Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Monday, October 25, 2004
NEWS STAFF
(541)346-5511
IEN SUDICK
EDITOR IN CHIEF
STEVEN R. NEUMAN
MANAGING EDITOR
IARED PABEN
AYISHA YAHYA
NEWS EDITORS
PARKER HOWELL
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
MORIAH BAUNCIT
MEGHANN CUNIFF
KARA HANSEN
ANTHONY LUCERO
CANEIA WOOD
NEWS REPORTERS
CLAYTON (ONES
SPORTS EDITOR
ION ROETMAN
SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER
STEPHEN MILLER
BRIAN SMITH
SPORTS REPORTERS
RYAN NYBURC
PULSE EDITOR
NATASHA CHILINCERIAN
SENIOR PULSE REPORTER
DAHV1 FISCHER
AMY LICHTY
RYAN MURPHY
PULSE REPORTERS
DAVID JACERNAUTH
EDITORIAL EDITOR
JENNIFER MCBRIDE
AILEE SLATER
CHUCK SLOTHOWER
TRAVIS WILLSE
COLUMNISTS
ASHLEY GRIFFIN
SUPPLEMENT
FREELANCE EDITOR
GABEBRADLEY
NEWS FREELANCE EDITOR/
DIRECTOR OF RECRUITMENT
DANIELLE HICKEY
PHOTO EDITOR
i AUREN W1MER
SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
ITM BOBOSKY
PHOTOGRAPHER
NICOLE BARKER
PARI TIME PHOTOGRAPHER
ERIK BISHOFF
PAR! TIME PHOTOGRAPHER
BRET FURTWANCLER
GRAPHICS EDITOR
KIRA PARK
DESIGN EDITOR
ELLIOTT ASBURY
CHARLIE CALDWELL
DUSTIN REESE
DESIGNERS
SHADRA BEES LEY
JEANNIE EVERS
COPY CHIEFS
KIMBERLY BLACKFIELD
PAULTHOMPSON
SPORTS COPY EDITORS
AMANDA EVRARD
AMBER LINDROS
NEWS COPY EDITORS
LINDSAY BURT
PULSE COPY EDITOR
ADRIENNE NELSON
ONLINE EDITOR
SLADE LEESON
WEBMASTER
BUSINESS
(541)346-5511
JUDY R1EDL
GENERAL MANAGER
KATHY CARBONE
BUSINESS MANAGER
REBECCA CRITCHErT
RECEPTIONIST
NATHAN FOSTER
A1BING GUO
ANDREW LEAHY
JOHN LONG
MALLORY MAHONEY
HOLLY MISTELL
DISTRIBUTION
ADVERTISING
(541)346-3712
MELISSA GUST
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
TYLER MACK
SALES MANAGER
ALEX AMES
MATT BETZ
HERON CALISCH-DOLEN
MEGAN HAMLIN
ELISA JESSOP
MAEGAN KASER LEE
MIA LEIDELMEYER
EMILY PHILBIN
SHANNON ROGERS
SALES REPRESENTATIVES
KELLEE KAUFTHEIL
AD ASSISTANT
CLASSIFIED
(541) 3464343
TRINA SHANAMAN
CLASSIFIED MANAGER
KATY GAGNON
SABRINA GOWETTE
LESUE STRAIGHT
KERI SPANGLER
KATIE STRINGER
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING
ASSOCIATES
PRODUCTION
(541) 3464381
MICHELE ROSS
PRODUCTION MANAGER
TARA SLOAN
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
JEN CRAM LET
KRISTEN DICHARRY
CAMERON GAUT
ANDY HOLLAND
DESIGNERS
The Oregon Daily Emerald is pub
lished daily Monday through Fri
day during the school year by the
Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing
Co. Inc., at the University of Ore
gon, Eugene, Ore. The Emerald
operates independently of the
University with offices in Suite
300 of the Erb Memorial Union.
The Emerald is private property.
Unlawful removal or use of
papers is prosecutable by law
fOkt\/ang>le^
“ 'DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI LIST?' LADY, THAT'S JUST THE STUDENTS
THAT WAS ABLE TO FIND JOBS AFTER GRADUATING.”
Bret Furtwancler | Graphic designer
■ In my opinion
Columnists weigh in on
Measure33
TYavis Willse — NO
Marijuana should be legalized.
Alcohol is certainly a more damag
ing drug socially: It's a factor in
about 40 percent of violent crimes.
There's much less reason, by
contrast, to impose prior restraint on
marijuana users, but marijuana
prohibition costs the nation $7 bil
lion annually, and . more than
130,000 people are in prison for
felony marijuana offenses. Marijua
na legalization is good news for
taxpayers, law enforcement officials,
civil libertarians and, ostensibly,
medical patients. That said, Measure
33 is simply the wrong way to
reform Oregon’s drug policy: It re
quires residents to register with
the state to receive special benefits
(the government approves prescrip
tion drugs but generally does not in
terfere in the prescription process).
Worse, those rights would be
applied unequally. Moreover, the
ballot measure forces the govern
ment between the health care pro
fessional and the patient. This
proposition is unwarranted and
costly, as the act would incur annual
costs of up to $560,000. Vote no on
ballot Measure 33.
