4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 9, 2001
Ulbe £id~ti~un ailg
420 MAYNARD STR~u.
ANN ARBOR, MI 48109
daily. letters~urnich. edu
On Friends, Farve and free trade
DAVID HORN HORNOGRAPHY
EDITED AND MANAGED BY
STUDENTS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SINCE 1890
GEOFFREY GAGNON
Editor in Chief
MICHAEL GRASS
NICHOLAS WOOMER
Editorial Page Editors
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion ofthe majority ofthe
Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
veryone's second
favorite Friend,
Matthew Perry, was
on the cover of a plethora
of gossip magazines this
week. Apparently the
quick-witted Perry is in
rehab, being treated for his
addiction to painkillers.
I'm not a big painkillers
fan, myself. I am, however, a big Brett Favre
fan. Green Bay Packers quarterback Favre
sought treatment for his painkiller addiction
after winning the Super.Bowl four years ago. I
can understand why Brett got hooked on
Vicodin (and other similar drugs). He gets pum-
meled for 16 games by guys three times his size.
That's pain and you treat it as necessary. Do it
up, Brett.
Matthew Perry, on the other hand, I can't
quite understand. It must be rough taking in
$750,000 an episode and crashing your
Porsches all over L.A. But I guess when you
have to act opposite Courtney Cox, you look
for the easiest way to dull your senses after the
show. Whatever his reasons, I don't condemn
his "irresponsible" use of Vicodin.
If Perry and Favre (or any one else) want to
use painkillers to the point of addiction, I don't
believe there to be anything wrong with that.
Obviously there are more "damaging" drugs
out there, and I don't believe there to be any-
thing wrong with using them, either. As a mat-
ter of fact, I believe they should be legalized.
That's cocaine, marijuana, heroin, crack, ecsta-
sy and everything else.
For a time, I felt somewhat naive and unin-
formed about my belief in the legalization of
drugs. What helped affirm that belief for me,
however, was the Oscar-nominated "Traffic,"
which I had the pleasure of seeing during the
break. "Traffic" follows three stories all related
to the practice of drug trafficking from Mexico
to the States. I believe "Traffic" was an accurate
portrayal of the drug trade and its message was
clear and effective: the drug trade can't be
stopped, and at this point, we shouldn't try. We
can't do any worse in the area of drugs than we
are doing now.
Our country has made an expensive effort
over the last 20 years to slow the trade of drugs
into this country. It hasn't worked. Drug use
has not fallen significantly for consecutive
years in that time, either. Our prisons are over-
populated, mostly by drug users and distribu-
tors. The amount of money that goes into
running those prisons, guarding our southern
border, and policing the streets for perpetrators
of victimless crimes is astronomical and can be
used so much more effectively.
The dangers associated with drug use and
trade aren't in the actual drugs. Certainly there
are dangers in the abuse of drugs like cocaine,
but no more than alcohol abuse. The dangers in
the drug trade are on the streets. Kids get
involved with dealers who protect their product
with guns. Inferior qualities of drugs exist that
are laced with God knows what. These dangers
would be lost by the regulation of the drug
trade, but the only products the government can
regulate are legal ones.
Think prohibition of alcohol, circa 1920.
Things got out of hand until the government
stepped back in and regulated. Today alcohol
use is, for the most part, responsible and safe.
People tell me that, upon legalization, drug use
would skyrocket, and our society would become
a collection of lazy, brain-dead idiots. More so,
even.
But no one who wants to use drugs now
isn't. Nobody is kept from shooting up or smok-
ing up or popping pills because they're illegal.
No one is going to, upon the day that cocaine is
legalized, become an addict. Drugs are easy
enough to get now -by regulating them they at
least become safer, and may be distributed in*
safer environments.
Regulation is only half of the benefit of
legalization, from the government's point of
view. Taxation would be another advantage,
and that money can go to treatment of and edu-
cation for the prevention of addiction. Treat-
ment and prevention are necessary regardless of
whether drugs are legal or not, so the use of
drugs may as well fund its repercussions.
I'm aware of the dangers that are presented
in legalization, and I'm not so naive to think
that they don't exist. But as a society, we spend
a lot of time, effort and money thinking of all
the bad things that are caused by illegal drugs,
without seriously considering the possible ben-
efits in a very simple alternative. There is a sort
of taboo about drugs, and the issue is not often
brought up by legislators because of that taboo,
that stigma attached to it.
Obviously we are a long way from seeing
drugs legalized, and that's fine. The important
thing is that we realize that the solutions we
have implemented have failed, and continue to
fail. They are expensive and ineffective, and
considerations of legalization ought to be taken
seriously.
David Horn s column runs every
other Friday.Give himfeedback at
http://vww.michigandailv.com/forum or
via e-mail at hornd@umich.edu.
'I have been a good
MSA President'
To THE DAILY:
Contrary to Michigan Student Assembly
vice president Jim Secreto's statement that I did
not do a good job as MSA president, I believe
that I have been a good MSA president and that
I have accomplished the majority of the cam-
paign promises I made when I ran for office last
year. I promised that I would work to convince
professors to provide textbook info before class-
es start and then post them in the LSA course
guide so that students could buy the textbooks
online more cheaply. Now there is textbook info
for about 380 out of 1,900 undergraduate class-
es online in the LSA course guide. I promised 1
would work to convince the administration to
improve the weekend bus service to North
Campus. Previously the bus to North campus
used to run every 20 minutes, with there being
daily periods during which no bus service was
available. During those gaps students often had
to wait upwards of 40 minutes for service. Now
those gaps have been eliminated and the buses
run every 20 minutes, all day, on the weekends.
