The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 16, 1980, Page Page 6, Image 6
?Guest Column?
Marijuana
Who smokes at I JSC
By Tony Caradonna
Journalism Senior
The other day someone mentioned something to me I thought would
be interesting to pursue. He said, "Tony. 1 know you get high, you're a
journalism major; you guys are more hip than, say, business majors." I
took it as a compliment but thought that this belief needed more
research to assess its truth.
I decided to tyke a survey of journalism and business majors to find
out just who is getting high more often. One hundred students were
surveyed, half in each major. The survey revealed 62 percent of the
business students have tried pot compared to 78 percent of the journalism
students and that exactly 22 percent in each major said they
smoked pot at least once per week.
The widest discrepancy came on the question of whether marijuana
should be legalized. Eighty percent of the journalism students said yes,
while only 34 percent of those in business thought so.
There was space left for comments on the questionnaire, and here is
where the journalism students did what they do best ? write.
More than twice as manv journalism students cavo fpprihnrk on th#?
marijuana issue. One journalism student states, "If government wants
to hold down inflation and stop the mafia from distributing it and
making millions, it will have to be legalized."
The millions is quite an understatement. Last year Americans spent
$25 billion on their pleasure. One hundred thirty thousand pounds is
consumed per day, quadruple the 1974 consumption.
The business students were equally creative on their comments. One
said, "The only problem with marijuana on campus is finding it." One
of the regular smokers drew a beautiful marijuana leaf across the
questionnaire.
Marijuana is no longer something talked about behind closed doors
I 1 I f > ? * " '
\ciinu'u^ii me ujw nci^ iuiccu il iu dc oeaii wun mis way), lime
magazine ran a cover story on marijuana in January 1979. The article
stated that marijuana has been used since at least the 15th century B.C.
when the Chinese used it as an anesthetic.
Only since 1965 has scientific experimentation begun to weigh its
dangers and benefits on developing youngsters.
Psychological problems are also being studied. Little is actually
known, but 42 million Americans have tried pot and have "made
smoking it the most widely accepted illegal indulgence since drinking
during Prohibition "
There was a book on marijuana advertised on television this
cnrisimas season that parents can order by mail. It tells of marijuana's
dangers and pitfalls, even though there is little actual medical
knowledge available.
These ads seem reminiscent of the 1930 movies like "Reefer Madness"
which showed people going insane after toking a few puffs. The
book, available for $9.95, is designed for parents to give their children
and is entitled, "With Love From Dad "
USC's chapter of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws) president Jim Robbins feels that legalization may be
within the 1980s. Many states have moved to decriminalization, and
some have made it legal for medicinal purposes.
"The danger," says Robbins, "is not with the substance, but with the
individual using it."
A _ f 1- - ... - ~
/\s iar as wno is using it, my survey shows no particular group outsmoking
the other, but there are indeed people indulging in the effects of
this precarious weed.
CjamecQck Opinion
Founded 1 908
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Congress quesl
Afghanistan a
WASHINGTON ? Congress comes back to work
next week in a grim demanding mood. The legislators
want some tough answers from Jimmy Carter on
Iran and Afghanistan.
Since the seizure of the hostages in Tehran anrl rhr?
Soviet takeover in Kabul, Congress and Carter's
potential White House successors, Republican and
Democrat alike, have observed a reluctant cease-fire
while Khomeini and the Kremlin have treated him as
a pygmy president.
They've been patient as he's pursued a course of
caution through the United Nations and economic
pressures that were scoffed at by the captors of the
hostages in the embassy and the Soviet leaders who
overran Afghanistan with raw armed aggression.
THE POLITICAL sands are running out on Carter
at home in a presidential election year. When
Congress reconvenes on Jan. 22, questions will be
asked on the Senate and House floors about the
caliber of his leadership and his advisers.
