MARY JANE'S ARMY RAISING AWARENESS

Gazette readers, for all of their virtues, are a fairly contained group.
Most students, some professors and a few alumni comprise the small list of
people who get the distinct pleasure of reading our little publication four
times a week. I say little, because, in the grand scheme of media and
influence, The Gazette is a small fish in a much larger pond.

With this in mind, I was more then a little surprised when I received
letters last week from across North America. From California and Colorado,
New Jersey and Illinois, the letters filled my inbox, asking to have their
300 words printed in our small paper. What topic inspired grown people to
send their letters across four time zones in the hopes of having them
printed? Surely, we must have done something outrageously wrong if people
from two countries were taking notice!

No, it was our third page story entitled "Free Mary Jane," about the recent
Canadian Senate report on decriminalizing marijuana that solicited all the
letters.

You see, unlike most public policy issues, there is an established portion
of the population that feel fairly strongly about the issue of
decriminalization or depenalization of marijuana. Unlike outdated
stereotypes about pro-marijuana forces -- protesters passing their bong and
beating drums at small rallies -- these citizens have decided to take the
high road of civic engagement.

Understanding that their cause had enough merit to warrant an examination
from the Canadian Senate Committee (if that's saying anything), some
pro-legalization forces have applied the methods used by other interest
groups who are trying to change government policy.

Following the path of these letters, the writers clearly found our article
on a number of drug Web sites that pull down drug news of any kind.
Interested parties can then read the drug stories to see how issues are
developing internationally. The sites offer tips on how to write successful
letters to the editor so that surfers of such sites can attempt to bring
their own message to others.

I received one letter from a Mr. Robert Sharpe, M.P.A. at the Drug Policy
Alliance in Washington D.C.. His letter, indicative of most of the others,
was intelligently written in the hopes of making readers see that marijuana
users were not lawless, inarticulate outcasts, but tax paying, law abiding
citizens who felt this was the second prohibition.

Whatever your position is on the marijuana issue, its time as a fringe issue
has come and gone. It's now coming to the national and international
forefront, in no small part because of people like Alan and Eleanor Randell
who wrote all the way from Victoria, B.C. to say that you can't overdose on
THC.

It's Friday at Western. Before the day is through, I'm sure more than a few
students will be in agreement with the Randell's sentiments.