PRO-MARIJUANA GROUP LOOKS TO REESTABLISH

There has only been one pro-marijuana group on campus in at least 18 years,
despite studies that show more than a quarter of college students support
marijuana legalization.

About 33 percent of college freshmen supported full marijuana legalization
in 1998, according to studies compiled by the Center for Substance Abuse
Research. The percentage was around 27 percent for the rest of the college
and general populations. About 25 percent of college freshmen reported
smoking it within the last thirty days of the survey, the report showed.

TerpNORML, the campus branch of the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws, ran from 1996-1998 said Marsha Guenzler-Stevens, director
of campus programs. She added a group needs eight members, a promise not to
discriminate in membership and a spokesperson to be recognized as an
official program.

Luiz Gomes, a freshman sociology major, said he’s trying to start up
another group on campus, and said he is looking at either NORML or Students
for Sensible Drug Policy.

“I see a very pertinent need to end the war on drugs,” he said. “A large
university like Maryland can hold a lot of weight.”

In addition, the attention Gov. Parris N. Glendening gives campus could
draw statewide attention for a pro-marijuana group, Gomes said.

Gomes was one of about 200 students to attend the SSDP National Conference
in Washington Nov. 5 and 6 to gather information about running a marijuana
legalization program. The SSDP is a Washington-based organization with
about 22 branches on college campuses, according to its website.

Alex Anievas, a freshman political science major at Westminster Choir
College in New Jersey, was also at the meeting. He said he is trying to
start a group at Westminster, but he’s having a hard time finding members
- -- not because students don’t believe in the cause, but because students
aren’t vocal about it.

He blamed the police for intimidating students and preventing them from
being outspoken.

“The police give you some crap sometimes ... for wearing [pro-marijuana]
buttons and stuff,” Anievas said.

Andrew White, a freshman computer science major, said marijuana should be
legalized but wouldn’t join a group for other reasons.

“It would be neat if it happened, but I don’t care that much about
[marijuana] since I don’t smoke [it],” he said.

Jimmy Bathurst, a freshman computer science major, said he wouldn’t join a
group either, but thinks marijuana should be legalized for medical purposes.

“In the rare cases where it does work, it should be used,” he said.

Marijuana has been shown to reduce nausea and increase appetite in patients
undergoing treatment for AIDS, according to studies done by the Institute
of Medicine, an agency that sets health policy for the National Academy of
Sciences.

Masud Semple, a junior psychology major, also said he supports marijuana
legalization.

“If you tell someone not to do something, there’s more of a chance that
they will,” he said.

But Semple said he wouldn’t join an organization either as his “beliefs in
it aren’t that strong.”

Frankie Lin, a sophomore business major and a NORML member at Virginia
Tech, said its branch has about 200 members, about 60 students and the rest
from off-campus.

He said the group sets up information tables and conferences at Virginia
Tech, writes letters to newspapers and lobbies members of Congress. The
group is assisted by the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington-based
advocacy group, Lin said.