Page 4- The Behrend College Collegian Thursday, October 2,1997
The Behrend College Collegian
published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
News Editor
Ina Ashen
Features Editor
John Amorose
Business Manager
Dana Greenhouse
Photography Editor Layout Editor
Jessica Trecaakowski Nathan Mitchell
Copy Editor Associate Editor
Mike DeSantis Brian Athbaugh
Assistant Sports Editor Assistant Advertising Manager
Dylan Steuart Shawn Gross
Office Manager Advisors
Gina Gasky Man Parker
Robert Speel
Postal Information: The Collegian Letter Policy: The Collegian encour
is published weekly by the students ages letters to the editor on news coy
of Penn State Erie, The Behrend Col- erage, editorial content and Univer
lege; First Floor, The J. Elmer Reed sity affairs. Letters should be no
Union Building, Station Road, Erie, longer than 400 words. Letters
PA 16563. The Collegian can be should include the address, phone
reached by calling (814) 898-6488 or number, semester standing and ma
(814) 898-6019 (FAX). ISSN 1071- jor of the writer.
9288
Editorial
The Penn State Behrend Another thing that could have
Speaker Series is off to a great been handled more effectively
start. Tuesday night's speech by was the audience participation
George Stephanopoulos, Politics: portion of the speech. It could
The Art of the Impossible, is an have been reiterated after the
excellent example of how speech and possibly on the radio
beneficial the program is, not broadcast, that those who have
only to students, but to the entire questions of the speaker must
Erie community. The Reed approach the microphones to
Commons was filled with address the speaker. However,
intrigued students, professors and under the circumstances,
the general public interested in Stephanopoulos was very
what George Stephanopoulos had accommodating to those too shy
to say about working with the to come forward.
Clinton administration. Overall this was a delightful
There were however. a couple not only to Mr. Stephanopoulos
of problems with the organization but to the Offices of Student
of the presentation. The foliage Activities and Student Affairs.
which was apparently meant to The fact that the Behrend
add to the decor and to Speaker Series is free and open to
camouflage the audio eqUipment the public gives the students of
ended up being a distraction to Behrend and the Erie community
the audience and surely to the a chance to see and hear
speaker. prominent figures jg pur society
and get a more personal look at
today's issues.
IR) IgEsE ' •
o** ..V! -
TELEPRoNE. \ ..I'N't FINE,
, SoLiGITORS
M. MM E
I.
A [AP ',LI_ 41 411) ycxl
,WA r tiall. IE N R, L
-
Y.u'RE. TAKING --''
A SOWER?.
i • 11
"
--." Pw , a3,,
--f
(i f
)..,
. r
tj a .
r
•
___
-
eVithWF
Behrend Life...
,
HAMMERmILL 4 ,
14 EX Fp(
N,C3,g)42r7 II
is. 1 19027%%?, a 1
0
0
lilt
ser
aft "rn
ar\
_
v , o
2,
/
M a, , .
do
mi
Mr lik
N:D :'/771
//q//„/
Little does everyone know; Police and Safety actually did find a bomb
last Monday...they just didn't know it.
Editor in Chief
Andrea M.Zaffino
Managing Editor
Anne M.Rajotte
News Editor
John Grolkr
Sports Editor
Matt Plizga
Advertising Manager
Mike
Advertising
occasion which can be credited
1 1
kt 9 , ./ ea,
•
f.
Marijuana
a hard drug
By Joseph A. CaLifani*c) 1997.
The Washington Post
This fall citizens of some states
will consider proposals to make
marijuana available for a variety of
ailments. Before following the Pied
Pipers of medical marijuana, voters
should take into account recent
research that reveals some sharp
edges of smoking pot that
undermine its popular status as a
"soft" drug and underscore the need
for a major biomedical research
program.
This year the National Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse at
Columbia University (CASA) for
the first time established the
statistical relationship between use
of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana -
in and of themselves - and use of
harder drugs such as cocaine, heroin
and acid. (Virtually all teens who
smoke marijuana also smoke
nicotine cigarettes and drink
alcohol.)
