ACTIVIST WANTS DRUG REFORMS, NOT WAR

Like many people who are often changed by an event in their life that makes
them revise their perspective on things, Dean Becker was motivated by a life
experience to become an activist in the fight to end the United States' war
on drugs. In 1971, three of his friends were pulled over and jailed for
possessing a joint.

One of them spent 90 days in jail. The second joined the Army and died
fighting in Vietnam. The third was a 17-year-old who was later convicted. On
the day of his sentencing, he put a gun to his head and took his own life.

It was at that moment when Becker decided he needed to do something.

Becker, the president of Houston's chapter of National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, the community liaison for the Drug
Policy Forum of Texas and a KPFT-FM reporter, will come to UH today to speak
about his views.

His talk will last from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and will be held in the
University Center's Cougar Den.

"I want to regulate the distribution of drugs to adults like alcohol and
tobacco is regulated," Becker said. "It has been proven in many studies that
marijuana is less addictive than tobacco.

"However, I would rather see drugs legal, my children outside prison walls
and my countrymen free to grow, smoke, ingest and otherwise imbibe any
substance they desire so long as they control their behaviors, their actions
within our society, just as we do now with alcohol," Becker writes on the
NORML Web site.

Becker believes that the war on drugs has done nothing positive, but has
only wasted tax dollars and taken away lives. He believes that regulating
drugs will help keep drugs off the street because there won't be a reason
for drug dealers to be on the street to sell to children.

According to the NORML Web site, 400,000 people die from tobacco use,
200,000 die from alcohol-related illness and 100,000 die from legal drug
prescriptions that were filled improperly each year. In contrast to that,
the site reports, 15,000 die from "black market, impure and unknown drugs."

Each year, 1.6 million citizens are arrested for drug use and $50 billion is
spent on the war on drugs. The United States has more drugs now than ever
before, according to Becker.

Because of our drug war, 8,000 people died in Columbia, he said. Although
U.S. officials have said there has been success in Columbia, Becker said he
has seen no evidence.

Becker has used prescription marijuana for ailments, once after he was in a
motorcycle accident and another time for his alcoholism.

"It is because of marijuana that I have not had a drink in 18 years," Becker
said.

These are just some of the views Becker will talk about today.

"It's going to take people daring to stand up and make a difference. It's no
longer the terrible situation we use to have before," Becker said. "I
sponsor cannabis meetings, music events, written articles and I'm still
standing. It can be done."