NOT OLD ENOUGH TO VOTE, BUT READY FOR POLITICS AND POLICY

Student Forum at the State Capitol Gives Teens a Chance to Tap into Their
Inner Wonk

On the fifth floor of the East Wing of the General Assembly Building,
some earnest speechwriters are hard at work.

Sitting around a small square table, the nattily dressed writers bend
their heads over papers or lean back in thought. Beneath the table,
their feet form a ring of shiny dress loafers and black high-heeled
pumps.

And then there is a pair of suede Birkenstocks covering bright,
candy-apple-red socks. That would be Lee Speight.

"I'm excited," he says, his eyes intense.

Speight and the others are drafting a policy speech to advocate
reduced penalties for some drug offenses. They plan to push for drug
courts, rehabilitation and prevention programs. Drug addiction is a
medical disease, they say, and drug trafficking is the crime.

Researchers hustle in and out, responding to requests from others
working on the speech. Speight is fired up. He'll be on the floor of
the House of Delegates giving his speech within the hour.

He is 17. A senior at the Center for Leadership, Government and Global
Economics at Douglas S. Freeman High School in Henrico County, he was
one of 130 students participating in the Youth Policy Forum on the
grounds of the state Capitol last week.

The forum, organized by the Maggie L. Walker Governor's School and
conceived by Walker students after they attended a similar national
event, brings together students from around the state to discuss the
political process.

During breakout sessions, students learned about everything from
lobbying to campaigning. They listened to everyone from a newspaper
reporter to a congressman.

"I love YPF," said Deanna Markowitz, a Walker student and one of
Speight's group members. "I did a little YPF dance last night." Now a
senior, she has attended the forum every year since she was a
freshman; she is serving as a student facilitator this year.

Markowitz and Speight's group is one of several small groups of
students to write speeches on topics they chose themselves, which they
presented to all the student participants and a panel of state
legislators.

Though it's his first time at the one-day forum, Speight, like
Markowitz, has been hyped up since before the group convened at 9:30
a.m.

"I was the only one who came with stuff prepared," he said. "I had
notes highlighted."

The topic on which he prepared to speak, saving the Mattaponi River,
is not what the group settled on, but he is equally passionate about
reforming drug laws.

Law enforcement isn't taken seriously because authorities are seen as
constantly "busting up everyone's fun," he said. And drug use isn't
taken seriously because potential users don't view addiction as a disease.

While working on the speech, the students toss numbers and
philosophies at each other and send someone down the hall to find a
definition for addiction.

Speight, in tan pants, a red tie and a navy blazer with brass buttons,
starts dictating to another student. He is standing now and rocking
from one foot to another, occasionally twirling around and waving his
highlighter in the air when a particularly good point comes to mind.

His longish hair brushing his chin, he talks at a rapid-fire pace.
Though other students break off into conversations about homework, the
presidential election and whether their little brothers are part of
the in-crowd, when Speight strays from the topic at hand, it isn't for
long.

"Laura, I really like your shirt, the rainbow one. I've been meaning to
tell you that," he says to another student. Then: "OK, where are we . . . "

Once the speech is ready, everyone moves over to the Capitol. As
students settle into seats usually occupied by state delegates,
Speight says he is nervous but knows the speech is
well-researched.

"I'm nervous about what people are going to think of me as a person
for bringing up this issue," he says. "But I'm confident in what we
have to say."

He is the last to give his speech - after other students make
presentations on high-stakes testing, school vouchers and restoring
the Chesapeake Bay.

Speight's peers listen on, as do Dels. Viola O. Baskerville,
D-Richmond; James H. Dillard II, R-Fairfax; and Vivian E. Watts, D-Fairfax.

Talking to policy-makers about policy is the real test.

"Who's winning the war on drugs?" Speight begins.

Then he offers up a speech full of statistics.

When he is finished, he heads down the blue carpeted steps and takes
his seat to wait for the reaction.

None of the delegates is ready to decriminalize marijuana or other
drugs, though Dillard acknowledges the theory.

"There's some very cogent arguments that that's the way we ought to
go," he says. "In Virginia, for instance, we cannot even decriminalize
marijuana for medical use, which could be highly beneficial to a
number of people."

Speight's speech is warmly received by all, who say they endorse the
idea of drug courts and liked his data-driven approach.

"I love a good set of numbers," Watts says.

When it is the students' turn to grill the legislators, they want to
know why the lawmakers cannot legalize pot. Is it only because they
are afraid they wouldn't be re-elected?

Watts says she represents a swing district but isn't afraid to stick
her neck out for unpopular issues she feels strongly about.

"I'm perfectly willing not to be re-elected, but it has to be for
wisdom, not for foolishness," she says. "If I'm going to run off that
plank, it has to be for something that I know has a chance of passage."

Lesson One for the leaders of tomorrow.