BACKSTAGE: MICHAEL LINARES '09

Meet Michael Linares '09, Altered state specialist, collector of children's
dinosaur paraphenalia.

Founder of the Yale Chapter of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy.

hometown Los Angeles, California.

pipe, bong or jay? Bong. It's smoother. But jays are so communal. And
pipes have their own charm. Just kidding - I don't do drugs.

Senior thesis? Freud's discovery of cocaine in the
1880s.

who's the greatest stoner icon: jay, silent bob, harold, kumar or "the
dude"? The Dude. Or Charlize Theron with the apple. Have you seen the
photo? She's at this expensive resort smoking out of an apple.
[Michael mimes smoking out of an apple. He does not attempt to mime
Charlize Theron.]

Q Are you pro-legalization?

A [Nods head vigorously] Pro. Pro. America's drug laws are terrible for
public health and promote the spread of diseases like AIDS and
Hepatitis. America now has 2.3 million people in prison - one-fourth
of the global prison population. And over 50 percent of U.S. federal
sentences are for drug offenses. Our drug policies create a general
disrespect for the law. The culture of prohibition and pretending and
being excessively punitive - it just isn't productive.

Q What is Students for a Sensible Drug Policy?

A SSDP is a national organization that lobbies against the drug war and
to reform drug policy. A big one was the drug provision of the Higher
Education Act, which stipulated that if you had a drug violation you
would be disqualified from financial aid. We were challenging that.

Q How did you get involved?

A I spent my [sophomore] summer in Barcelona, working at a safe
injection facility, where users could come and shoot up with clean
needles under medical supervision. Then I spent my next semester
abroad in Denmark, working . with and on drugs. Then I started up the
Yale SSDP chapter that junior spring, getting UOFC funding and all
that crap.

Q What have been some of your most successful events?

A I put on a panel last week with the Rebellious Lawyering Conference
about drug legalization and the drug reform movement. I got a Sudler
Fund to put up student art reflecting on drugs and addiction. That
will be happening in April. SSDP, the Student Legal Action Movement
and some local organizations are also planning a conference about a
Senate bill for decriminalization in Connecticut. It essentially says
that possession of up to an ounce of pot shouldn't be prosecuted,
which would help alleviate the stigma and overcrowding in prisons, and
would shift police priorities.

Q Have you experienced any hostility from the administration?

A No. I really haven't. I've always received funding. Where you do find
hostility - I wouldn't call it hostility exactly - but obstacles, is
convincing masters that this is something worth talking about, and
students that we aren't just a bunch of stoners campaigning for the
right to get high, really raising this to a higher level of discourse.
I tell people I'm working this summer at Pier 5 Law in San Francisco
for the medical marijuana cause and they do the double take and go:
"Oh, OK . "

Q When did you first develop an interest in this issue?

A I've always been interested in altered realities and people getting
there, be it by drinking or smoking or whatever else. It coalesced
when I was abroad in Barcelona, getting to understand drug users. The
situation in Barcelona is really the opposite of here. Drug users are
getting help from the state. They're brought off the street. They're
fed and clothed and made to feel human.

Q Why do you think drug policies in the United States are so dogmatic
compared to Europe?

A In general we have one of the most puritanical, moralistic cultures
in the world. But we have the most people doing cocaine and one of the
highest percentages of people smoking pot. There's this real
disconnect between professed culture and practiced culture.

Q You are a history of science, history of medicine major. How has this
informed your drug activism?

A I chose this major because it's one of the more flexible ones. I've
sort of created a drug concentration for myself. I concentrate in
drugs! With any substance there are so many dimensions to it. You look
at it historically, economically, as a public health issue - all the
tangible axes - but then you also look at the personal experience
behind it all. What are people doing and why are they doing it? It's
trying to understand those mentalities and why they're so different
from the law.

Q How would you describe the drug culture at Yale?

A Binge drinking. Pot comes up in certain circles, but I wouldn't say
it's terribly popular. Everything is done in binges here. Everyone is
so busy working all the time, so they hit the weekend and go crazy.
Usually it's confined to alcohol and pot, although sometimes you see
dilated pupils running around.

Q Do you think other drugs should be legalized?

A I think all drugs should be legalized. For economic reasons, as well
as regulation. If you look at the range of substances, alcohol is the
most dangerous. It encourages aggression. Alcohol's implicated so
often in cases of murder and rape. Our laws are unjust. The government
should not be punishing people for what is usually a non-harmful
recreational act, locking people up with murderers and rapists. It's
not right. The United States is the United States because of the
liberty it affords its citizens.

Q Why legalization and not decriminalization?

A With decriminalization, there's still a black market that's
unregulated. There's this vision that with legalization you could buy
heroin next to the tomatoes, which would never really happen. There's
actually a bill being pushed in California, which would give licenses
to certain pot growers and tax each exchange. More states are
considering this now because of huge deficits.

Q Do you think drug use would increase with legalization?

A In Europe, when kids are allowed to drink from an earlier age, they
develop healthy habits. Although they may drink more, they don't binge
as much. I think the analogy works for drugs. In the Netherlands,
after legalization, there was a spike in use - people were curious I
guess - but then the frequency of use went right back down. And you
rule out so many of the unhealthy things: sharing needles, heroin
laced with rat poison. If you take heroin safely, there really aren't
that many bad health effects.

Q Do you ever worry that your involvement in this cause and open
endorsement of marijuana might bite you in the ass later in life?

A In the beginning. Then I realized at a certain point that whoever is
small-minded enough to write me off for that is someone I don't want
to work for. Or take money from.

Q Would you ever leave your drug reform activism off your
resume?

A Nope. Never.