cannabisnews.com: SGA Puts Pot Referendum on Ballot





SGA Puts Pot Referendum on Ballot
Posted by CN Staff on April 03, 2006 at 07:04:08 PT
By Kelly Whittaker 
Source: Diamondback
Maryland -- If deciding the new representatives to head the SGA next year isn’t enough incentive, students now have another reason to cast a ballot in this year’s election: to express their opinion on whether the university should relax its policy regarding marijuana use.At its Wednesday meeting, the Student Government Association approved a referendum question that asks students whether they think university punishments for marijuana use and possession should be equivalent to the looser punishments for underage drinking.
“The overriding message is that we want to engage student opinion regarding the university’s current drug and alcohol policies,” said Chris Biggs, an SGA residential legislator and sponsor of the referendum. “We think this is extremely important because there is a huge discrepancy between underage drinking and marijuana.”According to university policy, on-campus students found with marijuana immediately lose their housing and could face suspension and/or mandatory university drug testing. Underage students found with alcohol, on the other hand, are given a warning and possible community service for their first offense and must violate alcohol policies again before their housing is jeopardized.Biggs, who is also a resident assistant in La Plata Hall, said he thinks this bill is important to students because the current marijuana policies can ruin a student’s life.“I’ve seen far too many students getting caught, losing financial aid and housing and having their lives turned upside down,” he said.The proposal was written by the university’s Students for Sensible Drug Policy leader Damien Nichols and National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws President Victor Pinho. In its original form, the proposal was a binding resolution, which means if 50.2 percent of students supported efforts to change the current drug policies, then the SGA would have to do everything within their power to make sure the administration changed its policies, said SGA academic legislator Kevin Rodkey.“This created some concern because 50.2 percent or even 55 percent of students is not a strong majority, and a drastic change in policy like this should be supported by a strong majority of students,” Rodkey said.Rodkey amended the proposal to make the referendum non-binding. If the majority of students say that the policy should be changed, then incoming SGA leaders will have to decide whether they want to lobby for the changes.But passing the referendum does not ensure a change in the campus-wide policy. “We would ask our people in the Office of Student Conduct to analyze the referendum and decide what the implications are,” said Linda Clement, vice president of student affairs. While Clement had yet to see the referendum, she said administrators always take the SGA’s recommendations seriously.Devin Ellis, the SGA’s chief of staff, said a low voter turnout was expected for this year’s election. With this new referendum included, however, some leaders think that more students will vote, if only to help change current drug policies.“The key element is that the higher the voter turnout, the more validity the referendum ballot will have as being representative of students and how they feel,” Ellis said.When creating their proposal, Nichols and Pinho said that they based their arguments on the SAFER campaign. Several universities across the country are using the foundations of the campaign to equalize alcohol and marijuana punishments.“The SAFER campaign is a relatively new project that works on the premise that while there are statistics to prove the detrimental effects of alcohol on society, there is no number in recorded medicine of fatalities from marijuana use,” Pinho said. “The campaign is based upon the idea of choosing marijuana as a safer alternative to alcohol.”While the university would be the first in the Washington area to implement such changes, according to Nichols, several schools in the country have already used the SAFER campaign to effect change in their administration’s marijuana policies, such as the University of Rhode Island and the University of Texas at Austin.Sponsors of the bill said students don’t have to support drug use to vote in support.“I am not a supporter of marijuana. I think breaking the law is a bad idea, but I think there is something to be said about the growing discrepancy between marijuana and alcohol,” Biggs said.Source: Diamondback, The (MD Edu)Author: Kelly Whittaker Published: April 03, 2006Copyright: 2006 Maryland Media, Inc.Contact: editor dbk.umd.eduWebsite: http://www.diamondbackonline.com/Related Article & Web Sites:NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/SSDPhttp://www.ssdp.org/Safer Choicehttp://www.saferchoice.org/Marijuana Referendum Doesn’t Belong on Ballothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21704.shtmlCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #18 posted by Dankhank on April 05, 2006 at 11:35:39 PT
Can we stop talking ...
