October 24, 1969
Matijuana-W-etii. - - - 1 1 .!:::-1:..':,'.. - ..::,.
by Gary Thornbloom
"Among the reports I've studied in the Sci
entific Papers section of the books are those of
the Indian Drug Commission, - Simne, 1894; Report
of Colnoel J. M. Phalen, printed in The Military
Surgeon, July, 1943; Allentuck and Bowman, 1942;
Report of the White House Conference on Drugs
and Drug Abuse, 1962; and Report of the Presi
dent's Advisory Committee, 1963. All conclude that
Marijuana is harmless and find no evidence what
ever to support the Federal Bureau of Narcotics
and Harry Anslinger.
The findings of the LaGuardia Report were
reported to the Mayor in 1944 by the prestigious
New York Academy of Medicine. Here are the
irdings 'they appear in the Academy's summa
tion.
1. Smoking marijuana does not lead directly
to mental or physical deterioration.
2. The - habitual smoker knows when to 'stop,
as excessive doses reverse the usually pleasant• ef
fects.
• 3. Marijuana does not lead to addiction (in the
medical sense), while it is naturally _habit-form
ing; its withdrawal does not lead to the horrible
withdrawal symptoms of the opiates.
- 4. No 'deaths have ever been recorded that
can- be ascribed to marijuana.
5. Marijuana is not a .direct casual factor in
sexual or criminal misconduct.
• 6.. Juvenile delinquency is not caused. by. mari
juana smoking, although they are sometimes as
sociated.
7. The publicity concerning the catastrophic
effects of marijuana smoking in New York is un
founded.
- 8. It- is more of .a nuisance than a menace."
1 1 - 'or a reference in detail to the above mentioned
reports, - especially - the LaGuardia Report, The
Marijuana Papers may be consulted. The Scienti
fic Papers is book, three of The Marijuana Papers.
It presents a concise and full report as to what
marijuana is, what is does to your-body and what
it does for your mind.
Many persons feel that marijuana is' not at all
harmful. Some doctors have attempted to prove
that marijuana actually has medical value. Almost
'any writing on marijuana will draw the, conclu
sion that marijuana is not harmful in itself, but
rather that the harmful aspect of marijuana is
the' fact of its possesSion being illegal.
DRINKING OR POT SMOKING
• One of the major points in the argument for
the legalization of marijuana is that it does not
harm the body as much as alcohol does and mari
juana is non-addictive, whereas alcohol is very
definitely habit-forming. More crimes, car acci
dents, murders, and rapes are caused by persons
who have been drinking than by persons who have
seen smoking pot.
"More recent assessments tend to agree with
these findings. The Ad Hoc panel on Drug Abuse
at the 1962 White House Conference states, "Al
though marijuana has long held the reputation of
inciting individuals to commit sexual offenses and
other anti-social acts, evidence is inadequate to
substantiate this.' Maurer and Vogel write: "It
would seem that, from the point of view of public
tealth and safety: the effects of marijuana pre
sent a very minor problem compared with the
Lemon Pipers'Concert
A FIRST-
IT'S FINALLY COMING !
Rock Concert Coming to Bch
rend November 8
On Saturday, November 8, at
0:00 p. m. in Erie Hall the Stu
dent Union • Board of 'Behrend
Campus• presents the First Rock
Concert of the year, featuring
"The 'Lemon. - Pipers", nationally
known for their million dollar hits
"Green Tambourine", Rice is
2 LOCATIONS
:2769' WEST- Bth- ST.
4105.: PEACEUST.
' - ,;SWINGIIVEW-TO. , •:1
Nice" an dmany others which were
recorded on the Capital Label.
Featured with "The Human
Beinz" will be the underground,
hard rock group "The Wonderful
World of Mr. Qwigley", display
ing their fantistically unique, and
captivating light show.
Tickets will. be on sale begin
ning Monday, October 27, at the
Union Desk in the RUB, for only
$1.50 per person.
=MI
Roots In lel
abusive use of alcohol, and . that the drug has re
ceived a disproportionate share of publicity as an
inciter of violent crime' ". 2
Many persons express the belief that much of the
pressure for marijuana to be declared illegal was
due to pressure on lawmaking bodies by the large
liquor industry and their lobbyist's. When many
people began to discover the advantages of mari
juana over liquor, the liquor industry began to
fear that they would lose a large portion of their
customers. The advantages being found included
these; pot was cheaper, non-addictive, possessed
none of the toxic properties of alcohol, could be
used without any mental or physical damages, and
could be easily grown in their own backyard. Most
people discovered these advantages •by direct ex
perimentation.
Persons who drink have more undesirable
qualities than persons who smoke pot. A person
under - the influence of alcohol is usually *very -of
fensive, and is very likely to be looking for a fight,.
The natural habitat of -a drunk is a noisy bat, in
which a fighi could break out any minute, a dance
where he is usually loud-mouthed and looking for
trouble, asleep or unconscious in a street gutter,
- or, splattered along the highway where he has
been involved in a car accident whereas the per
-son who smokes pot is more likely to be in his
own home listening to music, simply grooving on
some object or rapping (talking in depth) with a
friend." If the pot smoker crashes (gathers) with ,
a group of friends for a- pot party somewhere the
setting is still one of peace, lightness, happiness
and camaraderie. Poets and philosopher Allen
Ginsberg offers this comparison:
"I have spent half a year in Morocco, smok
ing kif often: old gentlemen and peaceable youths
sit amiable in cafes or under shade trees in out
door-gardens, drinking mint tea, passing the tiny
kif pipe, and looking quietly-at the sea. This is
the true- picture of the use of kif in North Africa,
exactly the opposite of the lurid stereotype of mad
dog human beings deliberately - spread by our Trea
sury Department police branch. And I set this
model of- tranquil sensibility beside the- tableau of
aggravated New York executives sipping whiskey
before a 1966 TV set's imagery of drimked Ameri
can violence covering the world from the high
ways of Berkeley all the way to the dirt roads of
Viet Nam.
