The Fourth Wall page 9 Drugs from page 8 Smokey, on the other hand, stated that although it was easy to score weed, he rarely buys it directly himself. Smokey would use other people, including Godzilla, to go meet the dealer to purchase the marijuana. As I was a longtime friend with Smokey, I was curious about our own situations of trying to score alcohol, as we were both underage. I asked him if it was easier to buy weed, than trying to get alcohol. Both Smokey and Godzilla agreed. It was far easier to get a guy who’s going to make a profit off selling weed, than it was to find a 21 year old friend who was willing to get off his lazy already half drunk ass and buy some underagers beer. As I received their answers, I overheard Godzilla mention that, although it was easier to score weed, weed was far more expensive to buy than a substantial amount of alcohol. This sparked another question from me: Is marijuana more expensive in this area, Franklin Editorial: Where By Trevon Pegram Staff Writer Picture this: you walk into a room, where a great campus event has been scheduled. You’re expecting to see a huge crowd; people packed to the door with standing room only. Instead, what you actually get is a room with the maximum crowd of about 8 people. Your first instinct is to ask if this is the right room; you find out that it is. The next few moments you spend pondering to yourself why you and the other 7 people there are the only ones who have showed up. This may seem very familiar to you if you frequent many of our on-campus events. Yes, of course bingo and other games where you win things or get free stuff are usually pretty well attended, but these aren’t the only events that happen on this campus. Each County, than it would be in say Philadelphia, or New York City? They both replied with a bitter yes. Franklin Country is definitely a dealer’s market. The dealers control the prices, and the buyers deal with those hefty prices. In discussing haggling, I learned from Trabajo, that even though he may haggle down a few dollars, he has already charged them far more so that the money ‘lost’ is miniscule. The buyers tend to gloss over the fact that theyre getting ripped off, and they don’t bother to argue about it. I then decided to ask similar questions that I asked Trabajo. Do they fear reprisal? It depends where they are. While at Godzilla’s ‘house in the attic, they didn’t really acknowledge any fear of the police charging in and arresting them. But when they are stoned, or getting stoned, and driving around town, they constantly fear the police, almost to the point of irrationality. Next they describe the close calls they’ve had, due to their disregard for anyone around them. The paranoia keeps some people aware, while most just cast away the fear to enjoy the experience of being month the campus is flooded with various activities and performers, many of which are actually very good. The events cover a wide range of topics and interests. Not to sound cliché, but there is something there for everyone. So if the problem isn’t that the events aren’t good, I wonder what it could be, ~ Maybe the problem lies in the student’s themselves. Shocked, right? It couldn’t be. Well, if you think about it, it actually could be. There is no way that a student can say they didn’t know about an on- campus event unless they were living under a rock. Even then, I'm sure you could still find out about the events occurring on campus. There ‘are various means in which students are informed about activities. They include flyers, a monthly event calendar, and daily e-mails to inform you of that day’s upcoming events. What more do you want, a personal invitation to high. My next question was about interactions with dealers. Godzilla and Smokey flat out began with stating people whom they would buy from, and people they would never buy from. Again, the conversation touched on the racial aspects of the local marijuana market. They both resounded together with several rules: 1. Never buy from black women. 2. Try to buy only from people that come recommended from another friend. 3. (This was Smokey’s rule) Never actually make the buy yourself, use someone with less to lose. ; How often do you get high? Godzilla smiled and laughed heartily at this question. He told me that he gets high at least once every day, and that the longest he goes without weed is two days. more based around how much money he had or who he was hanging out with. Typically he would get high every other day; the longest he went without weed was a week at most. _ Through the conversation, I didn’t ask them if there was an each event? Julie DeMoss, Coordinator of Student Events, believes that students should take a more active approach to choosing what activities come to campus. Most students will not take that initiative, though; they would rather make excuses and complain. The excuse about not enjoying what is brought to campus is not a valid one, especially if you don’t take the time to make any suggestions about activities that could be brought to campus. The events that occur on campus aren’t pulled out of thin air. They come from a collaborative effort of students and staff from the C.A.M.P organization. C.A.M.P stands for Campus Activities and Multicultural Programming; this is an organization that is open to all students. Members of C.A.M.P attend conferences and hold meetings where they choose the activities that come to campus. inherent pitfall to smoking weed because I don’t believe they saw one, other than marijuana being expensive. I saw a drug coming very close to dominating the lives of two friends I’ve known through- out my post-elementary school education. Could they just stop smoking weed? I'd like to think yes, but Smokey and Godzilla don’t see their usage as detrimental to their mental well-being or health. Thus, they don’t see any good reason to ever stop smoking weed. To conclude my interview with Smokey and Godzilla, I asked them a question about a popular argument against the legalization of marijuana. Do you believe marijuana is a gateway drug? Godzilla stated that to marijuana smokers, harder drugs, like coke and heroin, were like what marijuana is to non-marijuana smokers. Essentially, that’s where the line is drawn. Harder drugs like that are dangerously addictive, with serious side effects, whilst marijuana is safer. Godzilla and Smokey did acknowledge that marijuana does open the bridge to harder drugs. They believe that people who smoke marijuana are You don’t have to join to make a suggestion for an activity that you think the campus would enjoy. Most students don’t even attempt to do this. According to Ms. DeMoss, participation in C.A.M.P has been surprisingly low this year, compared to the number of students that are on campus. When it comes down to it, the main reason for students not participating is the simple fact that we don’t make an effort to. This is very troubling because on average the campus spends about $50,000 dollars a year to plan and schedule various campus activities. It’s just a shame that many of us don’t take advantage of the great activities that are brought to campus. There shouldn’t be anyone complaining about there not being anything to do on campus, because there is usually something to do. The activities are there but the will and drive of the students to go out and participate just isn’t there. more open and willing to try harder drugs. After the questioning stopped, I played a chess game with Smokey. He hardly put up a decent fight. I left the house with my all my basic questions now answered. I knew areasonable answer for why drugs were on the rise on college campuses. They were accessible and practically accepted culturally. I could see why marijuana was illegal, and I could see why there were people fervently fighting to legalize the drug. Godzilla’s diatribes on how much fun smoking weed was, and how great the little green plant was, left me with one memorable quote, “Weed to me...is just a way to open up new experiences, and that’s what life is...experiences.” In the end, it all rests on the students because we can help decide who and what comes to campus and we can also decide whether or not we attend the activities. The next time you attend an event with a low turn-out of students just think of taking a more hands on approach when it comes to your tuition dollars.
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