'bout Death from E?This guy should be a good story re: the lack of mortality, yet possible grevious physical harm, akin to jumping motorcycles for a living ...did this fellow drink any alcohol?or anything else?
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Comment #17 posted by Toker00 on April 04, 2006 at 03:52:59 PT
Heroin is cannabis. Cocaine is cannabis.
Ecstasy is cannabis. You see? Just include the words cannabis or marijuana in with any other illegal drug or activity, and presto! Instant Scapegoat.I do everything I can to clear the name of Cannabis, everyday. I am responsible, I am kind, I am hard working, I am competent, I am a leader, I am a loving husband and father, I am a friend, I love God, and I love the Truth. I am a cannabist, and my choice for happiness doesn't let me FORGET to be all the things I am.Wage peace on war. END CANNABIS PROHIBITION NOW!
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Comment #16 posted by whig on April 03, 2006 at 20:40:43 PT
lombar
Yeah, I'm inclined to wonder how messed up he had to have been before he ever started taking anything, and to go to such lengths seems positively self-destructive.
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Comment #15 posted by lombar on April 03, 2006 at 20:02:49 PT
whig
Maybe they are trying to suggest that cannabis played a role in his problems in that article. 40,000 E tabs, 25/day at peak use... you ingest that much of any synthetic, don't be surprise if you can't think straight or remember who you are...the guy was nuts to start with..
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Comment #14 posted by whig on April 03, 2006 at 18:56:58 PT
Odd article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/Story/0,,1746333,00.html?gusrc=rss
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Comment #13 posted by mayan on April 03, 2006 at 18:24:29 PT
It'll Be A Landslide!
“This created some concern because 50.2 percent or even 55 percent of students is not a strong majority, and a drastic change in policy like this should be supported by a strong majority of students,” Rodkey said.When a very strong majority passes this referendum they will remember Rodkey when his bid for re-election comes up.Mason Tvert has truly set the wheels in motion! THE WAY OUT...Former Head Of Star Wars Program Says Cheney Main 9/11 Suspect:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2006/040406mainsuspect.htmThe 9/11 Truth Revolution:
http://www.mujca.com/truthrevolution.htmLookin’ for the 9/11 Truth:
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=112059/11 and the American Empire: How Should Religious People Respond? By David Ray Griffin:
http://www.garlicandgrass.org/issue9/David_Ray_Griffin.cfmFlight 93 was shot down: 
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/kovach/050914Disinfo Pro - Death Of A Once-Great Blogger:
http://www.rense.com/general70/disin.htm
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Comment #12 posted by OverwhelmSam on April 03, 2006 at 16:44:16 PT
Too Bad for the Punishment Mongers
If the Universities relax their laws on Cannabis use, in a few decades we could have a Society that is run by people who looks down on alcoholics while they puff away at NASCAR. LOLIn the mean time, we have to deal with the hateful punishment mongers.
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Comment #11 posted by runderwo on April 03, 2006 at 13:41:21 PT
Sam Adams
"What possible difference could it make between 50.2 percent and 80 percent? Maybe when this guy is re-elected, he should have to win by 80%."I love it. Good job. Something tells me he wouldn't be quite so noisy about the margins if his own career fell within them.
