PRO-MARIJUANA ARGUMENTS GO UP IN SMOKE

Once again the sidewalks have been chalked by a group of students trying to
make a point on campus. This time the sidewalks contained messages of how
marijuana should be legalized and how God has given us these plants to use
on our own free will.

I would like to take this time to ask the people responsible for chalking
the messages on the sidewalk a couple of questions. First off, what
possessed you to illegally place messages about the legalization of
marijuana on the sidewalks in the first place?

Now this is not an isolated incident. There have been other times when
students have placed messages on the sidewalk without the approval of the
University. When the DaVinci society chalked the sidewalks last semester to
promote National Coming Out Day at UMR, many students "retaliated" by
adding messages about how homosexuality was wrong and that certain plant
life on campus was straight. Both the retaliatory messages against DaVinci
and the marijuana messages were done without the approval of the University.

The other question I would like to ask is why not go out and do something
that could possibly make a difference in your fight for the legalization of
marijuana? I give to you the same advice I gave the peace protestors at the
puck and the DaVinci society. Why not get a petition started and get a lot
of signatures, then mail it to our state's senator? Or you could start
making phone calls to representatives in our government asking for the ban
on marijuana to be lifted. Or if you are into the more technical aspect of
your fight, you could email representatives, or start a web page asking for
support from other marijuana users. All of these ideas are better than
putting up ignorant messages of the glory of illegal drugs.

Something interesting struck my fancy as I was looking at these different
messages on campus. The one that particularly interested me was a quote
from the bible. I'm unsure of the exact quote used, but I believe it is of
the following quote taken from Genesis 1:29 of the NIV version of the
Bible. It reads, "Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on
the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.
They will be yours for food."

I must admit, that is a valid argument for the legalization of marijuana.
God put weed on the earth for something, so why shouldn't be legal? Well,
let me be the first to tell you why it shouldn't. The bible also has
passages in it stating that all shall follow any law made by man. Let me
refer to Romans 13:1. It reads, "Everyone must submit himself to the
governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has
established. The authorities that exist have been established by God."

As I was thinking about that, I remembered that IT'S ILLEGAL TO USE
MARIJUANA, THIS IS A LAW MADE BY MAN! It really doesn't get any clearer
than that. So please don't spit out bible verses and try to use them in
your defense when there are just as many bible verses which contradict it.

I hope that you all get to read this editorial. Maybe in the long run you
will find more productive means of getting your point across to the public.
Chalking the sidewalks may sound like a good idea at first, but remember,
most people see your message and then make fun of you for the manner in
which you presented it (I know I did). Also, did you not consider the fact
that if the University were to find out who you were, that would give them
grounds to search your rooms and probably find illegal drugs or drug
paraphernalia? Something to ponder on next time you're hitting a bong and
staring at the back of your hand, wondering about the amazement of your
opposable thumbs.