MARIJUANA FORUM SET FOR CU NEXT WEEKEND

Pro-Pot Student Group Examines Issues Prior To 4/20
Celebration

BOULDER, Colo. -- A pro-pot student group at the University of
Colorado has finalized preparations for a three-day symposium on all
things marijuana-related that will precede the annual April 20 "4/20"
campus smoke-out session.

Senior Alex Douglas, director of the CU Boulder chapter of the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, NORML@CU,
announced Thursday afternoon that the schedule for next weekend's
event is set.

"We're really excited to be bringing in speakers from all over the
country for this," Douglas said. "Anyone that goes will be informed,
enlightened, and empowered by this unbiased forum where every side of
the issue is presented."

The National Forum on Marijuana will open informally on April 17 with
the National Marijuana Teach-In, in which students and faculty will
have the opportunity to have an open forum on marijuana issues during
regularly scheduled classes. The rest of the weekend will include
guest speakers ranging from marijuana-movement icons like founding
editor of High Times magazine Steve Bloom to anti-drug activists like
Cmdr. Tom Sloan of the Boulder Country Drug Task Force.

"For us it makes it more of a whole-sided issue when people who
disagree with us come in to share their opinions," said senior Mike
West, the campus group's medical marijuana director. "We're actually
hoping to discover a common ground where we can eliminate any of the
harms that could come from (decriminalization) while gaining all of
the benefits."

The speaker selected to deliver the event's keynote address is
outspoken conservative political strategist Jessica Peck Corry, who
gained notoriety during last year's elections as the executive
director of the failed Republican-supported, anti-affirmative action
Colorado Civil Rights Initiative.

"We've proven in this country that Prohibition doesn't work," Corry
said in an interview. "I don't want kids to smoke, but keeping it
illegal is not the best way to make that happen. The best way to keep
kids from doing drugs is by having a good relationship with their
parents -- and I would politely request the government to stop trying
to play that role."

Nearly a dozen panel discussions held over the weekend will include
such topics as health, politics, science, history, reform and
enforcement.

Sloan, of the drug task force, will speak at an April 19 discussion
covering federal and state laws.

"I'm open to discussion -- I don't have a problem having a civil
conversation with anybody," he said. "(Enforcement officers) have
thoughts on these issues the same as everybody else does, but the
bottom line is that we've signed and stated an oath to defend state
laws."

According to NORML@CU members, the university has been supportive of
their efforts to put on the forum, but CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard
said that support comes with a caveat.

"These kinds of debates and discussions are perfectly appropriate for
a college campus, but we are unilaterally opposed to a smoke-out as
some kind of pretext for a symbolic demonstration about drug laws,"
Hilliard said.

He encouraged the student group to join the university in denouncing
the massive April 20 smoking session that takes place on Norlin Quad
each year.

IF YOU GO

What: National Forum on Marijuana

When: April 17-19

Where: University of Colorado campus, Boulder

Cost: Free

www.normlcu.com