Examining data from the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control ad
Prevention's 1995 Youth Risk
Behavior Survey of 11,000 ninth
through 12th-graders, CASA
isolated teen use of these gateway
drugs from other problem
behaviors, such as fighting, drunk
driving, truancy, promiscuous
sexual activity, carrying a weapon
and attempting suicide. The
correlations are compelling:
Among teens who report no other
problem behaviors, those who
drank and smoked cigarettes at least
once in the past month are 30 times
likelier to smoke marijuana than
those who didn't.
Among teens with no other
problem behaviors, those who used
cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana at
least once in the past month are
almost 17 times likelier to use
another drug like cocaine, heroin or
acid.
Though only statistical, those
relationships are powerful. For
perspective, remember that in 1964
the first Surgeon General's Report
on smoking and health found a nine
to 10 times greater risk of lung
cancer among smokers, and the
early results of the Framingham
heart study found that individuals
with high cholesterol were two to
four times likelier to suffer heart
disease. Most who smoke
marijuana do not move on to other
drugs, just as most who smoke
cigarettes do not get lung cancer,
but both kinds of smokers
enormously increase their risks.
by Mike DeSantis
Editorials
And those risks rise with teen use:
The earlier and more often an
individual uses marijuana, the
likelier that individual is to use
cocaine.
Recent biomedical research
suggests the reasons why. Studies
in Italy reveal that marijuana affects
levels of dopamine (the substance
that gives pleasure) in the brain in a
manner similar to heroin. Gaetana
DiChiara, who led this work at the
University of Cagliari, indicates
that marijuana may prime the brain
to seek substances such as heroin
and cocaine that act in a similar
way. Studies in the United States
have found that nicotine and cocaine
also affect dopamine levels.
While psychological dependence
on marijuana has been widely
recognized, the drug's potential far
physical addiction is only recently
becoming clear. A team at Scripps
Research Institute in California at
Cumplutense University in .Madrid
found that rats subjected to
immediate cannabis withdrawal
exhibited changes in behavior
similar to those seen after
withdrawal of cocaine, alcohol and
opiates. Science magazine called
this "the first neurological basis for
a marijuana withdrawal syndrome,
and one with a strong emotional
component that is shared by other
drugs." Dr. Alan Leshner, the
Director of the National Institute on
Drug Abuse, estimates that more
than 100,000 individuals are in
treatment because of marijuana use.
Most are believed to be teen-agers.
The statistical link between
'smoking pot and using heroin,
cocaine and acid, the indications
that marijuana acts on dopamine
levels in the brain in a manner
similar to harder drugs and nicotine,
and mounting evidence of
marijuana's addictive power present
a convincing case for a billion
dollar-a-year investment to move
biomedical research on substance
abuse and
addiction into the big leagues at
the National Institutes of Health,
along with heart disease, cancer and
AIDS. Such an investment is
essential for more effective
prevention and treatment and greater
understanding of the risks and
benefits of any medical potential
marijuana might have.
The writer is president of the
National Center on Addiction aid
Substance Abuse at Columbia
University. He was secretary of
Health, Education and Welfare from
1977 to 1979.
For two political science majors,
the chance to meet Gene
Stephanopoulos was a peat
experience and unforgettable
opportunity. We were lucky enough
to be invited to the dinner in the
Logan House before the speech. At
two huge tables, students sat with
administrators and Beinend
contributors, anxious about talking
to the honorable guest.
Mr. Stephanopoulos, who was
suffering from a cold, was unable to
eat due to his sickness and the fact
that he is nervous about public
speaking. However, we saw this as
a little impolite considering that the
dinner was in his honor. Despite
being catered by Housing and Food
service, the same people who serve
us each night at Dobbins, the food
was fairly gwd and even creative.
The salad even had pistachios in it.
Politics never
looked so good
by Anne Rajotte
Managing Editor
by Andrea Zaffino
Editor in Chief
by Andrea Zaffino
Ediior in Chief
The Erie Mill gave notification
to forty-two employees Tuesday
that as of December Ist they will
no longer have jobs with the
company.
