NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 9, 2005 - 3
-0
ON CAMPUS UAW chief: Union wants
Ministry to hold
0benefit concert
hosting several
local bands
The Wesley Foundation Campus
Ministry is having an "Interfaith
Benefit Concert" at First United
Methodist Church (120 State St.)
Sunday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sev-
eral local bands will be performing.
Textiles to be on
display at Michigan
Museum of Art
Woven and embroidered textiles
from Kashmir and the Punjab will
be on display at the Museum of Art
in Alumni Memorial Hall from 10
a.m. until 5 p.m., the museum's nor-
mal business hours. The textiles have
a long and prominent history in Indian
culture, and have recently been gain-
ing attention.
to help with GM finances
DETROIT (AP) - United Auto Workers president
Ron Gettelfinger said yesterday that the union is sensi-
tive to the financial problems of General Motors Corp.,
but he wouldn't say how the union might relieve the
company's costs.
"The conventional wisdom is that the UAW has not
done anything to help General Motors take costs out
of the system, that we have our heads in the sand on
this issue," Gettelfinger said in a speech to the Detroit
Economic Club. "Well, the conventional wisdom is just
plain wrong."
GM has asked the union to help it lower its health care
costs before its contract expires in 2007. Gettelfinger said
the union is optimistic it can reach a deal without reopening
the contract.
But he also said the union has been unfairly portrayed
as doing too little to control costs. In the 2002 contract,
he said, the UAW agreed to increase copays for pre-
scription drugs and switched members to more efficient
health care providers.
A pilot project to improve health care in commu-
nities in Indiana and Ohio saved $10 million in 2004,
Gettelfinger said, and a new electronic prescription pro-
gram also is expected to save millions.
GM has said it needs more significant changes to curb
health care spending, which is expected to reach $5.6 bil-
lion this year:
For example, the company has suggested that UAW-cov-
ered hourly workers should have the same health care plan
as salaried workers.
GM's salaried workers pay 27 percent of their health care
costs, while its hourly workers pay 7 percent, according to
GM.
Gettelfinger wouldn't reveal any details about nego-
tiations with GM or Delphi Corp., GM's former parts
division, which has threatened to file for bankruptcy this
fall if it doesn't get some concessions from the UAW.
But Gettelfinger did say health care is only one of
GM's problems. The wbrld's largest automaker lost
$286 million in the second quarter, down from a $1.4
billion profit a year ago.
"Health care costs alone - for that matter, total labor costs
- don't explain GM's market share falling from 41 percent in
1985 to just over 25 percent today," Gettelfinger said.
"Decisions about product, marketing and advertising
strategies and many other factors, including bad U.S. trade
policy, had something to do with that too."
Gettelfinger also called for policy changes in the
wake of Hurricane Katrina. Images of poor citizens try-
ing to cope after the hurricane have forced Americans
to confront social inequality, he said.
Congress should respond by raising the minimum
wage and giving tax credits to manufacturers who make
energy-saving vehicles, Gettelfinger said.
CRIME
NOTES
Subject collects
funds for 'charity'
A person not affiliated with the
University was soliciting funds on
University grounds near State St.
Tuesday, the Department of Public
Safety reported. The subject was
allegedly collecting funds for hur-
ricane Katrina victims. The subject
was given a verbal warning and then
released.
* Peanut proves to
be nearly fatal
A caller reported to DPS Tuesday
that a subject had an allergic reac-
tion to peanuts in Dennison Hall.
The subject complained of a hard
time breathing. Huron Valley ambu-
lances transported the subject to the
University of Michigan Emergency
Room. Assistance was provided.
Smashed painting
in Taubman Hall
A caller reported property damage in
Taubman Hall to DPS Tuesday. There was
a reported accadental damage to a pain-
ing that was smashed. A report has been
filed.
Suspect arrested for
possible vandalism
A rash of vandalism accross cam-
pus during the last month was reported
Wednesday to DPS. Nine reports were
filed reporting instances of spraypaining,
and there may be as many as 10 more
instances, DPS reported. A suspect has
been taken into custody.
THIS DAY
In Daily History
Two RAs fired after
being accused of
* smoking pot
Sept. 9, 1975 - A resident advi-
sor from West Quadrandle Residence
Hall's Rumsey house was dismissed
after being accused by a resident
V director of having his hand in a bag
of marijuana. Another RA in West
Quad was fired one week earlier for
having his hand in what appeared to
be a bag of marijuana.
The RA admitted to having smoked
marijuana, according to the RD who
discovered him.
The RA, however, denied this
claim. Residents of the dorm believe
that the sudden appearance of these
violations is the result of more strin-
gent enforcement of the rules, rather
than a sudden wave of marijuana
use.
One student reported that the first
thing an RA said to him when he
moved into the dorm was, "Do you
want to get high?"