However, most of all, I promised to be the
"People's President" and I believe I have done
that, more so than any president before me. Dur-
ing my"campaign I reached out to as many stu-
dents as possible and, as president, I have
continued to do that walking the campus to
speak with students, not only to hear their con-
cerns, but also to make sure that they know
what MSA is doing for them. I take my position
as MSA president very seriously and believe
that the first priority of any MSA president must
be the students on this campus.
I believe that what happened at MSA's
meeting this Tuesday was motivated by political
reasons. I was elected by the student community
to work to make things better for them. I have
chosen to seek re-election because I want to
continue the work which I have started. The
focus of this election should be positive and
aimed at student concerns. Only by doing this
can we finally bring respect to MSA's election
process and provide a good foundation on
which to build in the year ahead.
HIDEKI TSUTSUMI
The letter writer is the president of the Michigan
Student Assembly
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Dave Matthews not
like Dylan, Beatles
To THE DAILY:
Kurt Bruderly and John Spytek's letter
("Reviewers show 'utter stupidity,"' 3/8/01)
regarding the Daily's reviews of the Dave
Matthews Band's new album "Everyday" was
filled with inaccuracies and gross overstate-
ments. While I agree that the Daily's full page
review of Matthews' new album was a com-
plete waste of space and the writing was atro-
cious, I feel that these two gentlemen need to
straighten their heads out regarding the band.
They close their letter with a comparison of
Matthews' change of style from his previous
albums to other well known changes of style
such as Bob Dylan going electric and the Beat-
les' white album.
Let's be honest here folks. The Dave
Matthews Band's music is far from ground-
breaking, as was Dylan's and the Beatles'.
Those musicians were singing about a revolu-
tion, while Dave and his mates, despite Bruderly
and Spytek's insistence to the contrary, write
about one-night stands and pot.
Matthews' music cannot be interpreted in
different manners; however, it is written in plain
and simple language. It's about good times, not
about any sort of revolution, be it musically or
socially. Second, I'm wondering if the letter's
authors missed Matthews' 1998 release "Before
These Crowded Streets," as they refer to
"Crash" as his "last album," which it was not.
What needs to be realized here is that Dave
Matthews has changed his style, in regard to his
music, clothing, and the atmosphere of his
shows, for the worse. His music peaked around
1996 and has been sliding downhill since. The
new album, which I have heard, is pure garbage.
JASON SHANE
LSA senior
Wickerham's death
'his own stupid fault'
To THE DAILY:
So Josh Wickerham is smoking again,
flushing three months worth of "quit" down
the toilet ("Tempted by Lady Nicotine and the
Marlboro Man," 3/7/01). His column paints
him as a helpless victim of Big Tobacco (o*
was it Lady Nicotine? Or was it the Marlboro
Man?). His plaintive cry does not move me,
nor does his amusing (but unoriginal) homo- -
eroticism of cigarette smoking. He made the
dumb decision to buy a pack of cigarettes. He
made the dumb decision to smoke one and
then to smoke more of them, and apparently to
continue smoking. Where is his sense of per-
sonal responsibility? He chooses to smoke
every cigarette he smokes. Nobody's forcing
him. When he dies from the results of his.
dumb decision to go back to smoking, it'll be
his own stupid fault and nobody else's.
DANIEL STERN
LSA senior-
An open letter to the Central Student Judiciary
VIEWPOINT
We are requesting an immediate/emergency
Central Student Judiciary hearing regarding the
arbitrary, illegal and anti-democratic disqualifi-
cation of Michigan Student Assembly Defend
Affirmative Action Party slate members, presi-
dential candidate Erika Dowdell, vice presiden-
tial candidate Jessica Curtin, Medicine candidate
Allison Mac Lennan, Business School candidate
Mumammed Mian, SNRE candidate Sarah
Diefenbach, and LSA candidate Arvind Grover
by the MSA Election Board (See Article IV
Section Cc and Article IV Section C of the Elec-
tion Code). The six DAAP candidates are being
threatened with exclusion from the elections for
allegedly failing to attend a candidates meeting
called by. the Election Board on Tuesday. The
Election Board has no authority to exclude these
candidates from the election for this alleged
and the vast majority of DAAP candidates were
in attendance at this year's meeting. They have
already informed other DAAP members about
the content of the meeting.
Secondly, the Election Board's arbitrary
actions extend far beyond the scope of the
Board's authority (See Article IX of the Election
Code). The Board has no authority to discipline
any candidate for failure to attend an Election
Board-called meeting.
Third, in disqualifying DAAP candidates,
the Election Board is unilaterally creating and
changing the criteria for MSA candidate eligibil-
ity. The Election Board is an administrative
body charged with the responsibility of oversee-
ing fair and democratic student elections. The
Board has no authority to determine who can
and cannot stand for MSA office. The Board is
violating the purpose for its existence as def ned
by the Election Code.
Fourth. the disqualification of Dowdell,
be the real champions of open, fair and demo-
cratic elections at the University, MSA and its'
Election Board must cease to act as politica
partisans.
Finally, the Election Board meeting held on
Tuesday. was convened primarily to review new
restrictions on election campaigning imposed by
the University of Michigan Residence Hall
Association. The new Residence Hall policy is
regressive and self-explanatory. Candidates who
received the policy can easily interpret it for
themselves. They do not need the Election
Board to interpret the policy for them. The Elec
tion Board's time would be far better spen
fighting to stop new restrictions from being
imposed on student elections and democracy by
the University administration. The purpose of
this and future Election Boards should be to
defend and fight for the fullest expression of
"substantive democracy" (see the MSA Consti-
tution) and student rights on this campus instead
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