I
r
Seventy-Sixth Year
EDrED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
A
View of Marijuana in Perspective
Wher OpinionP Ar Free' 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH.
Truth Will Prevail 2
NEWS PHoNE: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This mus t be noted in all reprints.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1965 NIGHT EDITOR: LAUREN BAHR
The Detroit Election:
ProgressivismR eaffirmed
THE TERM "BACKLASH" appears to
have earned itself a permanent posi-
tion of prominence in America's political
vernacular. George Wallace, with his fre-
quent side trips in Northern presidential
primaries last spring, seems to have been
the prime cause for its original use in
the 1964 presidential campaign. However,
this ignominious phrase still strikes ter-
ror in the hearts of every liberal candi-
date and can readily transform a well
organized campaign into sudden chaos.
This fall's Detroit non-partisan munici-
pal election exemplified such a confused
state, where racial overtones made a log-
ical prediction of voter behavior literally
impossible.
Detroit, with almost 500,000 Negro resi-
dents, has the typical racial problems of
a large American city-high crime rates
in Negro ghettoes, the rapid transfor-
mation of neighborhoods from one type
of segregation to another, and Negro
complaints of police brutality. These fac-
tors make Detroit's electorate ripe for
exploitation of racial fears.
HOWEVER, the backlash vote never ma-
terialized in the November 2 election
and beginning next January Detroit will
have a liberal mayor with the necessary
complement of a progressive, cooperative
city council.
Mayor Jerome P. Cavanagh rode eas- -
"1y to victory with over two-thirds of
the vote. He also carried with him on his
personal endorsement the first and sec-
o"id place finishers in the council race
and the city's second Negro council mem-
ber in its history.
Although few observers felt Cavanagh
was in any danger and it became only a
matter of predicting the percentage of
the vote he would receive, the outcome
of last September's primary election had
pointed to a victory for the racially big-
oted elements of the council:
But due to the concerted effort by an
alliance of labor, both political parties,
and church leaders, the elections results
portended a future of community har-
mony instead of what could have been
an extremely explosive situation.
O SOURCES of considerable concern
were the candidacies of Mary Beck
and Thomas Poindexter.
Miss Beck, lady champion of the po-
lice department and arch-foe of the
mayor and the Negro community, had
placed second in the primary and was
doing equally well in the Detroit News
and the mayor's polls. Mayor Cavanagh
had last spring asked voters to reject
Miss Beck.
Throughout the campaign, Beck attack-
ed the mayor's office for allegedly ham-
stringing the efforts of Detroit police in
dealing with crime. On one instance, she
castigated Detroit's police commissioner
before a meeting of the Detroit Police
Officers' Assosciation and received a
standing ovation. But she polled only a
poor sixth.
Thomas Poindexter, who many had
considered a serious contender for the
council presidency, also ran relatively well
in the primary and succeeding opinion
Subscription rate: $4.50 semester by carrier ($5 by
mail); $8 yearly by carrier ($9 by mal).
Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich.
polls. Poindexter, however, ended his po-
litical career rather abruptly as a result
of two actions.
The first was a letter to the Detroit
Pastors' Association reminding them that
he was the only white Protestant in the
council race, the rest of the candidates
being either Catholic, Negro or Jewish.
The reaction was not what Poindexter
had expected. The letter was released to
the newspapers, with a statement by the
Pastors' Association condemning Poindex-
ter's statement and general attitude.
The second statement by Poindexter
was to the effect that he had witnessed
an assault and done nothing to help the
victim. When asked if he had attempted
to call the police, Poindexter replied that
he was not in familiar territory. Mr.
Poindexter ran tenth, well behind the
ninth place finisher.
Poindexter based his support on an or-
ganization called the Greater Detroit
Homeowner's Council, of which he was a
founder and which claims over 200,000
members. The organization appears to
have lost the considerable strength it
showed in the recent primary, since it
elected only two of its endorsed candi-
dates and had opposed fluoridation,
which was approved by Detroit voters.