Controversial contents of cannabis lollipops
sparks continued debate between groups
CHICAGO (AP) - As lawmakers crack
down on the sale of marijuana-flavored lol-
lipops, another debate is raging between their
manufacturers -and hemp product advocates
over what is in the candy.
Hemp advocates say the candy makers
aren't being honest about what's in their con-
fection and that publicity is hurting the sale of
legal hemp products, made from a variety of
the cannabis plant.
Chicago's City Council and Suffolk County,
N.Y., both have passed laws banning the sale
of marijuana-flavored candies. Lawmakers
in Michigan, New Jersey and ,;ew York also
have introduced legislation to an or control
the candies.
California-based Chronic Candy advertises
that every lick of its candy is "like taking a
hit." The company, though, says the candies
contain only hemp oil, a common ingredi-
ent in health food, beauty supplies and other
household products.
"There is nothing illegal in our ingredients
and they are ingredients that are in most hard
candy in the United States," said Tom Durkin,
a Chicago attorney who represents Califor-
nia-based Chronic Candy.
Though they have no proof, hemp advocates
maintain the candies contain cannabis flower
essential oil, which they say is distilled from
the flowers of the cannabis plant. That, they
say, is illegal.
Rusty Payne, a spokesman for the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration, said can-
nabis flower essential oil would be illegal if
it contains tetrahydrocannabinols, or THC,
which is the illegal substance in marijuana,
but he did not know whether it did.
Hemp oil has a nutty flavor, said Adam
Eidinger, spokesman for Vote Hemp, an advo-
cacy arm of the hemp industry.
"It tastes nothing like these lollipops," he
said. "These lollipops taste and smell like
marijuana."
Hemp has only a trace of THC, he said. It
cannot be legally grown in the United States
without a permit from the DEA, he said.
Hemp supporters acknowledge they can-
not prove their claim about what's in the lol-
lipops and neither the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration nor the U.S. Drug Enforce-
ment Administration have tested the candies
to determine their ingredients.
George Pauli, an associate director in the
Office of Food Additive Safety at the FDA,
said ingredients used in food and candy have
to be approved generically by the FDA or be
recognized as safe by scientists. Manufactur-
ers are not required to register their formulas
or ingredient lists with the FDA.
Payne said the DEA probably will test the
lollipops in the future.
"Certainly, they are on the radar," he said.
"It's something we're aware of."
While the debate over the lollipops' ingre-
dients continues, states and cities across the
country already are, acting.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan
has issued a subpoena seeking information
on the advertising and marketing practices of
Chronic Candy.
"Just because something isn't illegal
doesn't make it right. These are lollipops that
are clearly targeted at kids," Madigan said.
"As parents, you spend an enormous
amount of time and energy saying to kids,
'Don't smoke, don't drink, don't do drugs.'
Anything the glamorizes or lures them into
these destructive behaviors shouldn't be pro-
moted."
Durkin, the Chronic Candy attorney, said
the lollipops are geared toward adults and
the company has never intentionally targeted
children.
He also said the company had given Madi-
gan's office a list of ingredients in the lolli-
pops although a Madigan spokeswoman said
"We are pusing to make sure
that people understand the
difference between hemp
oil, which is legal, and
something that is illegal."
-Tom Murphy
Chronic Candy Board Member
the office does not have the list.
While Vote Hemp has raised concerns
about the contents of the marijuana-fla-
vored lollipops, the group is not pushing to
ban the lollipops, board member Tom Mur-
phy said.
"We are pushing to make sure that people
understand the difference between hemp oil,
which is legal, and something that is illegal,"
he said. "What legislators and states choose
to do is their own business."
530 S. State St.
734.763.TKTS
located on the ground
floor of the michigan union
Your one-stop source for on-
campus concerts and plays,
student events, transportation,
discount Cedar Point tickets
and much more!
www.mutotix.com
"PUT DOWN YOUR NEWSPAPER AND
RUSH OFF TO BUY TICKETS.'
A0. SCOTT, THE NEW YORK TIMES
"H ANDS DOWN
THE FUNNIEST OF THE YEAR!"
DAVID ANSEN. NEWSWEEK
"WONDERFULLY RAUNCHY.
THE COMIC HIGHLIGHTS ARE COUNTLESS."
DAVID GERMAIN, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
"FASCINATING AND HILARIOUS."
OWEN GLEIBERMAN, ENTERTAlMENT WEEKLY
"KILLER FUNNY. YOU'LL LAUGH TILL IT HURTS!
PRODUCES MORE LAUGHS THAN ANY HUNDRED JOKES YOU EVER HEARD."
PETER TRAVERS, ROLLING STONE
"OBSCENE, DISGUSTING, VULGAR AND VILE,