MARIJUANA GROUP: A CHARITY CHOICE?

Puff, puff, give. Or, raise, raise, give -- it's your choice.

Fraternities and sororities at Central Michigan University have been
summoned for help.

The Marijuana Policy Project Foundation is asking you to add them to
your charitable donation lists this year. Their press release urging
Greeks to help said that in 2003 more than 330,000 18 to 22 year olds
were arrested on drug charges and half of all drug charges are for
marijuana.

It did not say, however, how many of those people had Greek letters
strewn across their chests.

Still, we can guess that many of them attend college and that some of
those who attend college are members of fraternities and sororities --
that is just a numbers game.

(Now, before members of these aforementioned groups get angry -- and I
say that with historical significance -- notice I have not said that
only fraternity and sorority members get busted for marijuana use. So
relax.)

Before any students dismiss this as tomfoolery, I am assured by Bruce
Mirken, MPP director of communications, it is a serious
proposition.

He compares the laws against weed to prohibition. For those who
forget, that was when booze was illegal in the United States and, as a
side note, helped manufacture organized crime.

"Responsible adults should not have to risk jail or prison and all of
the horrors that go with those things because they decide to end the
day with a joint rather than a martini," Mirken said in an interview
from San Francisco.

(Side Note: Mirken would not comment about whether or not he smokes
now, but did say: "I did when I was in college. I went to college in
the mid-70s and I didn't know many people who didn't.")

As far as the federal government is concerned, MPP is just as
legitimate as the American Cancer Society and the Children's Miracle
Network -- they receive charity under the same tax code.

So don't be afraid to give: They are legit.

Before we go any further, I would like to say I am not particularly
condoning or condemning the ingestion of marijuana. I write this
simply to inform the Greek community at CMU of a possible destination
for their donations.

With that said, Mirken is positive marijuana will someday be governed
in the same fashion as whiskey and vodka: Through government controls
and taxes.

He said not only will it help combat violence on the street but it
will allow otherwise non-criminals to smoke a J if they felt the desire.

"I do think sooner or later marijuana prohibition will collapse under
the weight of its own stupidity. It doesn't work, just like it didn't
work for alcohol," he said.

This, my Greek friends, is how you can help your society and your
fellow students at CMU: Giver you charitable donations to MPP.

It will go to a legitimate organization and you may just get an extra
puff before you have to pass.

Besides, imagine the shopping lists you could make before parties if
this did come to fruition: Three bottles of vodka, three kegs, two
ounces of marijuana.