The marijuana user is considered by most of
society to be an undesirable person and his use of
marijuana is considered to be a sign of moral weak
ness but many people who need their morning,
noon, night, and inbetween cigarettes or martinis
are not looked down upon in any noticeable de
gree. The white collor worker who has his daily
martini is widely accepted by society. Perhaps a
Berkeley sorority girl can sum it up best with her
statement, "When you drink you lose control and
sensitivity, generally feeling and acting like a slob
bering idiot. This never happens with pot." 4
1 Jerry Hopkins, The Hippie Papers
2 David Solomon, The Marijuana Papers
3 Allen Ginsberg, "The Great Marijuana Hoax"
Atlantic, Nov. '66.
4 San Francisco Magazine, Feb. '66, quoted from
The Marihuana Papers.
Next week, part 111 in this series will deal
with the views on grass use throughout the world.
Icarus: Behrend's
Literary Medium
Those of you who may be in
terested in mythology know that
Icarus was the son of Daedalus
who drowned when he tried to
fly. However, on Behrend Campus
ICARUS is the literary magazine
which is published in the spring
term of each year.
ICARUS presents short stories
and. poetry written by students in
an attempt to illustrate the way
in which Behrend students relate
to the world, life, love, hate ,in
THE NITTANY CUB
~~~
"Chust You Know
it Ain't Easy"
by Charles Peter Esehweiler
It - would •be a very wild-dream
to imagine Dylan, Mick Jagger,
John Lennon, - and - Paul McCart
ney all on the same album, 'but
Dylan singing Duke of Earl, and
Kick Out the Jams? Dylan sing
ing eighteen minutes of Season
of the Witch? Jagger singing a
new composition called I Can't
Get No Nookie? But then, when
John Lennon and Eric Clapton
appear in Toronto singing Blue
Suede Shoes, you know some
thing's happened, and rock and
roll is here to stay.
There will soon be a double al
bum out on Diety record (A Co
lumbia subsidiary) called THE
MASKED MARAUDER, there
-are no names listed but Al Koop
er produces it, everything men
tioned above happens on it. I
can't believe it, but my source of
information •is unimpeachable
(mainly, -a pre-publication re
view of the album in Rolling
Stone).
Is an album of such people
goofing on each other worth it?
Yes, its priceless.
If someone wants to buy the al
bum (if and when it reaches Erie)
I want to hear it (I can't afford
records, I'm not being paid, but
you can remedy the situation by
giving money at the CUB office
to the Charles Peter Eschweiler
relief fund).
The Masked Marauder album
reminds me of the many tapes
Columbia has that have never
been released, someone in Cali
fornia stole enough unreleased
Dylan to make a double album
called -GREAT WHITE WON
DER, its available on the coast,
and possibly by now in New
York. Columbia likes people to
believe Dylan never recorded with
anyone but them, but there is an
out of circulation album of Mr.
fact, on anything. If you have a
poem or short story that you
would like to submit for publica
tion, do so. If you have an idea,
why not work on it. Art work and
photography will be considered.
But ICARUS also needs staff
workers and judges to make it suc
cessful. All volunteers are welcome
and all entries needed.
You may give your entries to
Kathleen Valentine, Charly Lee,
or Sue Fitzroy or to your English
teachers. Deadline for all entries
is April 1, 1970.
Brookside Dairy
Store
Groceries, Sundries
School Supplies
Open 11 a.m. to 11 pan.
3110 Station Road
Forty's Cleaners &
Tuxedo Rental
2914 Buffalo Road
899-2887 899-2611
Zimmerman recorded when ha
was called BLIND BOY GRUNT,
someone, a friend of mine in
Oklahoma has it. Dylan can be
heard on piano on some of
Bobby Vees "road" albums (Dy
lans first decent gig was as Vees
pianist) . Columbia has enough
tape of Dylan-Johnny Cash duets
for an .album, they have tapes of
Janis- Joplin singing in front of
the Butterfield band, and Laura
Nyro with Blood, Sweat and
Tears (That would be dynamite).
Columbia is also uptight, and
its doubtful if they will release
any of those tapes, mores the
pity.
Since people have been asking
if I can - actually say anything
good about any groups, I've de
cided- to do some capsule reviews,
they don't - say anything -good,
I've _ got to be consistent _ you
know.
IT i S A BEAU • DAY—CO•
LUMBIA CS 9768
Dull, boring mood nitizak; noth,
ing- new, nothing worthwhile.
there is however, the worst "hea
vy" track I've ever heard (stand
back, this is even worse than
some of the garbage on the
Vanilla Fudges first two albums),
Wasted Union Blues, it's really
terrible, White Bird is nice, but
only during the first few hear
ings, in general the album is
just a mediocre diversion.
BLIND FAITH . . . ATLANTIC
SD 33 304
I expected more, Winwood was
better with Spencer Davis, Clap
ton was better with John Mayan.
Rick , Gretch is a good bassist,
but Jack Casady is better. Gin
ger Baker is still himself, and if
it wasn't for him this would be
a really bad album.
JOHNNY WINTER . . . COLUM.
BIA CS 9826
Abysmally bad singing, medi
ocre guitar work, and terrible
production, if this were a put on
of white blues I could accept it,
but it's serious? There is just
nothing here, Winter makes an
ass of himself in trying too hard.
It's true, you cannot petition
the lord with prayer.
Next week I'm going to say
only good things, it will be a
short column probably.
ts.
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Page Three