PRO-POT CHAPTER GETS ALLY IN EX-COMMISSIONER

Pro-Pot Chapter Gets Ally In Ex-Commissioner

A former Athens-Clarke commissioner is representing a pro-marijuana
student group in its fight against the University of Georgia.

Civil rights lawyer Elton Dodson is defending the UGA chapter of the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a group that
advocates legalizing marijuana, against sanctions stemming from the
group using the image of mascot Hairy Dog in promotional materials.

Dodson said he does not necessarily subscribe to NORML's beliefs, but
he admires members' willingness to speak up.

"Whether you agree with them or not is irrelevant," he said. "They are
students who are U.S. citizens who enjoy the protections of the U.S.
Constitution."

The group may be put on probation or, less likely, suspended or
disbanded at a Tuesday student judicial hearing, chapter President
Wojciech Kaczkowski said. The members themselves will not be punished.

The stakes are low, but Dodson said he is worried that UGA is trying
to silence NORML because of the students' political views.

"I'm very, very concerned about the First Amendment free speech issues
involved with this," he said.

Dodson, a 34-year old UGA graduate, served on the Athens-Clarke
Commission from 2005 through 2008. He got his start in politics as a
campus activist in the 1990s, leading groups like Students for
Environmental Awareness.

UGA students formed the NORML chapter last March, and it has about 100
members, 30 of them active, said Kaczkowski, who joined up, he said,
because the group sounded interesting.

"It's a great organization that has the same political beliefs I do,"
he said.

The group's troubles with the university started last fall, when
members sold T-shirts to raise money. The shirts featured a drawing of
Hairy Dog smoking marijuana near the UGA Arch. Administrators saw the
image on the chapter's Web site and asked members to take it down and
turn over the shirts, but later reversed course and said it was OK to
use the drawing, Kaczkowski said. NORML took the drawing off the Web,
but continued selling the shirts, he said.

"We believed that if we draw our own image, we don't have to get
permission," he said.

But in February, administrators changed their minds again and told
members they could not use the drawing, he said.

UGA officials said the image was a trademark violation, according to
the Red & Black student newspaper. Rodney Bennett, vice president for
student affairs, did not return a call seeking comment.

Dodson, though, said the drawing isn't protected by a trademark, in
part because it's so bad.

"Quite frankly, I know they're my clients, but the drawing is
amateurish at best," he said. "It doesn't look anything like Hairy
Dog."

After the hearing, if the NORML chapter isn't disbanded, members will
go back to collecting signatures on a petition calling for state and
local officials to reduce the penalty for possessing a small amount of
marijuana, Kaczkowski said. More than 2,000 local residents have
already signed the petition, he said.