GATEWOOD GALBRAITH VISITS EASTERN

Chautauqua Speaker Brings Different Viewpoint On Marijuana To
Campus

Gatewood Galbraith is a free man. As a matter of fact, he is the last
free man in America.

He said so.

He also said that Kentucky is a police state. He said marijuana has
saved more lives than any other medicine in the world. And he said
that our nation is in more peril than at any time in its history.

Galbraith, if it weren't already obvious, likes to say a lot of
things. In fact, he's made his name, and likely his career, from it.

And on Thursday, the 62-year-old lawyer-turned-politician - the one
who ran for governor of Kentucky four times, for commissioner of
agriculture, for attorney general, and for the U.S. House of
Representatives - took a break from his campaigning and rabble-rousing
to speak to a crowd of about 50 who sat in on Eastern's Chautauqua
lecture series.

After a brief introduction, the tall, thin Kentucky native addressed
his audience.

"I feel like a mosquito at a nudist colony," Galbraith said, "I don't
know where to begin." The audience laughed.

Galbraith began by talking about where he's from, where he's been and
how he became the man he is today.

"I was born in Carlisle, Kentucky, and was officially voted the
orneriest kid to come out of Nicholas County at a local fair,"
Galbraith said.

He said he began going to college bars at the age of fifteen. He soon
found himself enrolled at the University of Kentucky, where he said he
didn't earn a single credit in six semesters. He then decided to try
the military route, joining the Marines in 1966. But he soon was
medically discharged due to his chronic bad asthma.

But one day, he said, he discovered a cure.

"I smoked marijuana for the first time when I was 21. It cured my
asthma like that," Galbraith said, snapping his fingers.

After participating in a student demonstration at UK, Galbraith said
he decided that he would go to college to become an attorney so he
could learn the system. He graduated from law school and began
practicing law in 1981.

Galbraith then discussed how America has changed from an agrarian
society to an industrial synthetic society.

"From the moment this country started, 'till the 1900s, we were an
agrarian society. We grew what we needed and we learned that cannabis
is the number one plant for all uses," Galbraith said.

He then discussed how the forming of chemical industries led to the
criminalization of marijuana. He said that in 1937, Dupont issued an
investors report that said, "in order for us to see a profit we must
utilize the revenue-raising arm of the government".

"Government and business got in bed together and criminalized farmers
competing with them," Galbraith said.

So, according to Galbraith, what makes this illegal plant so
important? Galbraith said cannabis can be used for a variety of
purposes, from bio-fuel to medicine.

"Hemp is petroleum.that's what it is. Hemp is the most effective
photosynthesized biomass on the planet," Galbraith said.

Does that mean we could use it as an energy source?

Galbraith says yes.

"If we planted just 7 percent of the world's hemp, we wouldn't have to
import another drop of oil," Galbraith said.

So why is marijuana illegal?

"THC shrinks cancer cells. It kills cancer. Pharmaceutical companies
don't want you to grow cancer cures in your flower box," Galbraith
said.

And, according to Galbraith, marijuana is not bad for you at
all.

"Smoking marijuana increases your lung capacity by 17 percent. You
would think it'd be the other way around but it's not. Now tobacco
won't do that, but marijuana will," Galbraith said.

But marijuana is a drug, and can't drugs kill you?

"Marijuana won't kill you, I've tried. You got some shit you think'll
kill me, let me try it," Galbraith said. The audience laughed.

If marijuana was legalized, Kentucky would stand to make quite a bit
of money, Galbraith said. He said that for 100 years marijuana was
Kentucky's number one cash crop.

"This is stuff that my Granddaddy used to grow by the thousands of
acres, and now we have helicopters up there trying to spot these crops
so they can burn them down. That ladies and gentlemen is a police
state," Galbraith said.

But Galbraith said he sees a glimmer of hope in President Obama, who
he predicts will help decriminalize marijuana use.

"California will be the first state to legalize marijuana," Galbraith
said. "My question to you is, 'will Kentucky be the second state or
the 50th?'"

Galbraith ended by saying that we need to learn our rights or they
mean nothing to us.

"The constitution is only a piece of paper with words written on it.
It doesn't have a life until you stand up and give it a voice," said
Galbraith, who then opened the floor to some questions.

One student asked how Galbraith felt about the coal companies in
Kentucky in relation to poverty.

"Coal companies have a history of oppression and bringing people down
but it's one of the few things that provides jobs in Eastern
Kentucky,"Galbraith said. "It's like everything else, there are middle
grounds. I don't want to push them out of business, I just want to
raise hemp in competition with them." After the lecture was over,
several students shared their opinions on Galbraith and what he had to
say.

"That guy is nuts," said Daniel Hurst, a psychology
major.

Senior Rebecca Gilbert said she thought he was mildly biased. Some
students did support him however.

"Best lecture I've been to," said Emily Gilbreath, a wildlife
management major. "I liked his insight, he told me things I didn't
know."