THE NINE MEMBER council will be
headed by the present council presi-
dent, Edward Carey. Carey, a former
Democratic minority leader in the State
House of Representatives and an interna-
tional staff member of the UAW, ran
first and will move up to mayor if Cav-
anagh decides to seek higher elective of-
fice or receives a federal appointment.
Finishing second was Councilman
James Brickley, who was thought to be
in trouble, but pulled through with heavy
assistance from the mayor's political ma-
chine.
Former Mayor Louis Miriani finished
third and, in spite of his friction with
the Negro community which defeated
him four years ago, will probably do a
commendable job. If Miriani had finish-
ed first, it would have been difficult for
Cavanagh to turn the city over to the
man he had defeated.
Councilmen Edward Connor and Mel
Ravitz finished fourth and fifth, respec-
tively. Connor, a national authority on
county government, and Ravitz, a former
sociology professor, are both members
of the council's liberal bloc.
Rev. Nicholas Hood, a Negro minister
who is active in civic affairs, finished
eighth.
THE INTER-MINISTERIAL Alliance, an
organization encompassing all of De-
troit's Negro congregations, had threat-
ened to endorse a Negro-only slate if it
were not given assurances of white sup-
port for Negro candidates. However, it
did approve a bi-racial slate and was par-
tially successful in that it placed a Negro
on the council.
The Detroit electorate, by repudiating
those candidates who attempted to capi-
talize on racial fears and by electing an
enlightened city administration, has
proved its maturity and wisdom.
-MARK LEVIN
EDITOR'S NOTE: The author
is chairman of the pharmacology
department in the Medical
School and is a noted authority
in the field of drugs and drug
addiction. He has written nu-
merous articles on the subject
-among them "Medical Per-
spectives on Habituation and
Addiction" in The Journal of
the American Medical Associa-
tion, July 14, 1962.
By MAURICE H. SEEVERS
AN EDITORIAL by Jeffrey
GOODMAN, "The Argument
for Legalizing Marijuana," in The
Michigan Daily Saturday, Oct. 9,
initiated several requests for this
writer to discuss the problem be-
cause of his long time study of
drug addiction here and abroad.
The deciding factor in favor was
the fascination of the concluding
paragraph-a masterpiece of re-
search into reality, time percep-
tion, and judgment with approp-
riate "turned on," "floating" and
"foxy" overtones. "Lastly, the re-
peal of the Marijunana Tax Act
of 1937 would provide an uplift
for the nation's psyche that no
other single act of legislation
could effect in a century or more."
The purpose of this discussion
is to offer enough historical and
factual informationsconcerning
psychoactive drugs in general and
marijuana in particulr to give
perspective to the relative impor-
tance of this substance in the
broader problems of narcotic and
drug abuse in the United States.
The writer does not feel any
obligation to deal with drug abuse
in relation to civil liberties except
possibly to comment that drugs do
not appear to be necessary to pro-
vide hallucinations in this area.
THERE ARE thousands of
drugs and chemicals which are
capable of altering perception
and/or behavior of animals or
man. Some of these in proper
dosage may increase or decrease
psychological or physical functions
without distortion and find a
most useful place in modern med-
ical practice. These same sub-
stances in greater dosage, and in
certain suceptible individuals in
almost any dosage, may distort
perception, incite to violence or
incapacitate mentally and/or phy-
sically.
More likely than not, the aver-
age citizen views the effects of
drugs on mental function and
human behavior as interactions
based upon the unitary formula
drug-individual-society; a simple
concept which permits easy gen-
eralization. A look at a few of
the variables, however, indicates
the complexity of such inter-
actions.
A "drug" is not one drug but
a multitude of drug doses admin-
istered under an endless variety
of conditions. Each of the psy-
choactive drugs (or any drug) has
a "no effect" dose and a lethal
dose with a multitude of behav-
ioral patterns in the intermediate
dose ranges.
