1997_10 The Daily Collegian October 1997

              .
Speaking out
Floyd Judd's on-camp us rally against
racism sparks debate on other campus
issues, pages 4 and 5.
D
1   H   6 m i California State University, Fresno
aily Collegian
Volume 108, No. 34
http://vvww.csufresno.edu/Collegian
Weather
.Scattered Showers
high 70/lovv 52
October 10, 1997 I
Racist propoganda subject of forum
Fresno State senior Sean Lucas awaits his turn to speak next to an
distributed at the last Fresno State football game. Thursday's forum
Ryan Weber - The Daily Collegian
example of the cards that were
took place in the Pit.
By David Childers
The Daily Collefttan
Fueled h) the distribution ol Ku
Klux Klan prnpagandajon ami near
campus, physics Professor Floyd
Judd organized an "informational
session" Thursday in The Pit" in
discuss racial tension both on cam¬
pus and in society
Flanked by a large replica ol the
KKK business card that was placed
on his vehicle al last Thursday's
home football game. Judd and more
than ten student speakers took the
microphone' in front of a largo
crowd of interested observers to
offer different vantage points on the
existence and severity of racism
"It's an evil thing. I take it as a
personal threat'." said Judd. a Cau¬
casian male. "I was in the South in
the 50s and 60's and I have seen
what the Klan can do to people."
Judd's sentiments were shared
by the vast majority of the students
who took (urns speaking in the open
forum, but the crowd became vis¬
ibly agitated when a. Caucasian fe¬
male spoke iiidelenseohhc KKK \
first amendment right to free
speech
"fhcy,have just as much a right %
ti> spread their beliefs' as all ol y<>u
do." said Allison Cohagan. ajunior
majoring in nutritional science.
Although Cohagan was. not
speaking in support of the ideology
behind the KKK. that did not stop
members of the crowd from yell¬
ing "where's your hood '" or "next
time" why don't you wear your
hcx^"
After listening to sneaker after
speaker echo the same ideas.
Cohagan said that her friend — an
African-American male — urged
her to go up and speak
"I was worried about what might
happen tojne. that 1 might get my
a-- kicked." she said "But he told
me not Io worry about that He said   «*
that if they really believed in free
Please set- RACISM, page h
Study says legalization
fails to increase usage
By Colleen De Baise
College Press Service
BERKELEY —At coffee
shops in the Netherlands, there's
mure than lattc on the menu.
For the past 20 years, Dutch
laws have allowed the sale of
marijuana at coffee shops, which
often maintain inventories of up
to 5(X) grams.
'That's radically different than
the U.S. drug policy, winch con¬
tinues to forbid the sale or pos¬
session of marijuana.
A new study indicates that
widespread availability of*the
drug at places such as coffee shops
is linked to a steep rise in its use.
especially among young adults. At
the same time, the study suggests
that getting rid of criminal penal-
lies for smoking marijuana
doesn't prompt more people to
light up
The study, appearing in the
Oct 3 issue of Science, compares
the Netherlands, which relaxed
enforcement of marijuana laws in
1976. with the U.S. and other na¬
tions
"For years we've heard argu¬
ments for and against drug legal*
i/ation." said Robert MacCoun. a"
professor al the University id
California at Berkeley
"There are lots of claims about
the effects of the liberal Dutch
cannabis policy, but the two sides
disagree completely on what ac¬
tually happened there."
He and co-author Peter Reuter.
a University of Maryland profes¬
sor, found that Dutch rates of
marijuana use are even with the
United Slates, despite radically
different drug policies.
But that masks iwo important
trends in the Netherlands, the au¬
thors say. Marijuana use remained
well below U.S. levels for years
after marijuana laws eased up. but
rose sharply when the drug be¬
come broadly available at coffee
shops in the 'KOs
According to Dutch law. mari¬
juana or cannabis is illegal But
in 1976 the Dutch adopted a
policy of non-enforcement for
possession or sale o( up to M)
grams of cannabis, which is more
than most marijuana users con-
suifte in an entire month
The Dutch also allowed sales
at coffee shops, which can stock
as much as 5(X) grams During the
early years, the shops were scarce
and kept a low ■-profile — indicat¬
ing, the authors say. thai ihe ini¬
tial "depenalization era' had little
effect on levels of use '
Marijuana legalization debate
draws eag£r, interested crowd
By Tim Bragg
The Daily Collegian ^
Lively debate about the legaliza¬
tion of marijuana left the audience
hungry for more at Thursday's
"Heads vs. The Feds" debate.
Curtis" Sliwa. founder of the
Guardian Angels, debated against
legalization while Steve Hager. edi¬
tor in chief of High Times maga¬
zine, defended the rights of those
to smoke marijuana.
"The fact that there is more
marijuana being smoked today than
there was 20 years ago shows that
you can't stop mother nature," said
Hager.
Hager presented three major ar¬
guments for the legalization of
marijuana The first argument was
Us medical uses
Hager said that he didn't know
much about mari|uana when he first
started out at High Times, but on
of the first things he learned was
how marijuana can be used to help
treat the symptoms of glaucoma
and epilepsy He cited research by
both physicians and the U.S gov
eminent
He said marijuana can also help
ease the symptoms ol AIDS and
cancer treatments anil applauded
California's ballot proposition 21s
that legalized medical I > prescribed
Ryan Wtber — 77i«- Dailu Collegian
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Shwa defends his position
against legalization during Thursday night's debate
marijuana
"We don't have to spend $15
million a year to destroy people's
lives, but we are." said Hager
His second major reason to le¬
galise marijuana involved Hemp,
marijuanas non smokablc cousin
thai can he used to make paper and
rope Hager pointed out that hemp
was very important to the U S dur-
mg die period of the Revolutionary
He said the American econohiv
the time revolved around hemp
production
All products that wc cut down
irecs to get such as pamper can made
from hemp." said Hager
Spirituality was ihe final pla«.c
thai Hager said maniuana van en
hance He said some of the greatest
blues. |azz. reggae and rock albums
would never have happened unless
their creators such as Boh Markv
smoked oul
IVzv (iuilesppie used |o lake
Please see DEBAT1   pagi ■;