user
should beware.”
“Karl,” a student who wishes to re
main anonymous, said he will be cau
tious with weed in the future.
“I’m bitter on it because I was given
and I have a daughter,” he said. “You
want to be able to stand up for it, but
you can’t. I think we struggle with
the concept of responsible use.”
NORML members say government
and the media usually portray mari
juana as a violent drug, often group
ing the drug with substances such as
cocaine, LSD and heroin.
Marijuana research has been stifled
as a result, they said. Laws regarding
marijuana render the drug illegal be
cause it has no medical value, a claim
NORML members dispute.
Studies show marijuana can be used
to treat the disabling pressure of glau
coma and the pain of migraine
headaches. The drug also increases the
appetite of AIDS and cancer patients,
eases the side effects of chemotherapy
and is an ideal anorexia treatment.
Pharmaceutical companies have
given millions of dollars to the drug
war efforts because marijuana can be
used as so many different medicines,
and these companies would lose a lot
of money if the drug was legalized,
NORML members said.
Yet, in anticipation of legalization,
several tobacco companies have al
ready obtained trademarks for future
marijuana cigarette brand names.
If marijuana was legalized,
NORML members said, the hemp in
dustry could produce cooking oil,
paint, paper, cheap and environ
ment-friendly fuel, clothes and even
plastic, as well as medicines.
After all, marijuana was, at one
time, quite legal and widely utilized.
In 1937, hemp was declared by
Mechanical Engineering magazine to
be “the most profitable and desirable
crop that can be grown.” Farmers
were once prohibited from refusing to
grow hemp, because of its value as a
cash crop.
The tight-lipped
majority
People who refrain from smoking
marijuana can easily avoid the drug
at A&M. The conservative atmos-
See Marijuana, Page 4