Furthermore, the behavior pat-
terns may vary qualitatively as
well as quantitatively, for exam-
ple, excite with small doses and
depress with large doses and the
effects of a single dose vary widely
from those during chronic admin-
istration.
An "individual" is not one indi-
vidual but millions of different
individuals varying physically;
young and old, weak and strong,
sick and well, and psychologically;
intelligent and stupid, emotional-
ly stable, neurotic, psychopathic
or psychotic. A "society" is not
one society but hundreds of sub-
cultures-civilized and primitive,
urban and rural, with different
ethnic, religious, cultural and
other group characteristics.
THE PHARMACOLOGIST often
finds it difficult to define drug
action clearly even in a single
"normal individual" at one dose
level. Although drug actions are
defined and described categorical-
ly in textbooks of pharmacology
and therapeutics, every physician
and psychiatrist knows that he
cannot accept the statement at
face value for any patient with-
out trial and evaluation in that
particular "individual."
When the effects of single drug-
individual interactions are so dif-
ficult to define in general terms,
ponder the problem confronting
the sociologist, the physician, the
lawmaker, and the jurist in arriv-
ing at generalizations which define
accurately the effects of a drug
or chemical over all dose ranges
in a society of nearly two hundred
million persons.
A look at the use and abuse pat-
terns of psychoactive drugs in the
United States reveals a picture
somewhat as follows: From any
point of view alcohol constitutes
the major drug problem in the
United States today. Approxi-
mately 4 per cent of the esti-
mated 125-150 million users of
alcohol abuse the drug to become
individual and/or social problems.
The Volstead Act was a sincere
and well-meaning effort of gov-
ernment to correct this serious
problem. By repealing this act at
the polls the American people
"decided" that the "weal" of 96
per cent of the population who
use alcohol for social intercourse
was more important than the
"woes" of the 4 per cent who treat
their emotional problems by
chronically :self-administering ex-
cessive quantities.
To the 5 or 6 million alcoholics
can be added an unknown number
of emotionally disturbed persons
who become dependent upon a
wide variety of other drugs -
heroin or other opiates, barbitu-
rates, and other sleeping pills,
amphetamines and other stimu-
lants, marijuana, etc. Such per-
sons choose these drugs in prefer-
ence to alcohol because they better
fulfill their need.
Availability and distribution of
all these substances is controlled
by law and regulation. In contrast
to alcohol, a large proportion of
the population have no experience
with, or need for these drugs.
Most of these (marijuana being
an exception) are also substances
which are used extensively in
medicine.
ASSUMING FOR lack of accu-
rate figures that the abuse of
psychoactive drugs other than
alcohol involves 2 per cent of the
population, the total number of
emotionally unstable persons in
the United States who need or will
become dependent on some drug
crutch (including alcohol) in an
effort to solve their emotional dif-
ficulties may be as high as 5 per
cent of the population.
If it were practicable by legal
or other means to limit the in-
dividual intake of any drug to a
quantity less than that which dis-
torts perception or otherwise in-
capacitates there would -be -,no
drug abuse problems or need for
regulation.
No one becomes an alcoholic on
two martinis a day or a barbitu-
rate addict on one sleeping pill a
day, or a narcotic addict on one
therapeutic dose of heroin or mor-
phine a day, or even a significant
social hazard on occasional mari-
juana cigarettes. Nor is one likely
to develop cancer of the lung
from smoking cigarettes if he does
not inhale, or die from overeating
on 2500 calories a day.
Society has never found a for-
mula for protecting individuals
from themselves nor for protecting
society from the individual who
has neither the interest in, nor the
capabilities of limiting his intake
of drugs to non-toxic quantities.
In principle, therefore, legal
regulation of drug-seeking and
drug-induced behavior has two
objectives. One, to protect the
majority against violence in the
minority resulting from excessive
use, abnormal reactions, activation
of latent psychopathic trends, or
enhancement of existing abnormal
behavior in true psychopaths.
