NORML STUDENTS FIGHT FOR UNUSUAL CAUSE

"My mom has an inkling of it - I have not told my father yet," freshman
Nathan McClune says of the cause that consumes a great deal of his time.
Born and raised in Kansas City, Kan., McClune, a philosophy major in the
College of Arts and Science, is keenly attuned to conservative ideology and
his parents' sensitivities. Nonetheless, his name appears boldly as
"founder and president" on the Web site introducing NYU's newly-formed
chapter of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

NORML has been the nation's leading voice against marijuana prohibition
since 1970. Most recently the organization has been in the news for using
the New York Mayor, Mike Bloomberg, as a grinning "poster boy" in one of
their advertisements advocating the legalization of marijuana, based on a
comment Bloomberg made to an interviewer saying that he had smoked pot and
enjoyed it.

"I've been an advocate since my freshman year [of high school]," McClune
said of his involvement with NORML. "Somewhere around that time, I wanted
to take a political stance. But out of respect for my parents, and living
in Kansas, which is an extremely conservative state, I just waited until I
left. So, I was waiting to get here to do it."

At a typical NORML meeting, McClune arranges the chairs in a circle and
sits comfortably among the group of 11 attending. Someone in the group
comments that over half of the regulars are absent for this particular meeting.

Current projects include an ad campaign, an art exhibit, an NYU NORML
newsletter and Web site, which McClune wants to use as a venue for artists
and writers of the group to express themselves.

The group discusses putting together a three-page newsletter. Of the 11
attending, almost everyone has committed to contributing. Faces smile at
ideas for slogans: "Nugs not drugs" and "Different smokes for different
folks." Someone suggests an icon for the letterhead: an NYU-like torch with
a pot leaf. There is also talk of a new group called ParaNORML, which would
not be directly related to marijuana, but would meet for introspective
thinking and yoga classes.

Conversation is engaging, and students are open to debate. One person
brings up the issue of the use of marijuana as a psychotropic drug, making
himself vulnerable by discussing how marijuana has been helpful with his
bipolar disorder.

Another student responds by asking, "But, isn't marijuana a depressant?"

"I guess it depends on the person smoking," McClune says, head tilted
forward and occasionally pulling his fingertips, palms facing out, from
roots to ends of his wavy blondish hair.

The group does not advocate that everyone should smoke, only that everyone
should have the right to choose for themselves.

"People might just be coming [to the meetings] because they, I think, can
identify with [NORML]," McClune says. "They'd like to be able to smoke for
recreational reasons and not feel like a criminal. I mean, because that's
basically what the system instills in all the smokers. As soon as you light
up, you automatically feel like a criminal. The government makes you out to
feel like you're doing something wrong. They assimilate you with hard
drug-users - addicts, cokeheads, heroin users."

McClune fears that the government's labeling of marijuana in the same class
as harder substances creates a dangerous situation for many young people.

"There's quite a difference between smoking a bowl and pulling a line,"
McClune said. "And if people go in thinking, 'Well, the government lied to
me about pot, they probably lied to me about cocaine and I can use that the
same way that I do pot,' it creates a horrible situation."

McClune proposed the concept of NORML to NYU's Office of Student Activities
this fall. While the idea was approved, the group will not receive funding
until next fall. Expenses are currently paid out of McClune's "own pocket,"
most of which go toward the flyers made to inform students of the group's
weekly meetings. The flyers have been necessary because as a new group,
NORML's meeting rooms often change from week to week. Unfortunately,
advertising through flyers has been a difficult task. McClune hopes the Web
site and newsletter will help.

"For every advertisement that we put up on campus, we have to ask
permission from the guards of the building," McClune said. "We show them
the advertisement and they say no."

"In a way, we are being denied our right to advertise," McClune said. "But
there's no need to fight it. I just turn away."

"A lot of people think at NYU that they can make a difference," McClune
says. "I think that's one of the things that really ties the people at the
meetings together - that they care about it. They feel like in New York
City and the Village that we have a chance to do something here that a lot
of people don't at other universities."

"I want to wait until we have a little more establishment and our
activities are going through before I tell them something," McClune says,
referring to his parents. "So if they say anything like 'What the hell are
you doing?' I can say, 'I'm doing this.'" And he will say it with pride.