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OP-ED

The Michigan

The ichganDaily - Thursday, April 5. 2001 - 5

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ttracting national attention more than three
leastigoecdThenicitanwayseofthe
deas goecdetheiiganeailytse
first daily. newspapers to denounce marijuana
prohibition on its editorial page. Now, in celebration
of the 30th anniversary of Ann Arbor's Hash Bash
and in preparation for a state-wide ballot initiative
_that will attempt to end the insanity of marijuana


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erohibition, we call for everyone to educate
them 1 's and..


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, e thxe law~

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aests o' ta tthi exrcs ou r elr a.
?>bo s he taijana tog d u on ple? Canltt ~ .tcey u rg t
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hoW -riyoud"st forefauhersofyou desPdid fr
g..o.~ ' a'i in atI t is yh ate t ou lae f1ilt
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'tITh n you be haer in ofti a seof -d'n ss lgng
noehwteo er o needa eu te statu lqeoa,
fortheaws manwrie o- P0n 0need to changet
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.VIEWPOINT
Would the United States be bet-
ter off if Bill Clinton, Al Gore and
George W. Bush had spent time in
" jail for their experiments with
drugs? Would our nation be better
off if Jim Morrison, John Lennon
and Jerry Garcia had been sent to
prison for smoking weed? If you
have friends who smoke pot, would
they be better off if the police
caught them? Is it good for our
country that more black men are in
prison than in college, or that one-
third of all young black men are in
prison, parole or probation? Do you
t~believe that alcohol prohibition was
Sgood for America? Finally, does it
mak sense to you that alcohol and
~cigarettes are legal, but marijuana is
If you answered "no" to any of

to mardjuao
cy of demonizing marijuana and vic-
timizing marijuana smokers. The
consequences of this policy have
been disastrous, both for Michigan
and for America. In the United
States, almost 700,000 people are
arrested every year for marijuana
offenses, including 600,000 arrests
for simple possession. Sure, most
white middle-class people who
smoke weed are at low risk of arrest.
But the laws against marijuana, like
some giant reaping machine, have
been mowing down our minority
and inner-city youths as far as the
eye can see. If a young man from
the inner city finds himself with a
criminal record, in addition to weak
education and low skills, what kind
of job can he find? What kind of life
can he have?
Marijuana can decrease motiva-
tion to work and succeed; heavy use
of weed can be bad for your lungs.
But on the whole, the consequences
of smoking pot are not as severe as
those of heavy drinking, which can
ruin your life and your health, or
heavy tobacco smoking, which is
highly likely to kill you. By con-
trast, marijuana is not physically
addictive, cannot result in a fatal
overdose, and has few long-term
health consequences. If America's
users of alcohol and tobacco were to
switch to marijuana, thousands of
lives would be saved. We are sacri-

ficing the future of our youth, build-
ing prisons instead of schools, and;~
filling our cities with violence -to ,
force people to substitute more danZce
gerous drugs for a less dangerous:
drug.
Almost all American politicians
support marijuana prohibition. As a;
result, the struggle to decriminalize
marijuana can seem too difficult,
even hopeless. But signs of a change;
in the national consciousness are
emerging. Ex-president Clinton and:":t
the sitting Republican governor of?
New Mexico have called for an end
to marijuana prohibition. And we
should remember that, after over 4o
decade of ravaging America, alcohol' .
prohibition was ended by a nationalR
campaign, led by dedicated freedom
activists. Now, a new generation of'
activists is mobilizing all over
Michigan to back the PRAyes:
amendment. We can end the lies, the
violence, and the horror of marijua-
na prohibition - but we need your
help. Come to Hash Bash and join
the PRAyes campaign. The future of..
freedom in America depends on,
you.
CHARLES GOODMAN ~
Rackharn2
T} "1 /

growing number of Michigan citi-
zens who are just saying "no" to the
war on marijuana. You should join
the PRAyes petition campaign to
amend the Michigan constitution to
decriminalize marijuana.
Starting at Hash Bash, PRAyes
advocates will be spending six
months gathering over 300,000 sig-
natures to give Michigan voters the
opportunity to decide for themselves
whether to continue our state's poli-

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Become a prohibition reform advocate. .
Download petitions and read the text of the sc IA
Personal Responsibility Am endment :;<;::;;::......._.........................._.
online at www.prayes.com. Citizens trying to 'stamp out' alcohol prohibition in the 1930s. Prohibition didn't work for alcohol and it doesn't work
for marijuana. Let's learn from the past. Change the law, Michigan.<
''


,w v hey, students...
g =et 20% Off0~
atayo)urJCe eai)rfcoy trso tCce~o
at a y o u . r w r t i rf c o y s o e r a o e ~ o*Alfrom A pril 8th through A pril 14th
- (all you have to do is bring in your student ID. and this ad)
) think your friends will be ealous? then sread the word.