BALLS, BARBIES, AND BONGS? CHILDREN'S BOOK ON POT

"One night, Jackie woke up past her bedtime. She smelled something funny in
the air, so she walked down the hall to her parents' bedroom.

"'What's that, MommyUKP' asked Jackie. 'Are you and Daddy smoking a
cigaretteUKP'

"'No, baby,' said her mother. 'This is a "joint." It's made of marijuana.'"

So begins It's Just a Plant: A Children's Story of Marijuana, written and
illustrated by Ricardo Cortes, CC '95, who read his book Tuesday night to
an audience of about 50 Columbia students. The book relates a simple story
of a mother's effort to explain marijuana to her young daughter. After
Jackie stumbles upon her parents using the drug recreationally, her mother
introduces her to a farmer, a doctor, and police officers who explain the
drug's history, positive and negative health effects, and criminalization.

"We knew this book was going to be controversial, that's part of why we
thought it would be interesting to invite Ricardo to campus," said Daniel
Blau, CC '06 and president of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, the
organization that sponsored the event. SSDP is a national student
organization, and Columbia's chapter has about 20 active members. According
to Blau, the group is not designed for drug users, but for all people who
seek to create a more rational and realistic drug policy.

Cortes highlighted the shortcomings of the current federal government's
drug policies and approach to education. "Mainstream culture thinks that by
hiding information from kids, it will make them magically decide not to use
drugs," said Cortes, adding that history has disproved this theory.

This book is an example of what Cortes calls reality-based education, which
centers on differentiating between drug use and drug abuse. He contrasted
his open, informational approach with Washington's advertisements for the
drug war and public school education through the DARE program, which he
characterized as "frightening and intimidating shock tactics, and a message
that won't get through to kids."

While Cortes is happy that the book has been getting attention in the
press, not all of the critics have been kind. He said that a lot of critics
have assumed that the book must focus on promoting marijuana use among
children, but that it is actually simply about helping parents initiate a
dialogue with their children about the drug.

"The parent needs to mediate between the drug and the child," said Cortes,
who said during the question-and-answer period that the book is designed
for parents and children to read together and may not be suitable for a
young reader to pick up on his or her own.

Cortes said that, though he has received positive feedback from the parents
and children who he knows have read the book, it has been difficult to
distribute. It was rejected by dozens of publishers before Cortes decided
to self-publish, and many bookstores, along with the Brooklyn Library, have
refused to stock it. The book can currently be purchased through a Web site
established by Cortes and at Barnes and Noble's online store.

Some members of the medical community share Cortes's views on the need for
a revitalized approach to drug education. One supporter is Dr. Carl Hart,
an associate professor of psychology and psychiatry at Columbia who
researches the pharmacological effects of marijuana on humans.

Dr. Hart, who has read the book, said that he was not disturbed. "For
children to gain knowledge is a good thing, as long as you educate them in
a responsible manner. You want people to have more information available to
them, not less," he said.

Hart said that drugs like marijuana have been overly politicized, which
undermines recognition of their positive effects. "One of the negative
consequences of the way drug education has been done since the '80s has
been to greatly exaggerate the negative effects of drugs," Hart said. "Now
we're in a society where people reject anything that drug experts and
physicians say about their potential benefits."

The audience as a whole received the book sympathetically, responding
positively to its message and style. "This book is a needle bursting the
bubble of the hypocrisy of denial," said Isaac Skelton, a 33-year-old SIPA
student and father of two. "It challenged me as a parent and a smoker to
explain my choices to my kids when they're ready."

"The more access people have to marijuana as a topic for discussion and a
viable choice for adults, the less likely it is to be abused," said Eli
Dvorkin, CC '08.