Students prepare to battle Drug War
Robert Hanson
Issue date: 3/4/03 Section: Campus
03/04/03 - The University of Rhode Island's Students for Sensible Drug Policy discussed many current issues in regards to drug policy reform, at regional conference for their organization over the past weekend, including racism and draconian laws, .
Over 50 students from about a dozen schools attended the conference. The students came from Brown and as far away as Columbia and Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. The speakers included former police and military personnel as well as others whose lives had been directly affected by drugs.
The conference began with Shawn Heller, the regional director of SSDP. Heller remarked on the changes the drug reform movement has experienced in the recent past.
"The media has realized that the American public wants to see this cause from the righteous standpoint," Heller said. "People know [drug reformers] are not talking about giving drugs to young children, they're talking about lifting prohibition."
Cliff Thornton, a founder of the progressive group Efficacy, spoke at the conference on the connection between the Drug War and racism.
"This is the most important social problem we'll ever face in our lifetime. We already pay the price [for the Drug War] but it's going to be worse. This [Drug War] has retarded the black community," Thornton said.
He mentioned that while blacks are only 15 percent of drug users, they are 35 percent of those arrested for possession. He also cited U.S. Center for Disease Control statistics that white children ages 12-17 were twice as likely to binge drink, sell drugs and carry drugs to school.
President of Common Sense for Drug Policy Kevin Zeese spoke about what he said were heavy-handed government drug policies in the U.S.
"There continues to be an aggressive attack by the federal government in California against the seriously ill," Zeese said.
Zeese said that the government set up "kangaroo courts" for prosecuting people in California who had been given state permits to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes, but were charged by the federal government for illegally growing the plant and portrayed as drug traffickers in court.
Over 50 students from about a dozen schools attended the conference. The students came from Brown and as far away as Columbia and Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. The speakers included former police and military personnel as well as others whose lives had been directly affected by drugs.
The conference began with Shawn Heller, the regional director of SSDP. Heller remarked on the changes the drug reform movement has experienced in the recent past.
"The media has realized that the American public wants to see this cause from the righteous standpoint," Heller said. "People know [drug reformers] are not talking about giving drugs to young children, they're talking about lifting prohibition."
Cliff Thornton, a founder of the progressive group Efficacy, spoke at the conference on the connection between the Drug War and racism.
"This is the most important social problem we'll ever face in our lifetime. We already pay the price [for the Drug War] but it's going to be worse. This [Drug War] has retarded the black community," Thornton said.
He mentioned that while blacks are only 15 percent of drug users, they are 35 percent of those arrested for possession. He also cited U.S. Center for Disease Control statistics that white children ages 12-17 were twice as likely to binge drink, sell drugs and carry drugs to school.
President of Common Sense for Drug Policy Kevin Zeese spoke about what he said were heavy-handed government drug policies in the U.S.
"There continues to be an aggressive attack by the federal government in California against the seriously ill," Zeese said.
Zeese said that the government set up "kangaroo courts" for prosecuting people in California who had been given state permits to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes, but were charged by the federal government for illegally growing the plant and portrayed as drug traffickers in court.