The second objective is to pre-
vent drug-induced indolence, in-
competence, unemployment, and
the whole train of factors which
increase the burden on the ma-
jority to support an irresponsible,
unproductive, and dependent mi-
nority. When drug-seeking be-
havior and drug abuse become the
major goals of the Individual, the.
abuser becomes a drag on society.
TURNING ATTENTION now to
marijuana. The hemp plant, Can-
nabis sativa, is one of the earliest
and best known sources of long
textile fibers, being fairly well
documented in China in the period
1200 to 500 B.C. Its narcotic pro-
perties appear to have been known
by 200 A.D. in China, although
neither the ancient nor the mod-
ern literature gives evidence of the
significant use for this ourpose
by the Chinese. This has been as-
cribed to the "philosophic Chinese
temperment who are attracted
more to the langourous dreams of
the opium pipe than the ecstatic,
furious delirium of the hemp."'
In India, by contrast, the in-
toxicating properties of ganga, of
bhang, was probably generally rec-
ognized about the 10th century.
Hemp intoxication seems espe-
cially adapted to the Hindu tem-
perment and it has become such
a part of the religious life and
customs that the Indian gover-
ment has not, until recently,
deemed it advisable to attempt
to control the practice. Hindu
mythology accords divine status to
the plant.
Although the numerous prepa-
rations of hemp for drinking, eat-
ing, and smoking have hundreds
of vernacular names, the term
"hashish" is probably the best
known, especially in Moslem coun-
tries. Today hemp preparations
are used fairly extensively, al-
though illegally, as intoxicants
throughout India, Turkey, Greece,
Egypt, North and Central Africa'
Brazil, and Mexico. In Egypt, in
spite of severe penalties for smug-
gling and possession, it is estimat-
ed that about three per cent of
the population are habitual smok-
ers of "hashish."
- One of the interesting and prob-
ably significant facts is the slow
spread of "hashish" into the New
World, and especially into coun-
tries where alcohol is the prin-
cipal intoxicant. In spite of the
geographical proximity to Greece
and Turkey, "hashish" has never
gained acceptance in Europe. Only
in the last few decades has it been
abused in some of the metropoli-
tan areas like London and Paris,
where it is known as the "Ameri-
can" vice, since it was introduced
fror the United States.
The term marijuana (literally
Mary Jane) is said to have been
derived from maraguango, a ge-
neric term used in Mexico or Latin
American for any substance pro-
ducing an intoxication. The term
marijuana in the United States
applies almost exclusively to pre-
parations of the leaves and flow-
ering tops of the plant, which are
smoked as cigarettes, sometimes
being mixed with tobacco.
Although the biological activity.
varies with cultural conditions,
plants grown in the northern tier
of middle Western states, includ-
ing Michigan, are reasonably ac-
tive.
CURRENTLY, neither marijuana
nor any of its principles have any
known value in medicine or thera-
peutics and are not described in
the two official United States
compendia of recognized thera-
peutic agents, the Pharmacopoeia
and National Formulary.
Much of the confusion about
drug abuse relates to differences
in the legal, scientific, and lay
meanings of such terms as "nar-
cotic," "addiction," "habituation,"
"tolerance," etc. In the United
States, any drug covered by the
Harrison Narcotic Act of 1914 is
technically a narcotic. But cocaine,
which is not a narcotic (meaning
to stupefy), but a stimulant, is
included in this act. In old ter-
minology, "addicting" drugs were
those which produce physical de-
pendence, "habituating" drugs,
those which do not. From the
social viewpoint, none of these
technicalities are meaningful, the
only criterion being "is the drug
likely to be abused compulsively,
and if so, can it create personal
injury and/or social harm."
Certain classes of depressant
drugs, morphine-like drugs (her-
oin, and so forth), barbiturate-
like drugs, and alcohol produce
physical dependence. The intense
discomfort associated with abrupt
withdrawal of these types of drugs
may so strongly motivate the user
to continue that he will resort to
crime to obtain a supply. Other
drugs, cocaine, amphetamines,
marijuana, and other hallucino-
gens do not produce physical de-
pendence, and, in the older ter-
minology, are not addictive. Yet,
the user may become so depen-
dent psychologically on these
drugs that the drive to continue
their use is no less strong than
with the depressants. In fact, they
are much more liable to be inciters
of violence.
