Summer Daily
Samier Edition of
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Edited and managed by students at the
University of Michigan
Friday, June 8, 1973 News Phone: 764-0552
School board candidates speak
out on the issues (II)
In support of grass
(N JANUARY 15, 1967, The Daily first came out in favor
of legalization of the use, possession, and sale of
marijuana.
Tomorrow morning, City Council will hold a public
hearing to consider repeal of a local ordinance which
had the effect of virtually decriminalizing marijuana in
Ann Arbor,
As our contribution to the public debate on this sub-
ject, we are reprinting - in abridged form - that first
marijuana editorial entitled: "The Use of Marijuana: It
Should Be Legal" written by then-Editorial Director Har-
vey Wasserman.
W/HY IS marijuana illegal?
There are two reasons why a drug could be proper
subject for a prohibitory law.
0 IF IT provokes dangerous anti-social behavior in the
user.
Marijuana does not seem to do this. In fact, many
claim its effects are the opposite. A 1962 White Confer-
ence, the Ad Hoc Panel on Drug Abuse, stated that "al-
though mariiuana has long held the reputation of incit-
ing individuals to commit sexual offenses and other
anti-social acts, evidence is inadequate to substantiate
this ."
And in "Narcotics and Narcotic Addiction," D. W.
Maurer and V. H. Vogel state: "While there may be oc-
casional violent psvchonaths who have used marijuana,
have committed crims of violence, and who have, in
court, exolained their actions as uncontrollable violence
resulting from the use of the drug . . . these are ex-
ceptions to the general run of marijuana users . . . It
would seem that, from the point of view of public health
and safety, the effects of marijuana present a very minor
problem comnared with the abusive use of alcohol and
that the drug has received a disproportionate share of
publicity as an inciter of violent crime."
" IF IT has dangerous effects on the physical health
of the user.
Mriiiana is eoniderably healthier to use than al-
cohol Marijuana hna been shown time and time again to
be non-addictive. It does not, of itself, make the user
more nrone to "'rsdinte" to addictives. Nor does it have
the doen pvcholoeicnlly nenetrating effects of LSD, an
entirely sennrte drug with which many people incorrect-
ly associate mariiuana.
As stated in "The Pharmacoloeical Basis of Thera-
petics" by L. S. Goodman and L. Gilman, "There are no
lasting ill-effects from the acute use of marijuana . .
Mariiunn habituation does not lead to the use of mor-
phine. heroin, cocaine, or alcohol, and the associated use
of marijuana and narcotic drugs is rare." Nor does it
create a psychic denendence in the user,
Alcohol, on the other hand, is mildly addictive and
can, with excessive use, result in both brain damage and
in liver disease. Our most popular "drug," tobacco, is a
known carcinogenic.
IT IS DIFFICULT to argue that one drug be made legal
simnl" benuse others with more harmful effects are
alreadv such But if we are to assume that alcohol and
all the svcbho-sociolooical imolications surrounding its
usage are legally acceptable, then we simply cannot use
the same arguments to make marijuana legal.
And indeed. the law itself has many serious negative
effects. By making a cheao, easily accessible drug illegal,
one makes its usage far more attractive to high school
students and to those too young to know how to handle
it. Its illegalization promotes underworld activities. And
when such widespread activity is illegal, enforcement
has more the effect of punishing the unlucky dupe who
gets caught by chance than of keeping usage down.
To effectively enforce this law would require a police
effort far exceeding that used to unsuccessfully "en-
force" Prohibition. Like Prohibition, all the illegality of
marijuana does is create another crim.e
AND THE LONG-RUN effect of a bad law is only to
promote disrespect for laws in general. None of the
arguments from the medical standpoint are new. As early
as 1944 a major government investigation done by the
La Guardia Commission, reported that: "Marijuana i
more a nuisance (to prohibit) than -it is a danger."
THIS IS NOT the time to flood the area with law en-
forcement officers in a vain attempt to stop a nat-
ural trend; the time has come to question the validity of
the law itself.
Editor's note: This Is the con-
cluding halt of a two-pa"t presenta-
tion by The Daily of statements
trom the candidates in next Monday's
School noard election.
Merrylin (Terry)
Martin
Y INTEREST in education in
the Ann Arbor schools spans
more than two decades. I share,
with other parents in this com-
munity, a common goal which is
to provide all young people with
the opportunity and the tools to
achieve to the limit of their ability.
While most parents are realis-
ricallyaware that there exists a
arge range of ability and motiva-
ion, even within the same fam-
ily, it is apparently assumed by
some that racial, ethnic, religious
and/or economic status, dictate
he performance level of students.
Rather than judging children on the
basis of individual qualifications
and expecting each child to achieve
to the limit of his potential, there
appears to be a ceiling on learning
which affects every child in the
school system.
WHILE YOUNG people fight to
te respected and individually iden-
tified, the adult world battles each
other as to the best method of
accomplishing these aims. Thus
;ome persons believe that the pri-
mary function of education is to
achievesocial adjustment and that
schooling and learning must be
made fun.
It is my belief that schools should
provide a student with the basic
skills which are the foundation on
which further education is built.
Education should entail prepara-
tion for a productive adult life and
while imaginative teaching can
make the early learning experience
palatable, we must not delude
youngsters into believing that there
are not frustrations built into the
learning program
Some aspects of life and lern-s
ing are routine and it is not basi-
cally honest to allow children to
believe that society will allow them
to do only "their own thing" and
thus happily ever after.
