4 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, July 11, 2005
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ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 STEPHANIE WRIGHT DONN M. FRESARD
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SINCE 1890 necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
A failure to lead
Why liberals should be disappointed with
Granholm's term as governor
The tired war on pot
Marijuana use not nation's biggest drug problem
Months of leading the other 49
states in the crucial contest of who
has the highest unemployment
rate and year after year of ballooning bud-
get deficits have been enough to convince
Gov. Jennifer Granholm to say all the right
things regarding the state's future. But these
ominous statistics have apparently not been
enough to convince her to do almost any of
the things necessary to reinvent Michigan's
economy.
Granholm has called for a shift from the
state's dependence on traditional manufac-
turing industries to more high-tech sec-
tors, including the life sciences. She says
she wants to make Michigan a place where
young, highly educated people desire to
come live and work. Her specific proposals,
however, have been insignificant, uncontro-
versial and therefore unable to stem the tide
of college graduates moving elsewhere to
attend college and find jobs after school. By
failing to take a strong stand on issues like
stem-cell research, higher-education fund-
ing and gay rights, Granholm relegates her
stated goals to mere pabulum.
part of Granholm's vision comes from
the writings of economic develop-
ment Prof. Richard Florida, who
defined the "creative class" as the fast-grow-
ing group of educated workers who are paid
for their ideas rather than their labor; the
group composes about 30 percent of the
country's workforce, yet earns roughly half
of all wages and salaries. Florida argues that
the best way for a region to attract new,
high-tech industries is to draw in a large
pool of young, educated, creative workers.
The governor's Cool Cities initiative shows
that Granholm acknowledges and covets
this creative sector; the published reasoning
behind the initiative cites Florida frequently.
But simply throwing a few grants at small-
scale, scattered projects is no way to attract
and retain the educated workforce Michigan
needs. In more important areas, Granholm
has so far failed to take the risks necessary
to turn Michigan into a progressive state
capable of attracting creative young workers
and fertile new industries.
If Michigan's economy is to expand into
the life-sciences industry, an idea Granholm
regularly promotes, it is impossible to avoid
the issue of stem cells. Granholm claims to
support stem-cell research, but she has shied
away from efforts to change Michigan's
stem-cell laws, which are among the most
restrictive in the country. The state's restric-
tions not only directly impede development
of Michigan's life-sciences industry, but
they also suggest to current and would-be
residents that the state is unwilling to adapt
to future technological advances. Granholm
may have a difficult battle against Repub-
licans to pass more progressive stem-cell
legislation in Michigan, but she should rec-
ognize that supporting stem-cell research
is necessary to developing a strong life-sci-
ences industry.
Similarly, Granholm has made higher
education a rhetorical centerpiece in her
vision for the state's economy - she claims
it is her goal to double the number of college
graduates in the state within a decade - but
she has balked at reforming how the state's
higher-education system is funded. Univer-
sities receive money from the state's discre-
tionary fund, leaving them an easy target
for funding cuts when falling revenues force
Lansing to balance the state budget. As a
result, Michigan's universities are struggling
at a time when the state needs them to thrive.
Just as Silicon Valley could not exist with-
out Stanford University, a high-tech revival
in Michigan depends largely on the state's
universities. Granholm must take action
quickly if she wants to even preserve, let
alone improve, the state's higher-education
system. Budget restructuring and unpopular
tax increases may be required, but if Gran-
holm hopes to come close to achieving her
goals, she must find a bold and creative solu-
tion to the higher-education problem.
If Granholm has read Florida's book,
she must be familiar with his writings on
social climate and development. Put simply,
Florida argues that regions with progres-
sive social policies - those that are seen as
diverse and tolerant, especially toward gay
rights - are the most successful at attract-
ing young, creative workers. Unfortunately,
Granholm has handled gay rights with char-
acteristic hesitance: She is a supporter only
when it is politically painless. In 2003, she
became the first governor to attend the Tri-
angle Foundation's annual dinner and later
designated June as Gay Pride Month. But in
the aftermath of Proposal 2, when conserva-
tive groups began to argue that the amend-
ment made it unconstitutional for public
employees in Michigan to be offered same-
sex partner benefits, Granholm swiftly cut
off the debate by revoking same-sex benefits
for state employees - even though the legal
question had not yet been addressed by any
court. Failing to protect gay rights, except
when it involves celebrations and dinners,
will not only marginalize an important sec-
tor of the population, but it will also prevent
Michigan from attaining the progressive,
tolerant image it needs to attract and keep a
young, educated workforce.
