University of Virginia Library

Faculty Get High

I feel you are exaggerating when
you claim the marijuana laws in
this country are outmoded. I agree
with the fact that marijuana is
not a physically addictive drug.
The question any form of psychological
addiction has not yet
been resolved.

Your concern for the attitude
of the faculty of the University
concerning marijuana is commendable.
You do not realize, or do
you, that the present penalties for
conviction of possession, intention
to sell, and use are extremely
severe-perhaps too severe. That
does not change the fact that you
are asking your faculty to assist
you in getting high.

I agree with your statement that
pot smoking does not appreciably
affect a given student's performance.
But why does any person
smoke pot? There are the usual
reasons given by parents and guidance
counselors alike. You are as
sick of them as I. Did you ever
think the over-30 generation may
be right? The only earthly thing
pot does is lift you from your
earthly problems: and only temporarily
at that. Why do college
students raise such a storm about
the draft, civil rights, and the War
when you can escape it all? Pot
has no medical use. I guess the
Food and Drug Administration
doesn't have to worry about the
solution to cancer, heart disease,
or any of the more important
problems confronting the world's
peoples.

I will hasten to add that if you
think marijuana selling is not
illegal, and organized, you are
mistaken. It does not matter what
the drug is-if it deprives the human
being of his sense of judgement,
it should be outlawed. The
claim that alcohol is as dangerous
as a drug like marijuana is not
entirely true. Alcohol, in any quantity
greater than half a shot of
whisky, is a depressant, not a
stimulant. Marijuana is an undefined
phenomenon and to ask your
faculty to act rashly would be a
mistake.