In recognition of the confusion
in nomenclature, the World
Health Organization in abandon-
ing the terms "habituation" and
"addiction," now speaks only of
drug dependence. All drugs which
are abused create psychological
dependence. This is the primary
driving force for their compulsive
abuse. Physical dependence, when
present, strongly reinforces psy-
chological dependence.
Drugs of abuse are therefore
casionally, periodically or chroni-
cally, are: hilarity, often without
apparent motivation; carelessness;
loquacious euphoria, with increas-
ed sociability as a result: distor-
tion of sensation and perception,
especially of space and time, with
the latter reinforcing psychic de-
pendence and being valued under
special circumstances; impair-
ment of judgement and memory;
distortion-of emotional responsive-
ness; irritability; and confusion.
"Other effects, which appear
especially after repeated admin-
istration and as more expeience is
acquired by the user include: low-
ering of the sensory threshold,
especially for optical and acous-
tical stimuli, thereby resulting in
an intensified appreciation of
works of art, painting, and music;
hallucinations, illusions, and de-
lusions that predispose to anti-
social behaviour; anxiety and ag-
gressiveness as a possible result
of the various intellectual and
sensory derangements; and sleep
disturbances.
"In the psychomotor sphere, hy-
permotility occurs without impair-
ment of coordination. Among
somatic effects, often persistent,
are injection of the ciliary vessels
and oropharyngitis, chronic bron-
chitis, and asthma; these con-
ditions and hypoglycaemia, with
ensuing bulimia, are symptoms of
intoxication not of withdrawal.
"Typically, the abuse of can-
nabis is periodic, but even during
long and continuous administra-
tion, no evidence of the develop-
ment of physical dependence can
be detected. There is, in conse-
quence no characteristic abstin-
ence syndrome when use of the
drug is discontinued.
"Whether administration of the
drug is periodic or continuous,
tolerance to its subjective and
psychomotor effects has not been
demonstrated.
"Whereas cannabis often at-
tracts the mentally unstable and
may precipitate tepporary psy-
choses in predisposed individuals,
no unequivocal evidence is havai-
able that lasting mental changes
are produced.
"For the individual, harm re-
sulting from abuse of cannabis
may include inertia, lethargy,
self-neglect, feeling of increased
capability, with corresponding
failure, and precipitation of psy-
chotic episodes. Abuse of can-
nabis facilitates the association
with social groups and sub-
cultures involved with more dan-
gerous drugs, such as opiates or
barbiturates.
"Transition to the use of such
drugs would be a consequence of
this asociation rather than, an
inherent effect of cannabis. The
harm to society derived from
abuse of cannabis rests in eco-
nomic consequences of the impair-
ment of the individual's social
functions and his enhanced prone-
ness to asocial and antisocial be-
havior."
CLEARLY, numerous injustices
have occurred in enforcing the
narcotic and marijuana laws. This
is generally recognized by respon-
sible federal jurists, many of whom
refrain from imposing the maxi-
mum penalties permitted by law,
except for syndicate operators.
This whole problem was the
subject of a While House Con-
ference in 1961, the principal
function being to place the prob-
lem of drug abuse in proper per-
spective, recognizing especially
especially that the drug dependent
person is as much of a medical, as
a legal problem, and there should
be public awakening to this pos-
ture in the application of state
and federal laws.
On July 15, the President sign-
ed Drug Abuse Control Amend-
ments to the Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Acts. This new law con-
trols barbiturates, amphetamines,
and any substance which is desig-
nated as habit forming or "having
a potential for abuse because of its
depressant or stimulant effect on
the central nervous system or be-
cause of its hallucinatory effect."