The mill, which is traditionally
refund to as Hammermill Paper
Company, was established by
Moritz Behrend art his sons Ernst
and Otto Behrerui, the family for
whom Penn State Erie campus is
named. Ernst, especially, was well
known throughout the Erie
community for his progressive
views of the workplace. Thanks to
Ernst and his brother Otto,
Hammermill was one of the first
companies in the United States to
offer paid vacations and medical
benefits to its employees.
Even during the Depression, the
Behrends tried to keep as many
people employed as possible.
Employees for whom there was no
work at Hammermill, Ernst
Behrend would employ as
landscapers on the Behrend estate,
which is now the Penn State Erie
campus.
The employees of the mill today
do not enjoy the same job security.
The layoffs announced Tuesday
* were the result of a decision to shut
down the mill's number one paper
machine—ahead of schedule—because
of the lack of demand for fine grade
paper.
Three of the mill's six machines
are scheduled to cease production.
The number one and number seven
machines are now set to shut down
on October 27th 1997. The third
shut down has yet to be scheduled,
but will definitely occur by the end
of 1998. Management claims the
third shut down will not result in
further layoffs.
These shutdowns are pan of an
overall restructuring of the
company. Hammermill has added
two other farmer independent paper
printers, Beckett and Strathmore.
Although his stunning Though the serious side of
appearance was apparent, his Stephanopoulos' visit was
intelligence and ease of intriguing, his smashing good
conversation merely added to his looks were like the cherry on top of
charisma. We were very interested the political sundae. After the
in his liberal views and traditional speech, when it was time for
Democratic outlook. After days of pictu re s and handshakes, our giggly
thinking of things to say to him, junior high personas emerged. To
we pretty much clammed up when our delight he sumd in the middle
the conversation turned to us. We of us, because as he put it, "It's
did, however, establish ourselves as
more fun for me this way."
self proclaimed Hooters and On Tuesday night it seemed that
devolution experts. we became unofficial members of a
Though we were too . nervous to George Stephanopoulos fan club.
get in our questions about Ln .
Whitewater, James Carv ille and combin eid knowledge Tsh politics
future plans of the Democratic "
looks led to a night that was
party, we felt that we had the pleasing to ill , : ears and easy on the
chance to learn a lot more than we .
would have merely listening to a -
eyes
speech. At dinner we both felt like
we were in a class that we hadn't
-
pia for. Any knowle d ge we PENNSTATE
believed we had about politics
completely disappeared when he miiii7..
would his turn his knowing eyes
upon us.
e on
The three companies now all work
as divisions of the International
Paper Company (IP). The three me
known collectively as the Erie Mill
which fits into the fine grade paper
division of IP's printing paper
sector.
Anne Miller, spokesperson for the
Erie Mill, said of the recent
changes, "There is a lot of work to
be done. However the Erie Mill
can have a very bright future and is
considered the cornerstone of the
International Paper Company's fine
paper division."
Yet even with visions of a
promising future, after a layoff like
yesterday's, morale tends to break
down, and workers become anxious,
as they look for reassurances that
no more layoffs will follow. To
help with this uneasiness, both the
managers of fine papers and mill
management will meet with
employees this Thursday and
Friday, in order to discuss future
operations, and job security.
For those who have been laid off,
the Erie mill has offered a three year
time' frame for recall rights. As a
result, if the Erie Mill does any
hiring within the next three years,
first priority will be given to those
affected by Tuesday's layoffs.
The Behrend family affiliation
with the paper mill shows a certain
irony to the mill's struggle to
restructure when compared with the
recent expansions and future plans
for improvement of the Penn State
Erie campus.
Both the campus and the mill are
a part of the Erie community
thanks to the Behrend family.
There is certainly no complaint
concerning the improvements of the
campus. However at the same time
the recent setbacks of the mill,
which started off as a symbol of
security and beneficial employment
to the Erie community, lends a sad
note to the Behrend family's
contributions.
Erie cTl(l,fießgeehrend