These are difficult issues for a governor
to push against the Republican-dominated
state Legislature, but they are necessary if
Granholm wants to stem the brain drain in
Michigan and make the state attractive to
the "creative class." The Cool Cities initia-
tive and Granholm's other attempts at pro-
gressive policies are good ideas, but they are
trivial compared to the progressive reforms
needed to bring in the young people that
would carry out her vision of a thriving,
high-tech state. Granholm will continue to
fail the state until she stops trying to please
everyone and instead becomes the progres-
sive, proactive leader that Michigan needs.
ethamphetamine use has been
gaining popularity nationwide in
recent years. According to a sur-
vey of 500 sheriff's offices in 45 states
released last week, nearly three-fifths of
counties viewed meth as their most press-
ing drug problem. Despite evidence of a
growing epidemic, the Bush administration
still unwisely prioritizes marijuana as the
focus of its fight against drug use. Every
year, the federal government wastes bil-
lions of dollars fighting this fairly harm-
less drug, and the recent report is another
telling sign of the continued misallocation
of resources in America's poorly managed
war against drugs.
Just prior to the survey's release, the
Office of National Drug Control Policy
reaffirmed its commitment to fighting
marijuana use as the nation's most seri-
ous drug problem. The office's argument
hinges on the overwhelming number of pot
users - 15 million, versus a mere one
million for meth. This assessment fails to
consider, however, that the effects of meth
are often deadly while marijuana is essen-
tially harmless.
As a synthetic stimulant with effects sim-
ilar to cocaine, meth is highly addictive,
and long-term use may cause psychologi-
cal problems, immune system impairment
and even death. It can cause aggressive
behavior, and its use has been linked to
unprotected and promiscuous sex, result-
ing in a disproportionate number of users
infected with sexually transmitted diseases
and HIV/AIDS. Additionally, meth labs
are dangerous, produce toxic waste and
have been known to catch fire or explode.
Meth-related crimes are overwhelming law
enforcement officials, and meth abuse and
addiction are greatly contributing the over-
flow of patients that many drug-focused
health centers are now facing.
In contrast, marijuana presents fex
health risks and has legitimate therapeuti
value. The only threat a typical marijuaq
user poses to society is an insatiable hung%
for Doritos. Because of its value as a pain
killer and anti-nausea medication, medici
nal marijuana has been legalized in man
states and cities like Ann Arbor. After tw
years of hearings on medicinal marijuan
Drug Enforcement Administrative Las
Judge Francis Young found in 1988 th
marijuana was one of the safest therapeu
drugs available and said, "In strict med
cal terms marijuana is far safer than man
foods we commonly consume."
Considering that the federal governmer
spends over $12 billion fighting drugs eac
year, it is surprising that the administratio
remains so out of touch with the realit
of drug enforcement. The war on drug
unwisely targets the supply side of dru
trafficking and has been ineffective in curb
ing drug use - while usage has fallen sine
the late 1970s, recent years have shown lex
eling off and even increases in use amon
all age groups. The money spent fightin
drugs has been generally misallocatec
unless fueling violence abroad and crowd
ing prisons with nonviolent drug offender
can be considered worthy ends.
Providing funds to prevent the abuse
dangerous drugs and to offer treatment
recovering addicts could be worthy use
of federal funds, but the administration
stance on marijuana is instead reminiscet
of the misguided prohibition era, with lav
enforcement frantically trying to stop th
production and sale of a drug that pose
comparatively little danger to individu
or society as a whole. Like a stubborn chiY
the federal government foolishly sticks t
its commitment to combating marijuana
demonstrating yet again its failure to prop
erly assess and handle drug abuse.
The thumbs have it
Plymouth-
Canton
Schools
Most schools raise money with pizza and cookie dough
sales, but they chose to sell naming rights. Will school
T-shirts mark spirited students or corporate whores?
Gov. Jennifer o Workshops to teach parents how to talk with their kil
about sex are a nice thought, but an awkward one.
Granholm Keep sex in the schools, where it belongs.
Micro-
cinema
Michigan's latest Cool Cities grant went to Ann
Arbor's own Michigan Theater. It's a good thin
too: Four out of five yuppies agree that they would
move to a city with micro-cinema.