COUGS PROTEST POT PROHIBITION

April 20 Is Valued in Cannabis Culture, and the Protest Served As a
Way to Gather in Celebration.

About 30 students gathered on the sky bridge between the Lighty
Student Services Building and the Glenn Terrell Mall Wednesday. The
smell of incense filled the air as students gathered with signs
reading "Cannabis is safer than alcohol," "I love pot" and "End
marijuana prohibition." Members of the WSU chapter of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and Students
for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) met Wednesday to march from Lighty to
Reaney Park.

Claude Laude, junior philosophy major and president of WSU NORML,
said the club has grown from about five members to 100 in the last
year. Laude, who is also a chair for SSDP, said the group originally
started as a chapter of Sensible Washington, another group dedicated
to reforming cannabis laws.

He said April 20 is a day revered in cannabis culture, and the group
saw it as a good reason to celebrate.

"We just want to try to make sure that students around here know that
marijuana prohibition is a serious thing, and we can't take it as a
joke," he said.

Alex Fortune, chief financial officer of NORML, said the main point
of the protest was to socialize and gather members. The group wanted
to discuss marijuana issues and have the opportunity to meet with each other.

"It's just a nice thing to get people out, kind of supporting and
showing their support for it and not kind of hiding out," he said.

Sophomore philosophy major Andrew Jacobs said he thinks marijuana use
should not be discouraged.

"It's a matter of personal freedom rather than having all of these
other things that are encouraged in society," he said. "There's this
one thing that's for some reason so taboo." The group gathered in
Reaney Park to celebrate with hot dogs, Frisbee and socializing. On
Tuesday and Wednesday, the two groups gathered in the Compton Union
Building to make signs and gather signatures for a petition for
marijuana reform.

Junior psychology major Brian Eggers said he supports legalization of
marijuana. He participated in the march. "I feel it's great they're
taking a stand for what they believe in, and I'll support anyone who
takes a stand for what they believe in," he said.