A new student organization has cropped up on campus. The organization is called NORML and is a campus chapter of the national NORML organization. The purpose is to raise awareness about marijuana and industrial hemp laws.
On the national level, NORML is a nonprofit organization providing a voice for Americans against marijuana prohibition. NORML lobbies Congress and state legislatures, serves as a marijuana-reform advocate in the media and maintains a committee of 350 criminal defense attorneys specializing in the defense of individuals charged with marijuana-related offenses.
On the local level, Ball State NORML President Maggie Kubley and Vice President Emily Hewitt plan on educating students about the truth of marijuana and hemp laws.
Junior English Studies major and NORML Vice President Emily Hewitt decided to start a Ball State chapter of NORML after learning about it through her boyfriend, Conrad Goldbov. Goldbov is the president of the Purdue chapter of NORML.
"I must say that after really doing some reading on my own, I was shocked and appalled at the things I didn't know. There was a study done during the Nixon administration called the Shafer Commission. Basically, the study disproves numerous misconceptions about marijuana." Hewitt said.
NORML President Maggie Kubley decided to become a part of the organization at the suggestion of Hewitt and wants people to rethink the common misconceptions they have about marijuana.
"It's not a gateway drug, it's not as scary and horrible as programs like D.A.R.E. told us it was, and the prohibition of it is ruining the lives of millions of innocent Americans," Kubley said.
The ruined lives Kubley is referring to are the more than 700,000 Americans arrested last year on marijuana charges, 90 percent of which were only for possession or paraphernalia -- not smoking, according to the NORML Web site. Also, the site states that nearly 80 million Americans admit having smoked marijuana.
Purdue NORML President Conrad Goldbov believes that the time a law needs to be repealed is when it is more harmful than the thing it's meant to keep away. Goldbov is aware that the legality of marijuana is a controversy that is decades old and will continue for decades to come, but says that the question is whether marijuana should be treated as a social problem or as a criminal problem. Goldbov supports what is called the decriminalization of marijuana -- a process whereby eventually people could use marijuana responsibly without the fear of losing their entire life for possession of marijuana.
Kubley points out that people go to jail for smoking marijuana, while minors who drink are merely given a minor consumption. She points out that alcohol intoxication can kill, and there is no evidence to support that smoking too much marijuana has fatal consequences.
"College students can drink as much as they want to, and if they are caught, just have to take an alcohol class, go to court, serve on probation, etc., but do not get their financial aid taken away. Yet if a student is caught with marijuana, all of their financial aid is terminated," Kubley said.
Goldbov explains that the point is not to make marijuana legal so anyone can just purchase the drug from a local venue.
"An ideal marijuana law would be one that separates marijuana from other drugs. It would be taxed as tobacco and cigarettes and safe from minors," Goldbov said.
The Purdue chapter of NORML has about 40 paying members and has been active for a few years. Kubley says the Ball State chapter is seeing fluctuations in attendance, but is thankful for the committed members who show up every time.
"NORML's biggest goal right now is just informing the public abut the benefits of marijuana and hemp and raising awareness about America's failed attempt at fighting the drug war," Kubley said.
According to Hewitt, one of these benefits is the multitude of products that can be made from hemp. Hemp is a different plant than marijuana, containing five leaves rather than seven, but is also illegal to grow. NORML supports the legalization and decriminalization of marijuana and industrial hemp. Hewitt says that the popular hemp necklaces worn by so many young Americans are imported from faraway countries. Hemp (containing less than 1% THC as compared to the 4-13% THC count necessary to be labeled high in THC) can be used for baked goods, salad oil, body care and cosmetics, animal food, industrial oils, specialty papers and an exceedingly long list of other products.
Hewitt also points out that there are no recorded cases of marijuana overdose, yet thousands of people die each year from alcohol poisoning. Hewitt believes in the theory that smoking marijuana doesn't harm anybody else except the user.
"This is not a matter of decriminalizing and/or legalizing marijuana, it's a matter of Civil Rights," Hewitt said.
Kubley also realizes that changing the marijuana laws is an issue that will take years and years to accomplish, especially because many Americans are not educated on the issue.
"It just doesn't make sense to me why the one drug that hasn't killed anyone is the illegal one," Kubley said.
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