4/20 a day for NORML, policy musings

WAITES LASETER

Wojciech Kaczkowski, president of NORML, gathers signatures during the Student Activities Fair on September 10, 2008.

Smoked out, baked, blazed or toasted – whatever you call getting high, millions are doing it today. In cannabis culture, April 20 is a holiday for advocates to smoke and campaign for legalizing marijuana.

But for Wojciech Kaczkowski, president of the University’s chapter of the National Organization for the Reform for Marijuana Laws, today also is a point of reflection in a semester-long fight to free expression on campus.

NORML faces its second hearing this Tuesday with University Judiciary. The issue came to a head when the University claimed NORML violated a copyright infringement of Hairy Dawg and the Arch in its club T-shirt that depicts a bulldog holding a joint, leaning against the Arch. University officials contested in a hearing earlier this month that NORML did not receive approval for the logos and did not respond to deadlines asking the group to take the image off their Web site and to return unsold T-shirts.

However, Kaczkowski said the group will focus on what it believes to be its own intellectual property.

“When you draw your own image of a bulldog and an arch-like structure, it’s the intellectual property of the person who draws it. It’s not a copy of the official logo of the University of Georgia, it’s the image of [UGA NORML artist] Greg Stone,” he said. “We also believe that people who see this image will think it is a parody or satire of Hairy Dawg, but no one would think this is official merchandise of the University of Georgia.”

Kaczkowski said if NORML is found formally guilty, the organization plans to appeal.

“The national NORML, based in [Washington,] D.C., offered us support, and we’ve had a lot of support from local lawyers and politicians,” he said. “We believe we’re not guilty of anything, and we’ll go through the appeals process. But I really hope that the people in the panel will realize and listen to our

reasoning and and make the right decision.”

(hed) Marijuana use and debate

But as some on campus will celebrate the cannibis holiday and reflect on the University’s copyright use, around the country many debate the drug’s implications on society, and how American drug policy affects its use.

Marijuana is the most commonly abused drug in Georgia, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, which enforces controlled substances laws and regulations in the country.

In the Athens area, marijuana is the most prevalent drug, said Lt. Mike Hunsinger, the head of Athens-Clarke County Police Department’s Drug Task Force, which monitors and tries to reduce the supply and demand of illicit drugs in Athens-Clarke, Oconee and Oglethorpe Counties. “Every socioeconomic group is shown to be involved in the consumption of marijuana, partly because of the ready available supply in our area. We deal with it every day.”

Hunsinger said Mexican-produced marijuana and indoor grown marijuana have set records for use in the area, partly because of the high demand of the college-aged demographic.

There has been much debate in recent years over legalizing marijuana. President Barack Obama stated earlier this month that there were no efforts to legalize marijuana to boost the economy and create jobs, an argument supported by many pro-pot groups, the Associated Press reported. “The answer is, no, I don’t think that is a good strategy to grow our economy,” Obama said. Though marijuana use is illegal throughout most of the US, its medical use is regulated in 13 states. In California, where marijuana is estimated to bring in $14 billion as a cash crop, a bill was introduced earlier this year that would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana use in the state, according to Washington Post reports.

Kaczkowski said he thinks a generational shift is fueling a different perspective on marijuana.

“The younger generation thinks this isn’t as harmful a drug as the older generation believes,” he said. “Billions of dollars [from marijuana sales] are not going to government, but are going to the illegal market and to drug dealers. With the economic crisis, people are taking this into perspective, which is a good thing for our cause.”

Some groups, such as NORML, the Drug Policy Alliance, and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, seek to decriminalize marijuana and adopt non-prosecuting drug policies that would allow for recreational use.

Others, such as the Office of National Drug Control Policy, cite health effects such as respiratory problems, and THC suppresses information processing in the brain. The American Association of Pediatrics opposes the legalization of marijuana, and cited in 2004 the negative health effects on short-term memory and concentration.

But some University research has found some promise in treating pain with the use of chemicals that are found in cannabis, the plant used for making marijuana.

Richard Suplita, a University psychology lecturer, studied for his doctoral research rats and the injection of cannabinoids, which are organic compounds found in cannabis. Suplita studied with Andrea Hohmann, a University psychology professor who runs a research lab that looks at cannabinoids and their effect on pain and potential as possible anti-anxiety treatments.

With cannabinoids, the findings were “promising as prospective pain treatments. Typically with most research, with THC [a psychoactive substance found in cannabis], we find potency and effectiveness that rivals the effectiveness of morphine,” Suplita said.

Suplita said cannabinoid research was also more effective in addressing pain that was caused by nerve fibers, chemotherapy and AIDs, he said.

With current policy, some researchers do face setbacks. Suplita said during his research, there was a delay in acquiring THC because of marijuana’s classification on the DEA’s drug schedule. Marijuana is known as a Schedule I drug, which is typified by its “high potential for abuse,” “lack of accepted safety for the drug,” and “no currently accepted medical use in the United States,” according to the DEA’s Web site.

“Drugs are on the schedule based on potential for abuse and for medical use,” Lt. Hunsinger said.

However, Suplita said that marijuana’s scheduling needed to be changed, because a different type of THC is classified as a Schedule 3 drug, which has a currently accepted medical use in America.

“The stigma associated with marijuana is so much dramatically worse than with cigarettes. But pharmacologists rate it virtually the same,” Suplita said. “The system definitely needs to be revamped, for known data, and pharmocalogical drugs, and where they’re listed on the DAE schedule.”

As for its recreational use, Suplita said, ” I definitely don’t think there’s great benefit in legalizing marijuana. We don’t need another drug, and it’s not safer than ethanol in cigarettes … I don’t see how its beneficial to society, but on the other hand, I don’t see how it’s beneficial to lock people up. That’s not a good public policy either, because it can be detrimental to lots of other peoples’ futures. I think that it’s certainly a policy that needs to be reanalyzed.”