University of South Carolina Libraries
Pot, The dormant issue of drugs on South Caro lina's college campuses exploded this week, propelled by a series of articles in The Charleston News and Courier. In light of the storm of protest and reac tion that greeted their publication, we must examine both the articles and the facts or non-facts that supported them. Reporter Billy E. Bowles begins his first report in the USC Gamecock Room with a group of students who "had been describing the effects smoking marijuana had on them." "Had anyone tried anything 'harder' than marijuana?" "'Yeah, alcohol,' one youth replied. "A dozen USC students interviewed in the lobby of their fraternity house disagree with him to the extent [sic] that smoked mari juana or expressed a desire to do so. But two of them estimated that one out of every 10 USC students had tried marijuana, pot, as it more often is called. "If that estimate were accurate it would mean that at this campus a golf drive away from the State Capitol, 1,000 persons have smoked marijuana. "Yet the estimates by the pot smokers themselves run even higher. "'Probably 25 per cent of this student body of 13,000 have tried marijuana,' said -A )ON CAUGHMAN Associate Editor HIEYWARD) ADDIY Asst. Sp)orts Editor JIMMY WANNAMAKER Sports Editor Pep Pills USC Students Say 1 Of 10 Have List, 0I1 Pro t P111 Is e6P#VOJ As l . if SLED Probe )r Sg s S;w enrs To Be Asked By Clemson - JOnes plns Probe Of Drug Abuse L8? tcy Asis a young undergraduate who has smoked pot hi1mself and been disajppointed over tihe ef fect it produce(d 'l y 90 per cent would tIy it. Probably a fraction of one per cent actually use it.'" This is an examplIe of the "information'" that ig-ritt,l a stori -a survey reither -41intif Ic. cornplelt, norI dIncInenAted; s tudvent ou 0 v.1's wh s .'et 1tiZItts ca o nly be a guess. 9t rt t C'AROl) MI'L.LINAX Edlitor-in-Chief .1 MIKE KROCIIMALN F'aculty Editor CARL STEPPI)I Ncws Editor And Pro Tried Pot -N Camp SU.S. C',pReo Overg BverrunR d Staff photo by Elliott Borenstein The estimates of a small, select sample of stutents iave been turned into near-fact: I SC students Say one of 10 have tried pot. The figures cannot be disproved. Nor can they he proved. H1owever, regardless of their accuracy or ilaccuracy, we could not condone the poor journalistic practice that portrays unsub stantiated opinions 1a a ). picture of life at Page Ten -THE GAMECOCK - The Gamc Hate it, love it, damn it, bless it in . outw Ask the editors, the staff writ- As rs, the business staff, the car [onists, and the typists how Th ktey feel about the Gamecock. it' wort Ask them why they spend the me they do to put out a news- S aper. Ask them if it is worth raph Y SALLY ZALAKIN MARY ,JANE HENS'I Asst. Managing Edit per Persp Carolina-or elsewhere. Poor journalism or not, the reports in itiated action and controversy. Clemson University President Robert Ed wards said after two stories on Clemson and drugs that he knew nothing about Clemson's marijuana and pill problems except what he had "read in the papers." "We've had no problem. I just hope we don't. I'm going to get the help we need to run it down. We are ging to get SLED to help us," Edwards said. Although efforts to eliminate the drug problem are commendable, we believe the call for a concentrated police probe at this time is reaction rather than positive action. We further believe it will serve mainly to drive offenders underground, alienate students and appease the furor raised by sensationalism. According to State Law Enforcement Di vi;ion Chief J. P. Strom, his agency main tains constant contact with college police and even students on such matters. "The situation could not he out of hand at any state-supported college, or any other college," Strom said. We are proud that the University of South Carolina did not pursie a course of hasty reaction but instead elected to treat the issue Editorials Commentary February 9, 1968 Fcock the long run, if the bad eighs the good. k them. ey will say, we hate it, love amn it, bless it. Yes, it's hi it. if f photos by Chief Photog r Chip Galloway. m CIP GAL Chief Phot' 'ON ective in its proper perspective. "It has been our policy to have a quiet but strong continuing investigation rather than announcing a full-scale probe, which would be equivalent to shouting 'raid,'" USC President Thomas F. Jones said. "Let me emphasize that we care. We are concerned. "We follow up, to the best of our ability, all rumors and reports of improper or illicit activity. Violators of regulations are disci plined. Wherevcr criminal behavior is indi cated law enforcement authorities are brought in." "I want to emphasize that ninety-nine per cent of our University students who live O(1 and exemplary lives must not be libeled or slandered by big-time headlines relating to the small minority who 'play out of bounls.'" Contrary to another News and Courier article, I)r. Jones did not "sharply deny any widespread use of marijuana or pep pills." We find his statements to be in line. There is simply an effort to plae drullh usage in its true relationship to University life. A drugs problem does exist on this cam pus --and not because of sensational journal ism. It must be, and has been, dealt with responsibly. V MARY McILA wiiA ffiminin