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Comment #10 posted by Sam Adams on April 03, 2006 at 12:37:38 PT
observer
You're absolutely right. But it's not only the true brutal people in society that love to punish. The government is exploiting nearly EVERYONE's desire to look down on SOMEONE. We all have an inner urge to find the scapegoat, rather than face up to our own failings. America's college experience has moved from a learning experience to some sort of mass Bacchanalian ritual. Parents are devoting their entire lives and careers toward paying for their kids to attend some "elite" college. The kids get there and drink themselves sick, drink themselves to death, for 4 years. Half of the people in my freshmen suite at college were total alcoholics. I'm talking about drinking to black-out 5 or 6 or 7 nights per week. Most of the guys gained 15 or 20 pounds in one year. I did more homework in high school than most of the people did in my freshmen suite in their first year of college, by far. Is it easier to face down this problem, this weakness, this excess, in ourselves? or is easier to say, when discussing the HEA of 1998, THOSE KIDS ARE THERE TO STUDY, NOT GET HIGH! Just try having this discussion with your prohibitionist friend and this is what you'll hear.My only close friend who is a vehement prohibitionist has struggled with alcoholism and borderline mental illness for his whole life. The "projection" of his own failings unto pot-smokers is as clear as day. He considers MJ use to be a vile, disgusting habit, and fully supports the highest level of punitive prohibition for cannabis. If he even catches a whiff of smoke, he'll visibly recoil and say, "that's disgusting! it's awful! that smell! how can you guys DO that sh**?"It works at so many levels. For those in the political class and corporate elite, these rules reinforce the importance of obedience. You must obey, no matter how illogical our rules are! I know when I got out of college, the CEO of the first company I worked for was clearly an idiot, he had bought into the company early on with family money, and then profited massively as the company expanded over the years. A thinking person might see this conflict, and resent working for the guy.It's not easy to realize that hundreds of smart people are working all day & night, for sub-market wages in this case, for a arrogant idiot who is quite literally making tens of millions of dollars per year. He also made about $150 million when the company went public. Managers and executives who had actually started the company only got like $1 million or less each. All because of the CEO's initial infusion of family money, he had everyone by the balls.
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Comment #9 posted by lombar on April 03, 2006 at 12:13:06 PT
I just caught some of that CPPA meeting
Mr. Toews claims they are for a peaceful society. I wonder how they intend to achieve that by importing a war? Their prohibi†ionist policies are the driving force of a great deal of violence. Funding for black bag ops, terrorist attacks, and , of course, drug barons all over the earth. Undermine the black market and take it away from the crooks but no... must keep scaring the people with what *might* happen lest they see what actually *IS* happening. 
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Comment #8 posted by goneposthole on April 03, 2006 at 12:09:00 PT
off topic
price of pot:Really good cannabis (not really) sells for fifty dollars an eighth of an ounce. Fifty times eight is four hundred bucks. Four hundred times sixteen equals sixty-four hundred dollars per pound.A Troy ounce of gold sells for 580 dollars. Twelve times 580 dollars equals 6,960 dollars for a pound of gold. However, gold is useless unless you're building a satellite.I'd rather find a pot of pot at the end of the rainbow than a pot of gold.How come Rush Windbag didn't lose everything he has when he got busted for pushing 450 thousand pills? Answer: He pays taxes that fund the government much better than what the government could confiscate from him.He's a good propagandist too. He's a recovering something or other. Looks real good. Can't punish a good murkan disseminating murkan propaganda. Wouldn't be prudent.Money talks and ...
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Comment #7 posted by observer on April 03, 2006 at 11:23:46 PT
Lust to Punish
Buried in the 4th paragraph:According to university policy, on-campus students found with marijuana immediately lose their housing and could face suspension and/or mandatory university drug testing. Underage students found with alcohol, on the other hand, are given a warning and possible...Why the lust to punish more and more? Pot-haters -- prohibitionists -- hide behind false religiosity and malformed morals, assuring us they are merely stealing from, jailing, killing, and destroying cannabis users, as means to the noble end goal of saving the children from a fearful fate.But this lust for punishing cannabis users looks to me to be a fig-leaf over their raw brutality, a brutality that needs some expression, one way or another. In times past, such might have been torturing witches or heretics (for the Glory of God, of course.) In times past such people might have been breaking the windows of houses belonging to Jewish people, herding them into boxcars and death camps (for the Glory of the Reich and Fatherland!), herding Japanese-Americans into camps (God bless America!), lynching black people in Alabama (them boys gots to be taught a lesson for lookin' at white women!). But here they are now, with no witches or heretics to be burned, and so "them druggies" and "dopers" and "pot heads" look (to these brutal people) like mighty good receptacles for their eternally-increasing and righteous punishments. A little 'pile on the punishments for the pot-head' is ever a jolly good game for bureaucrats and politicians, and Lord knows, universities are chock full of them. 