Members of both thp Sprints anH Hnnco
_ WW %? W JL AVUOV
Committee are preparing for early top-secret
hearings. CIA and administration officials will have
to explain the Iranian fiasco starting from the
precipitous White House decision to allow the shah to
enter this country for medical treatment.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is also
anxious to investigate the handling of the crisis. Our
sources say the prestigious committee wants to know
why intelligence agencies failed to predict the shah's
entry would touch off the violent response by
A t-ll-L in *
rtyaiuuau ivnomeini s nencnmen, why no adequate
response to the outrageous embassy seizure was
forthcoming and why no one in Washington knew who
was really calling the shots in the frenzied Iranian
hierarchy.
CONGRESS WILL also want to know why the
Carter administration ignored advance warnings by
Pakistan that the Russians were about to embrace
neighboring Afghanistan in a bearlike grip.
We've learned that only a few weeks before the
airborne Soviet invasion of the mountainous gateway
to Pakistan and Iran, a delegation of Pakistani
diplomats met with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance
and his aides to sound the alarm.
They predicted that Red Army units were prepared
to move in on the puppet regime. But our Foggy
Bottom policy makers ignored the clear alert, and
Carter had to confess that he was caught by surprise
by the Soviet move.
The president says he has now learned to distrust
the Russians ? almost as mi^-h as his State
t/t jicji line-in cApcris uisuenevea me Pakistanis.
Ambitious mis
The Soviet thrust into the Persian Gulf may next
claw off a bit of Iran according to our intelligence
sources. They say Soviet troops now occupying
Afghanistan may provide help to anti Khomeini
wiwn.iran. /front of the American
/ Emfcessy. Step #2. We <3S&
I Khomeini if anybody 5 home
^ \ it should worK > it's J
?1
^^ ^ </ *
1U11& dl ICI Uil
nd Iran crises
rebels in the southeastern Iranian province of
Baluchistan.
REI) ARMY troops can easily funnel arms and
supplies to the Baluchi insurgents across the border
to help undermine Khomeini's support.
We've also been told to look for the Soviets to offer
the Rallichis Slinnort in octnMichinc* on atitr?nf\?rw?nc
--r, ~u.nMi.uw.ln, W.I UUIUIIUII1UUO
state in return for the Russian fleet being given access
to the port of Shabahar. That would give the Red
Navy a commanding strategic port on the Indian
Ocean.
W atoh on waste
me government took a hefty bite out of every wage
earner's paycheck beginning this month for higher
Social Security deductions. The Social Security
Administration is crying poverty as the excuse.
But we've learned that the administration paid out
nearly $20 million two years ago to the states for
administrative costs.
FOUR STATES, California, Colorado, New York
and Texas. overeharepH fWWoi ffAirnrnmont K\;
- D .VUVtWl (jU ? V>
nearly $750,000. That's a 3.75 percent ripoff.
The Social Security tax rate for the average
American this year amounts to 6.13 percent of his
earnings. Next year it goes to 6.65 percent.
? OLD AIH FORCE generals don't always fade
away. aumeumes uiey re Kept alive on movie film at
taxpayer expense.
In recent years, film technicians at Norton Air
Force Base in California have gone Hollywood in
shooting "This-Is-Your-Life" type movies for retiring
brass hats. Here are two examples of the military
extravagances:
Upon his retirement in 1977, Gen. Paul Carlton was
presented with a 13-minute reel hailing his accomplishments
as commander of the Military Airlift
f!nmm anH If nrwi f A AAA ? ' ^
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multibillion budget.
STRATEGIC AIR COMMANDER, Gen. Russell
Dougherty, was the star of a 27-minute film when he
left the service. The tab was $22,220 and would have
cost more except the narrator, Tennessee Ernie
Ford, donated his services.
A recent Air Force investigation has finally written
an end to the spendthrift scenario.
? Here's another bit of government waste to make
you weep. The National Science Foundation has
adled out $63, MX) to Dartmouth College researchers
to study what makes you laugh or cry.
()^ Pn)Jec^ is known in scientific jargon
aS.#- ^?'e ^ac'a' Expression of Emotion in the
Activation and Conditioning of Emotional Behavior."
' ootnote: It you have examples of government
extravagance, write to Jack Anderson's Watch on
Waste, P.O Box 2300, Washington, D.C. 20013.
Citpynghi. I 9HO.
United Feature Syndicate, Inc