Ailee Slater — YES
In the coming weeks, there is one
overwhelming question being asked
of almost every Oregon citizen. Left
or right? No, it’s not a political
query. We’re trying to decide which
way the bowl goes. With the issue of
medical cannabis, and cannabis pol
icy in general, the main problem
seems to be that fear exists not of
the drug itself but of the drug’s im
age. For many, marijuana may con
jure images of college kids gathering
in dingy laundry rooms for one
more bong rip, rather than AIDS pa
tients desperately seeking the one
medicine that can calm their stom
achs, allow them to eat and possibly
save their lives. So, come this elec
tion, remember that voting yes on
Measure 33 simply lets already qual
ified patients receive more of the
medicine that they need. Don’t vote
with stereotypes, vote with your
right hand. Because everyone knows
that you pass with your left.
Chuck Slothower — NO
Only in the state that hosts the
Oregon Country Fair would the peo
ple propose a ballot measure that
would allow convicted drug dealers
to become a “dispensary” and dis
tribute marijuana legally. Marijuana
doesn’t pose a great enough danger
to public health to override the indi
vidual’s right to live the way he or
she chooses, so 1 support legaliza
tion. But Measure 33 isn’t the way to
do it. It should give voters pause
that the chief petitioner of the 1998
measure that started Oregon’s med
ical marijuana program opposes
Measure 33, believing it would inter
fere with the current patient-based
program. Measure 33 would also al
low individual users to possess up to
a pound of marijuana. A friggin’
pound! To those of you who haven’t
lived in Eugene long enough, a
pound is an enormous amount of
pot. Allowing users to possess that
much, I believe, would lead to a lot
of illicit dealing.
Jennifer McBride — YES
The Oregon voters have decided
that marijuana is a legitimate med
ical treatment. However, some
sufferers are unable to have access
to any cure because of their condi
tion. There is no reason mobile
people should have access to
one drug and immobile people an
other; that is discrimination on
the basis of illness and it is wrong.
By current law, the people who need
it most are excluded from treatment
when they should be helped.
The arguments against the measure
— that this is a step towards legal
ization — are fallacious at best.
Medical marijuana is already legal,
creating distribution won't increase
chances of legalization, it will
only increase access. There’s still a
long way to go between that and
decriminalization. Finally, 1 think
we have a moral imperative to
relieve suffering whenever possible.
The government should not stand
idly by when it could help its own
people.
OREGON DAILY EMERALD LETTERS POLICY
Letters to the editor and guest commentaries are encouraged, and should be sent to letters@daiVemerald.com or submitted at the Oregon Daily Emerald office EMU Suite 300
Electronic submissions are preferred. Letters are limited to 250 words, and guest commentaries to 550 words. Authors are limited to one submission per calendar month
Submissions should include phone number and address for verification The Emerald reserves the right to edit for space, grammar and style Guest submissions are published at the
discretion of the Emerald.
■ Editorial
Incidental
fees wrongly
fundASUO's
$3,200 retreat
Let us just lay the facts-out, for the good of
the student body.
The ASUO spent about $3,200 of incidental
fee funds on housing for an Oct. 8 fall finance
retreat in Sunriver. Participants received mul
tiple warnings from the ASUO Executive that
the event was to be substance free.
On Thursday, a panel of ASUO officials told
the Emerald that numerous ASUO members
violated Oregon Administrative Rules and the
Student Conduct Code when they drank alco
hol and smoked marijuana during the retreat,
prompting student government leaders to
write letters of apology and discuss potential
disciplinary actions.
The names of ASUO representatives, in
cluding the ASUO Executive, Student Senate,
Programs Finance Committee, EMU Board of
Directors, Athletic Department Finance Com
mittee and ASUO Controllers Office members,
who consumed alcohol and smoked marijua
na are currently undisclosed because of
ASUO’s locked-arm politics.
The individuals who broke the law must
take individual responsibility for their actions.
Group responsibility is not appropriate for
public officials, both elected by the student
body and appointed by student-elected offi
cials, who break the law and violate Univer
sity Student Conduct Code.
The ASUO’s apology to the student body,
published Friday in the Emerald, is a step in
the right direction, but it is ludicrous to imply
that the identities of those involved should re
main anonymous. What happens when one
of the retreat participants decides to run for
an ASUO Executive position? How will we
know he or she didn’t violate state law dur
ing this trip?
Every time elections roll around in the
spring, the ASUO complains about the low
voting rate — the much-voiced “voter apathy”
of the campus community. Seriously, does the
ASUO expect students to care when it blows
incidental fees on joyrides to the Oregon
countryside? Last time we checked, there is
plenty of space on campus for ASUO mem
bers to use. If ASUO members — i.e., public
officials — want to break the law, they should
pay their own way. It’s time for students and
the University to stop paying for the ASUO’s
gross incompetence.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jennifer Sudick
Editor in Chief
David Jagemauth
Editorial Editor
Steven R. Neuman
Managing Editor
Gabe Bradley
Freelance Editor
ONLINE POLL
NEXT WEEK S QUESTION
Do you support Oregon Measure 33, which would allow access
to medical marijuana through government-run dispensaries?
Visitwww.dailyemerakj.com to vote.
• Ye* - Medical marijuana patients need safer and more con
venient access to this medicine.
• Ye* — But why not take it one step further and legalize marijua
na for everyone?
• No - The current access patients have, through licensed civil
ian caregivers and personal supplies, is working fine.
• No - Marijuana is a dangerous drug and should be illegal for
both medical and recreational use.
• Undecided