4A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, April 9, 2001 Nibian alig 420 MAYNARD STRuie ANN ARBnOR, MI 48109 dailyletters( umich. edu Ready or not: Done with the Daily EMILY ACHENBAUM DIAMOND iN T R EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UN ; SITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 , GEOFFREY GAGNON Editor in Chief MICHAEL GRASS NICHOLAS WOOMER Editorial Page Editors Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily s editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessari/y reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. nd so graduation, less than three weeks away, looms over me as both a promise and a threat. Year-end barbeques, meetings and parties abound; most of us know we should be working on that 20-page term paper assigned in January but instead we grudg- ingly attend. Events that honor culmination are important. Important because they are the Last Time We Will (fill in the blank). Frustrating because things that should feel significant are typically anti-climactic. This is the last time I will ever write for The Michigan Daily. "Ever," like the words "never" and "no," has a ring of finality to it and thus does not sit particularly well with me. My entire college career has depended on wiggle room, on second-third-fourth chances. Not a lot of "no's" or "you're done." At least the "no's" I heard were the kind where I asked mom first and she said no but if I finished my math homework and then asked dad, I was going to get to go to Sarah's slumber party after all. Sometimes I had to walk the dog, be nice to my sister and clean the garage, but there has always been some sort of way to land on my feet, to not let things end before I was ready to give them up. The dilemma with the Last Column is the precedent before me: The brilliant and incisive manifesto on all things wrong with the University; the weathered words of wis- dom on what you, young friend, should really get out of college; the relevant to no one else but it's my last column I can do what I want piece on What the Daily Means to Me. You "aren't supposed to" throw away four years at the Daily by writing your final piece on why Hash Bash is a gross display of grossness. Naturally, I only became irritated by the restraints the expectations of Last Col- umn brings. After all, the true joy in hav- ing this column - the thing that even unsentimental me will actually miss -- is the freedom I have had in being able to write whatever I want. This is the last time for a long time (or maybe ever? Will I be a columnist in 15 years? A lawyer? Pregnant with a dark-haired baby?) I will be able to write whatever I want - and publish it. What freedom! The glorious spoils of col- lege. I have had a chunk of text in a publica- tion that thousands of people read. Crazy, really. I have been able to write about what- ever I've wanted not only because this is the opinion page, not only because this is the Daily, but because this is college. College: To which for the next month I will cling to as the ultimate excuse, the ulti- mate enabler. Smoking, drinking, all- nighters; questionable beliefs, fashion statements, dating choices and column top- ics (Feminism! Depression! Guns n' Roses! God, it's been fun) can all be forgiven with a bright smile and shoulder shrug and the panacea statement "I'm in college." The "college" defense implies that I don't know better, when in fact I know that responsibil- ity is best suspended with the excuse that has consistently pardoned the actions of every generation. College is freedom because it is life without judgment; skipping class, eating at 4 a.m., participating in rallies - none of this raises an eyebrow, but outside of our realm the rules are different; skipping work means getting fired, 4 a.m. feedings point to gluttony, attending rallies makes you an aged hippie, the one that never really got over college. I have loved living without tangible scrutiny. I imagine you all can con- cur. But the freedom of college is more than weekend adventures. The best playgrounds are the ones I have found for my mind - at the Daily and in, well, maybe two or three of my classes (long live NELP!). This is the freedom that I cling to the most. That is why writing my last column makes me sad. Maybe finally (finally!) not being in school is not going to be so freeing after all. This is Emily Achenbaum's last column for The Michigan Daily. Give her feedback at www.michigandaily.com/forum or via e-mail at emilytsa@umich.edu. Cannabis has several valid medicinal, economic uses VIEWPOINT In 1996, California's Proposition 215 decriminalized the use, possession and sale of marijuana for medical purposes. Although voters have passed similar mea- sures in eight other states, terminally ill patients with doctors' prescriptions can still be prosecuted and thrown in jail under federal law for merely possessing marijua- na. No matter what our views are on gener- al legalization, as informed citizens, we must recognize cannabis as valuable medi- cine and crop and implore our government to legalize it. Marijuana helps people keep food down, especially those who must swallow daily drug cocktails and endure nausea- inducing chemotherapy. "It's important to keep weight on because HIV eats away body-muscle mass," says a 43-year-old AIDS patient with "wasting syndrome." Another man told author Jack Herer that "without pot you are dying with cancer, while with pot you are living with cancer." Marijuana decreases seizure frequency in up to 30 percent of epileptic patients for whom side-effect-ridden drugs like Valium and Percodan fail. It also eases glaucoma patient's ocular pressure and assists patients with such debilitating problems as multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, lupus, post-polio syndrome and severe arthritis. Legal, oral synthetic forms of THC (marijuana's active ingredient), such as Marinol, help many, while others complain Marinol is too strong, is anxiety-provoking and difficult to control. California patients grow marijuana in their backyards and process it into