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Comment #6 posted by lombar on April 03, 2006 at 10:44:25 PT
We don't cater to special interests...
""I thought we might find a receptive audience here," he told his audience after winning a round of applause."Booo! Dea go away! No US drug war in Canada. Try your bs on the rest of the people and see how they react. It's a happy day if you are a gangster in Canada, prices are going up! Competition is on the run.. guess those bribes are really paying off now.
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Comment #5 posted by Sam Adams on April 03, 2006 at 10:31:53 PT
no worries, pal
“This created some concern because 50.2 percent or even 55 percent of students is not a strong majority, and a drastic change in policy like this should be supported by a strong majority of students,” Rodkey said."Don't worry my authoritarian-minded friend, you won't have to worrry about a close call, this will pass by 10% or more.Look at this little brown-nosing suck-up, he's already prepping himself for a long career in American government. he's got the rhetoric down already. He's a budding professional liar! What a great career plan, our system needs more and more quality hypocrites and bullsh** artists every year.Especially evil ones! The ability to shamelessly sell out your peers is especially desirable in today's government and corporate inner circles.What possible difference could it make between 50.2 percent and 80 percent? Maybe when this guy is re-elected, he should have to win by 80%. The founding fathers would have never wanted something like criminal MJ laws based on a majority rule, anyway. They included the judiciary specifically to step in and prevent the majority from taking away the civil rights of the minorities, to prevent the "tyranny of the majority".That's why the political class and corporate elite have eviscerated the judiciary in this country over the last 30 years, it was the first step in creating a police state. Now they're nothing more than a fancy prop for the big show, black-robed actors, faking justice. Sadly they're not much more than politicians we can't vote out, hence the open arrogance and condescension of Scalia.
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Comment #4 posted by whig on April 03, 2006 at 08:50:46 PT
Raich
Fixed URL
http://tinyurl.com/lgoa5
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Comment #3 posted by whig on April 03, 2006 at 08:49:49 PT
Raich
http://volokh.com/posts/1144072679.shtmlRaich oral argument now on-line.
Here
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Comment #2 posted by ekim on April 03, 2006 at 08:27:46 PT
Loretta Nall has a new campaign t-shirt
Libby at http://lastonespeaks.blogspot.com/ has good story.
And speaking of thunder, our candidate for governor of Alabama is making some righteous noise. This is brilliant. Loretta Nall has a new campaign t-shirt. Hilarious. Wonder what that good ole boy Ingram will say about this.http://nallforgovernor.blogspot.com/2006/04/nall-for-governor-campaign-goodies.htmlhttp://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3967/624/1600/boobtee.jpg
http://www.drugwarrant.org
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on April 03, 2006 at 07:19:59 PT
Reuters: Canadian News Article
Canada Scraps Plan To Decriminalize Marijuana Use***April 3, 2006  
  
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's new Conservative government will scrap draft legislation which would have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Monday.The legislation, drawn up by the previous Liberal government, alarmed police officials in Canada and the neighboring United States who said it would only encourage the already booming trade in pot.Once the Liberals lost the January 23 election after 12 years in power, the bill looked to be in deep trouble. One of Harper's five priorities is to clamp down on crime."We will not be reintroducing the Liberal government's marijuana decriminalization legislation," he told a meeting of the Canadian Professional Police Association."I thought we might find a receptive audience here," he told his audience after winning a round of applause.Under the Liberal bill, people found with small amounts of marijuana would have been fined but would not have received a criminal record.Canadian police complain that judges often hand down lenient sentences on people found guilty of running operations to grow marijuana illegally.Estimates for the value of Canada's booming pot business trade vary widely and some experts say it is worth C$10 billion ($8.5 billion) a year. The main center is the Pacific province of British Columbia, where criminals export potent marijuana, known as BC Bud, to the United States.Copyright: Reuters 2006
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