While this legislation is aimed
specifically at barbiturates and
amphetamines which have become
very serious problems in drug
abuse, the law also will provide
a specific mechanism for handling
the hallucinogens like ULSD and
any new drugs which may be po-
tentially subject to abuse.
The intent of this law is to
control distribution of drugs at
the manufacturing and retail level
and prevent diversion into illegal
channels, rather than to impose
specific penalties on the user as Is
currently operative under the nar-
cotic laws. Hopefully it will be
effective without resort to stronger
legislation.
WHERE DOES marijuana stand
in the world today? Just where it
has for the last one thousand
years-in, the East, appealing to
a minority of the population com-
prising a large group of religious
ascetics, the idle, the miserably
poor, and the more dissolute
members of the population.
In the West, marijuana, like
other hallucinogens seems to "pos-
sess a particular attraction for
certain psychologically and socially
maladjusted persons who have dif-
ficulty in conforming to usual
social norms. These include 'arty'
people such as struggling writers,
painters, and musicians; frustrat-
ed nonconformists; and curious
thrill-seeking adolescents and
young adults."
Traffic in, and use of mari-
juana, is prohibited in every civil-
ized nation of the world. Since
1959 even India, in spite of re-
ligiouspressure, has completely
prohibited the cannabis resin
(Charas) even for mendical use
and the use of other 'formsr of the
plant are being increasingly re-
stricted in the Indian states and
territories which have not yet en-
forced total prohibition.
The reader can draw his own
conclusions concerning the likeli-
hood of marijuana being available
as a government monopoly in the
United States.
Where does marijuana stand in
relation to alcohol? Most alco-
holics would not give it a second
look. Would it replace alcohol if
freely available? If so, why is it
necessary for the Indian govern-
ment to prohibit alcohol in a cul-
ture Where its religion 'accept
"hashish," but eschew alcohol?
IF MARIJUANA had universal
appeal, one would expect to find
it accepted and used socially in
moderate amounts in Asia and
Africa by a majority of the popu-
lation, much like alcohol in the
United States. To the contrary,
in most countries regular users are
held in low esteem somewhat
comparable to "Skid Row" alco-
holics.
Having failed to ,gain a signi-
ficant foothold in predominantly
alcohol-dependent societies, or to
gain general social acceptance
elsewhere in the world in nearly a
thousand years, it seems most un-
likely that the American public
would voluntarily abolish the
cocktail hour in order to go to
"pot."
a
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4
Letters:* Criticism
Of the Referendum
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To the Editor:-
AS SOMEONE who has become
involved in the "referendum"
on Viet Nam, I would like to pro-
vide some background facts and
to suggest that this poll is being
conducted in an unfortunate way.
Recently two members of Stu-
dent Government Council con-
tacted me for advice about polling'
student opinion on Viet Nam.
They showed me a proposed ques-
tion which essentially asked people
to say "Yes, I approve" or "No,
I disapprove" of U.S. policy in.
Viet Nam. I told these young men
that this was a poor question to
ask because it is artificial to force
people into a simple Yes-No and
that such a question would dis-
guise various shades of opinion
on the matter.
These two SGC representatives
agreed with this point and Ito-
gether we drafted two questions
which asked people to rank order,
according to their preference, a
number of alternative military
and political actions in Viet Nam.
NOW, HOWEVER, a simple for
or against present policy question
seems to have been placed on the
tendency to stop serious discussion
and indeed to stop thinking about
this vitally important subject. One
must, this approach suggests,
either line up 100 per cent behind
the administration or else behind
the draft card burners and far
out radicals.
But surely a great university like
ours is the last place where such
cessation of thought should be en-
couraged. Both our role as seekers,
after truth and the larger in-
terests of our country require not
mindless conformity (nor mindless
rebellion) but informed and con-
structive thinking about various
possible solutions to this awful
problem.
--Prof. Martin Patchen
Survey Research Center
Waywuars4d-
Press
T SWEAR IF, on the Senate floor
1The shades of orators of yore
Appeared-like, say, Diogenes'-
The Press would push the
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