butter for brownies and Rice Krispie treats, or a tincture for soy milk. Decriminalization would eliminate the need to pay for expensive Marinol or black-market pot. The ill could simply grow it themselves (away from drug deal- ers), or buy from pharmacies that could sell it at two percent of its $4,000 per pound street value. However, many AIDS and cancer patients with such nausea can't stomach anything and smoke is the only option. Many reputable sources maintain the legitimacy of medical marijuana. The BBC reported that 80 percent of British doctors would prescribe marijuana to patients with serious illnesses; a 1991 Harvard Medical School survey of 1,035 oncologists found that 54 percent favored making it a prescription drug; 44 percent said they'd broken the law by illegally recommending it. Even former-Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey concluded, in a National Institute of Medicine Report, that patients suffering from severe pain, nausea and appetite loss might find "broad spectrum relief not found in any other single med- ication" in marijuana. Federal laws also fail to distinguish between marijuana and industrial hemp. Why? Marijuana's botanical cousin, bred for its fiber, seeds and oil, contains only .05-1 percent THC, while pot contains 3 to 20 per- cent THC. Clearly no one can get high by smoking industrial hemp. Thirty industrial- ized democracies recognize the difference. Canada legalized hemp, and the European Union subsidizes hemp farms. One acre pro- duces the fiber pulp of 4.1 acres of trees. Hemp grows quickly, naturally and pesticide- free in a wide variety of climates and soil tvnes: it's a weed reuiring far fewer rocess- '' like my students to see me as a human being, not just a person talking to them in a classroom.' - Retiring history Prof Sidney Fine on his 53 years of teaching at the University. "" .. z 0" I DON'T SEE W ...O Some people shouldn't be allowed to use e-mail A strategy to win affirmative action and VIEWPOINT Last Thursday, a three jud 6th Circuit Court of Appear District Court Judge Bernar segregationist anti-affirmativ sion in Grutter v. Bollinger. Law School is now free to us mative action plan in admitt incoming class. The appeals and decisive rebuke of Frie4 week after 3,000 Univer answered the call of BAMN Jackson and rallied to den Friedman's racist decision.t the appeals court reflects strength of our new civil rig and the increased political r the courts and in our society. Friedman's sweeping an action decision served as a for this campus and for this n ing made clear he did not about the facts, the law or minorities. His decision mirrored tt result-oriented method used by of the Supreme Court when Florida presidential ballot December. Both decisions s about the racism, cynicism an the increasingly emboldened the federal judiciary. This sec eral courts shares the ideolog to further the policies of the ri Republican Party. They do no able to or bound by the pro sentiment of the vast majority We cannot allow the Suprem away with a Friedman-style r v. Bollinger. Getting a majority of the to rule for affirmative actio assertion of a powerful soc capable of convincing at le, wing justices that ruling for s provoke an angry backlash ar diminish the authority of the integration m the U.S.. law. Only a new militant, mass, integrated, youth-led civil rights movement can galva- nize the forces needed to achieve this victory. ge panel of the Throughout the last year and a half, stu- s ruled to stay dents and youth in particular, but also large. rd Friedman's segments of the black community, have e action deci- made clear that we are prepared to defend The University affirmative action and integration. Large, se its old affir- loosely connected demonstrations for affir- ing this year's mative action and integration in Florida, court's swift South Carolina, California and here in Michi- dman comes a gan have laid the foundation for a powerful. sity students new national movement for equality. A,- and Rev. Jesse national march on Washington can make the. nounce Judge courts and the nation conscious of the deter- , Our victory at mination, strength, breadth and demands of the growing the new civil rights movement. The 1963., hts movement March on Washington led by Martin Luther polarization in King united labor and civil rights, old and- young, secular and religious, and moderate ti-affirmative and radical leaders of the last civil rights wake-up call movement in common struggle. W cation. His rul- This march signaled to our nation that the give a damn fight against segregation and for equality the rights of would extend to every corner of this nation. Our defense of affirmative action and inte- he ideological gration requires that we build a national- y the right wing march on Washington now based on this it stopped the model. t recount last BAMN and the Rev. Jesse Jackson have peak volumes issued a joint call for a national conference of id arrogance of students and youth leaders of the growing right wing of new civil rights movement to be held in Ann tion of the fed- Arbor from June 1-3, 2001. This conference ,y of and seeks will be an important step forward in building ght wing of the a national movement in defense of affirma- at feel account- tive action, integration, and equality. It will -integrationist begin planning the national march on Wash-. lof Americans. ington. ie Court to get All those interested in building for the cling in Grutter national conference are invited to attend a planning meeting tonight at 7 p.m. in the Supreme Court Wolverine Room of the Michigan Union. n requires the AGNES ALEOBUA ial movement JESSICA CURTIN ast some right Aleobua, an LSA sophomore and Curtin, egregation will a Rackham student and Michigan rid will sharply Student Assembly representative are both members of the Coalition to Defend courts and the Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary. :......7777 u:ut... 7 ..., A r 'NXT T/TT ...,.: ,...c ;k,.R .S: :i : } 'a3::: sUi:§3:! :s.... r...u:. ::;k:;x~y':. ............... M :i;' R : r t . £ ' ^ 5.; W A :A :Q n ,