FEUDING FACTIONS must re-
solve their differences in order to
achieve a common goal which
offers the children of this com-
munity educational opportunity, in
a challenging and secure environ-
ment. This is their right and our
responsibility.
Henry Alting
BASICALLY, I will work to re-
store the confidence of our
citizens in our local school system.
Specifically, my emphasis will be
in the following areas:
First, to restore the level of
school board meetings to a more
open and honest system of discus-
sion, analysis, and decision making
to improve the quality of education
in our schools for all of our stu-
dents.
Secondly, the school board should
impose criteria of strictsaccount-
ability on our well-paid school ad-
ministrators.
THIRDLY, the school board
should be willing to fairly and
squarely evaluate and reassess our
current innovation programs, such
as Community High and Pioneer II,
and be willing to face up to the
task of implementing changes and,
if proven successful, to implement
such ideas in all of our schools
to serve all of the people and nol
just a few select areas in all of
our schools to serve all of the pe-
ple and not just a few select areas
in Ann Arbor.
Fourthly, the school board should
encourage the development, imple-
mentation and evaluation of dyna-
mic concepts contributing to qual-
ity education.
Fifthly, the school board shouid
exert a leadership position to spec-
ifically and clearly outline goals to
make changes in schools in a can-
structive and creative way. Such
goals should become c I e a r direc-
tions for the administrators to fol-
low and be evaluated on.
Pat Pooley,
AS PART OF the increasing pol-
arization of the Ann Arbor
community, there are those who
see the city and the university to
be separate entities. They have lost
sight of the fact that thousands of
students, staff, and faculty have
children in the Ann Arbor school
system. It is my belief that the
university community wants t h e
school system to afford equal edu-
cational opportunities to all child-
ren. Too often, college-bound pupils
have been given priority over all
others. This has been one cause of
the violence, born of anger and
frustration, which has plagued our
schools in recent years.
If elected, I will work to re-
adjust the priorities of our school
system so that the needs of all
children, including those students
alienated by education that does
not fit their needs, are made to
feel welcome in the schools. Ap-
propriate initiative and funding
must be made available to secure
for all children an educational ex-
perience which will develop every
child's unique aptitudes.
SOME MEMBERS of the present
school board react to discipline
problems in the school system by
suggesting punitive, cosmetic meas-
'ores which at best deal with.
symptoms of violence in the schools
without dealing in the least with
the causes of that violence. My
approach would be different. Real-
izing that any solution must begin
with the safety of every child in
the school system, no solution can
be allowed to end there. Our
schools must serve as a means of
lessening social frictions rather
than intensifying them.
Letters to The Daily should
becmailed tnthe Editorial Di-
rector or delivered Io Mary
Rafferty in the Student Pub-
lications business office in the
Michigan Daily building. Letters
should be typed, double-spaced
and normally should not exceed
250 words. The Editorial Direc-
tors reserve the right to edit
all letters submitted.
Paul Weinhold
j[R. PAUL Weinhold is an Asso-
ciate Professor of Biological
Chemistry at the Medical S c h o o 1
and Veterans Hospital. He hta9
been deeply involved in local
schools for more than five years as
PTO president, chairman of t h e
Discipline Review Committee and
currently is vice-president of PTO
council. He and his wife have four
children in the public schools: high
school, middle school and elemen-
tary.
IN ANNOUNCING his candidacy 4
he made the following statement:
"I have acquired, through a con-
tinued involvement in school af-
fairs, a sound background in the
operation of the system and An
overall knowledge of the desires
of the people for their s c h o o 1
system. These, I believe to be:
1) a sound education in basic
skills and a curriculum that chal-
lenges all students
2) an open decision making pro-
cess that is responsive to teachers,
students and parents, but, above
all, a Board of Education that dis-
cusses issues openly and demands
factual and logical analysis of all
potential alternatives.
3) a safe, healthy learning en-
vironment, free from harassment,
fear and violence
4) a careful and responsible ap-
plication of money and facilities to
the education of all students. The
allocation of funds must be judged
on the basis of educational value to
the studentsand the maintenance
sit a broad and varied curriculunm
5) balanced and effective enrich-
ment programs that bring to the
educational process enjoyment, 4
challenge through health competi-
tion and disciplined application of
skills. I support a solid intramural
and interscholastic sports program
for both girls and boys.
CHRISTOPHER REASKE -
Though his name is on the bal-
lot, Mr. Reaske has publically
announced his withdrawal from *
the school board race.
F 0 h f
3
Letters to
Free concerts
To The Daily:
THE ANN ARBOR Community
Parks Program free concerts start
Sunday, June 10, at 2 p.m. at Otis
Spann Memorial Field. As a service
to the Ann Arbor community, the
People's Communication Commit-
tee will co-ordinate the announce-
ments at all of these weekly events.
People and organizations with
mesages of interest to the con-
cert audience are urged to phone in
complete information to the Com-
mittee by the Friday before each
The Daily
-oncert. Please call 761-2780 any,
time before Friday night, June
3th for inclusion in the first con-
cert's announcements.
Band line-up for the June 10th
-vent has been announced and in-
cludes TNT, the Brooklyn Blues
Busters, Uprising, and R a d i o
King and His Court of Rhythm.
For further information contact
Jim Dulzo or Steve Fisher at 761-
~710.
-Peoples Communication
Comm.
June 1