MARIJUANA RALLY

Students Build Six-Foot Replica Of Smoking Pipe

A politically-motivated, six-foot-tall bong pipe is not something
most Western students would normally find in the center of Red
Square, or anywhere for that matter.

Members of the WWU Libertarians club will protest by displaying the
bong pipe from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday in Red Square to show their
support for the fight to legalize marijuana.

Graduate student and club member Hannah Pendergrast said the club
members hope to inspire students to discuss the war on drugs and
aren't condoning marijuana use. The bong is to gain students'
attention, she said.

"It's a really contentious issue," she said. "This is not an
encouragement to actually do anything illegal. It would be a choice
on part of the individual smoker."

A similar event hosted by the UW Libertarians club at the University
of Washington in October 2005 prompted Western club members to
construct the pipe.

The club's advisor, Western lecturer Bruce Guthrie, said he and
Western freshman Zack Elan, the club's vice chair, constructed the
bong out of duct piping one night in Guthrie's garage. The metal
piping is commonly used in air conditioning ducts, Elan said.

Elan said the club members will distribute educational pamphlets
about the war on drugs and its negative effects.

Pendergrast said that because possessing marijuana is illegal, it
restricts an individual's freedom the same way Washington state's
smoking ban restricts cigarette smokers by keeping them from smoking
in restaurants and other establishments.

She said politicians should remove these restrictions because
citizens should be able to do whatever they want with their own
bodies, so long as they don't harm others.

"The not harming anyone else part is really important," Pendergrast
said. "A lot of people only hear the 'do what you want' part."

Western junior Aida Burgos said the government should not restrict
marijuana any more than caffeine, which can cause heart palpitations
in large quantities, but is unregulated.

"I believe people own their own bodies and the government shouldn't
step in like a father figure and tell (Americans) what they can and
cannot do," she said.

Burgos said April 20 makes the most sense as a day to conduct the
demonstration because it is a popular day to smoke marijuana among
users. She said she doesn't necessarily think everyone should use the
drug, but she doesn't think the government should stop citizens who
choose to smoke marijuana.

"We're not saying it's the best thing in the world," Burgos said.
"Marijuana can cause cancer, just like cigarettes, and can make you
lazy as hell. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to do it
just because someone says it's bad."