BATTLING THE WAR ON DRUGS

When U.S. Attorney General John Ashcoft said it was time to escalate the
war on drugs, Jesse Goplen responded by challenging him and others to bring
it on.

Goplen wrote his debut CD, "Bitter Tea," while serving a six-month sentence
in the Richland County jail for marijuana possession.

Today, he is devoted to using his music to end the war on drugs by pushing
to legalize some drugs and regulate them in the same way that alcohol and
tobacco are regulated, and by helping people with drug addictions get help
rather than locking them up. He hopes to make an impact through his music,
but he knows that his is a controversial stand.

Earlier this year, for example, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-0 against
legalizing marijuana for medicinal uses. That was despite the fact that
between 1996 and 2000, seven states passed voter initiatives legalizing the
medicinal use of cannabis. Hawaii also legalized medicinal use of marijuana
through legislation signed by the governor last summer.

A Pew poll in April also found that 75 percent of Americans think the drug
war has failed despite taxpayer's investment. According to the Effective
National Drug Control Strategy published in 1999 and prepared by the
Network of Reform Groups in consultation with the National Coalition for
Effective Drug Policies, the drug war gets more expensive each year. The
1999 federal budget for fighting the drug war was $17.2 billion compared to
$3.6 billion appropriated in 1988. States and local government reportedly
spent an additional $20 billion annually on the drug war. And we're not
even close to having a drug-free society.

Goplen, who performs under his alias, Uncontrollable Substance, lives in
Madison and is a senior majoring in sociology at UW-Madison. He also plans
to pursue a law degree hoping to work in criminal defense or go into music
law. He contends that jails are full of non-violent people and that his
experience influenced him not only to go into law but also to record the CD.

"I feel like if I can get my music heard, I have a better chance of
changing the laws," he says.

Goplen, 23, says he was carrying four ounces of marijuana in his pocket
while walking down the street in Richland Center in 1997. He admits that at
the time there also had been a warrant out for him for possession of a
noncontrolled substance.

"I had sold someone some acid that turned out to not be acid," he explains.

After his trial in the summer of 1997, Goplen spent the next six months in
jail and it was there that the songs on "Bitter Tea" were born. While he
had been playing guitar since he was 9, he hadn't written any songs until jail.

"Jail just inspired me and I needed some kind of outlet," he says.

In the liner notes he thanks family, friends and even the Richland County
Jail for its hospitality.

"That's where the songs were written and they weren't horrible to me, I
guess," he says.

Goplen says his songs are his way of adding his voice to a choir that is
talking loudly about the drug war and reasons for calling for a change to
it. He contends that music, at its best, is an effective form of protest.

The alternative to arresting people for marijuana possession, he says, is
to use the same types of laws that are used to control alcohol and tobacco.
He believes some other drugs should be offered by prescription and that
drug use should be treated as a public health issue rather than a criminal
justice issue. He is especially supportive of marijuana for medicinal
purposes. From a cost efficiency perspective, Goplen's arguments appear to
make sense.

According to the Center for Substance Abuse and Treatment's National
Treatment Improvement Evaluation in 1997, treatment costs ranged from
$1,800 to $6,800 per substance abuse client, compared to the average cost
of incarceration of $23,406 per inmate per year (according to 1993 figures).

Goplen picked Uncontrollable Substance as his alias as a metaphor for the
drug war and the fact that some people think they control drug uses when
they can't.

The title track to "Bitter Tea" was inspired by the helplessness he felt
while in prison.

"It's about begin in jail and in a situation where you were powerless to do
anything but sit there," he says.

The last song on the CD, "Lifetime/For a Guitar," was dedicated to one of
the things that he missed the most -- his guitar. Vocally, bands like
Lynyrd Skynyrd inspire him. Musically, he is influenced by metal bands such
as Acid Bath and Carcass.

The CD, which is being sold at Hempen Goods, Deep Grooves, and Mad City
Music Exchange, was recorded and mixed at Coney Island Studios in Madison
over three days, and while he recognizes that some people won't like the
use of a drum machine on the CD, he says he did whatever was necessary to
get the music out.

Along with his partner, Kyana Taillon, and several investors who believe in
his cause, Goplen also has started an activist music label called Sorry You
Hate Me Records and is trying to produce a compilation of Madison bands
that write anti-drug war songs.

He is also working with national organizations such as The November
Coalition and NORML (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws) to reach a wider audience and wants to perform benefit concerts for
IMMLY (Is MY Medicine Legal Yet), a local organization focused on changing
marijuana laws.

"If there is one goal of this music, it's to make people think about the
drug war and not necessarily the music," he says. "The message is more
important than the music."

Jesse Goplen (Uncontrollable Substance) performs a solo acoustic show 7
p.m. Friday at Espresso Royale Cafe, 21 N. Butler St. Admission is free;
call 441-9140 for information. To learn more about Goplen visit
www.sorryyouhateme.com