Pot Reaction

By Stephanie Jackson

Stephanie Jackson, Stand Up's own editor in chief, wrote this as a follow up to Harper Bridgers' "NORML Behavior" from issue 4. For this article, Stephanie spoke with NORML members involved in the battle with the University Judiciary over an image on the organization's t-shirts as well as with a local law enforcement officer.

On Dec. 2, 2008, John Hill of Georgia NORML at UGA presented Proposition 42 to City Hall and since then, the debate has raged across town.

“It would allow the police to concentrate on the more important crimes and reduce the amount of money and time that the government wastes on the unsuccessful and controversial war on drugs,”says NORML President Wojciech Kaczkowski, a 21-year-old psychology student from Poland who took over the group this year.

“My position on any of those things is to enforce what society wants,” says Chief Jimmy Williamson of the UGA police. “If society were to vote to legalize it, then we'd enforce that.”

In this proposition, NORML, the UGA faction of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws, requests the legalization of a quarter-ounce of marijuana for people over 18 in Athens-Clark County. They are currently collecting signatures to put Proposition 42 on the ballot and lobbying the city council to pass the proposition on its own.

Since its inception in January 2008, NORML has been causing a stir, recently intensified when the university charged the group with copyright infringement for selling T-shirts with an image of what looks like Hairy Dawg smoking a joint in front of the Arches. The group was taken in front of University Judiciary and still awaits a final decision on what their punishment will be, their attention never wanes from their ultimate goal: legalization.

“The production and distribution of marijuana would create lots of revenue for the federal and state governments,” Kaczkowski says.

The group likens the current ban on marijuana to alcohol prohibition in the early 20th century in America. They say that, just like that prohibition, this one will not stop consumption.

For Greg Stone, a 20-year-old drawing and music business major from Marietta, Ga. who drew the controversial image, the issue is freedom.

“I believe that everyone should have the right to enjoy a natural substance that is less harmful long term and short term than both alcohol and tobacco,” Stone says.

Williamson does not believe legalization will necessarily mean a reduction in crime.

“You've got to remember, whether we lower the drinking age or work with controlled substances, what you find is it's not the use, it's the people who over use and then make poor decisions,” Williamson said.

Stone insists that the push for Proposition 42 actually gets a lot of support from the police.

“When we petition downtown and at Tate, we will often get the thumbs up from officers,” Stones says.

Williamson insists that personal opinion does not matter in this debate, because the police will continue to enforce whatever society wants, even if that were to mean legalization.

But Williamson makes a point to say that it is not for the majority that these laws exist.

“The parameters are not put here because people can't handle this,” he says. “It's to counteract the few, the minority who don't use it responsibly.”

Williamson goes on to make the point that marijuana arrests would not happen now, even though it's a criminal substance if people were to use it responsibly. He points out that were people to use the drug and not get involved in other activities that attract the attention of police, there would be no way to enforce the laws.

“In no way am I condoning the use because the law says you can't, but if they currently did use it in a responsible manner, how would we know?” he asks.

According to a National Institution on Drug Abuse report citing the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 93 million Americans 12 and older have tried marijuana. That correlates to 40 percent of the population.

A study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, as reported by USA Today, states that marijuana use by college students has increased from 27.9 percent in 1993 to 33.3 percent in 2005.