THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5.2005
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Pay attention to these smoke signals
There has been a lot of dialogue in Lawrence concerning a proposed city ordinance that would move some marijuana cases from district courts to municipal courts.
The proponents of the ordinance have cited two reasons as to why they wish to make this change.
One reason was to thwart the Higher Education Act, passed in 1998. The second was to make possession of marijuana a lower priority for law enforcement, the city claiming that this would save time and money.
I think that there are some serious flaws in this ordinance, and neither the Lawrence Journal-World nor The University Daily Kansan have been responsible in making sure that both sides of this issue are seen.
I, for one, have a personal interest in this matter. Almost two years ago, five days after Christmas, my sister and I received the shock of our lives.
While staving at our aunt's
LINDSAY SHELTON opinion@kansan.com
house, we were told that my father had been taken to the hospital and that they didn't know any more information.
Almost five hours later, when my mother and uncle pulled up, I knew that something terrible had happened.
My mother gave us a hug and then dropped a bombshell: my father had accidentally overdosed on a combination of morphine and OxyContin. He was found in his parked car outside of work.
The odd thing was, this was the first time my sister or I had ever heard of my father using any sort of drugs. I found out that during high school, my father started smoking marijuana on a regular basis. When he was
older, he went to a psychiatrist for the first time and he was prescribed Xanax, an antidepressant meant to alleviate the most serious symptoms of depression.
It is only meant to be taken to get you out of the worst of it. He took it for 20 years.
Because of this combination of supposedly harmless drugs, my father didn't even think he had a problem.
After all, the Xanax was by prescription, and it was just a little pot. My mother was aware of the Xanax and what she thought was his past history with pot and was troubled by it, but he kept most of his activities a secret.
She tried to help him work through his issues for our sake, while trying to protect my sister and from the harsher realities of his depression. But the marijuana and the Xanax led to other drugs such as the morphine and OxxContin.
I am willing to argue until I'm
blue in the face that for some people, marijuana is a gateway drug.
I certainly know that it was for my father. No, marijuana won't kill you. But to continue numbing his pain from his childhood, my father wanted more.
My father was lucky in a way. He survived his overdose and his parents paid for him to go through a good rehabilitation program. But he lost his entire family that day. My parents' divorce was finalized last year, and I haven't spoken to him directly in almost a year and a half.
Because of my father's overdose, our family's financial situation changed dramatically from when we first applied for financial aid. I was almost unable to attend college.
We submitted a Financial Aid Status Reevaluation while I was a senior in high school, praying for the financial aid and loans that I needed.
When we heard back from the office,we were told that
while I did qualify for the aid that I needed, there just wasn't any available at that time.
My options were quickly being whittled down and I was becoming desperate. Luckily, some more aid came through a little while later, and I am now able to get the education that I crave.
The Higher Education Act does bar students caught with marijuana from receiving financial aid. Many people, however, aren't pointing out that this is only for one year. After the second offense, it is two years, and only for the third time is it an indefinite amount of.
When I had a family emergency that involved marijuana abuse, there wasn't enough aid to help me. Why should we allow students who break the law to get preference over the students who don't?
Let the students who get caught with marijuana spend a year going to a junior college and working to save up money.
Quite honestly, I think they need to grow up a little before going off to college.
People will never learn a lesson if they are bailed out from the mess they have made. If they have truly learned from their mistake, then they won't allow themselves to be in a situation where they could be charged with possession, and they will be able to receive aid after one year.
It is a commonly held belief that pot is a harmless activity, not unlike drinking.
I know from very personal experience that this is simply not always true.
I feel its irresponsible for the city of Lawrence to eliminate consequences for getting caught possessing marijuana because this will ultimately marginalize the seriousness of the act even more so than it already does.
♦ Shelton is a Lenexa sophomore in education and sociology.
Free All for
Call 864-0500
For all callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
Editor's note: Check out the inter-nizz at www.kansan.com for more Free Rizzle.
This is to Michelle Goodrick. Women don't want equality, they want to be better than men, It's a double standard.
In regards to Thursday's opinion article, Santa Claus is just as real as the female orgasm.
If the Free for All wasn't tame, and actually provided something truly funny, original and insightful, instead of just pathetic attempts to be ridiculous.
pass at least a minimum of sentences.
Editor's note: At least we speak in complete sentences.
Hey, Brad, too bad you don't keep a win-loss record of your life, because I bit it be worse than the Royals.
+
that in is just jealous or trying to be the g
community. I'm part of a minority and I'm in Tri-Delta,
and that was just really tacky.
If cold weather was a person, I would kill it.
Hey, how many quarterbacks does it take for the football team to win a game? More than three I guess!
Life. Yeah, it's not your best sport, is it, Brad?
To the guy who I have sign conversations with through the windows at Wescoe Beach, call me!
To whoever made the comment about the Tri-Delta,
the Confederate flags on our shirts were only part of a Dukes of Hazzard theme party. Whoever called
that is just irrational or to horribly crack
With Sara Garlick writing articles, I'm starting to think that the UDK stands for University Daily Klansman.
Finally President Bush and Kanye West can hold hands about something. They both hate Molly.
There are an abnormal amount of bees outside the Underground.
Didn't we start a war with Afghanistan?
Whatever happened to that?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Whoever's job is it to edit the Free for All needs to jump off a cliff. It are not funny.
Start building the future
Tim Hall's article, "Change in Tradition not Always Negative" demonstrates a common paradox in America between technology and architecture, between tradition and the future.
At one point in his article, Hall praises the fact that the Booth Family Hall of Athletics will "look like it has been there for 50 years," while complaining in another paragraph about not having instant replay.
We demand new technology in all aspects of our life, but are afraid to pursue new possibilities of building technology and materials.
Hall, like many of the alumni, faculty and student population, accepts the luxuries of a new scoreboard and the ability to watch a game on TV while he is standing in the historic Allen Fieldhouse, but would rather see an addition, on the exterior, built with the safe and comfortable technology of 1955.
The University spends millions of dollars improving its own image through the KU Marketing Plan and other strategic initiatives.
The Marketing Plan's goal is to "enhance the image, reputation and visibility of the University of Kansas in the eyes of key constituents." After years of re
search, the only visible changes are a change to a more elegant font and a dedication to "KU Blue." The inspiration for the Marketing Plan's policy could have come from a speech made by Chancellor Gene A. Budig, at the dedication of Anschutz Science Library, on Oct. 7.1989.
The paradox I am talking about is that while we are buying iPods
While he states, "this library represents our commitment to the future," he is standing in front of a building that represents the past.
Right now, our University can boast one of the top public architecture schools in the nation, but recent construction projects, such as the Booth Family Hall, Eaton Hall, the KU Visitor's Sign and the Hall Center for the Humanities, suggest that we only know how to build bastardized versions of landmark precedents. Our buildings can be ambassadors of the University.
Eaton Hall could have been a display of the Engineering School's commitment to state-of-the-art engineering technology and research.
that can hold 10,000 songs, cell phones with Bluetooth technology that have the ability to check e-mail and scoreboards that provide instant replay and a variety of other slick graphics, we are building structures that look and act like buildings that were built 50 years ago or more.
If you can accept the iPod instead of a Walkman, a Razor instead of a clunky cell phone from even five years ago and instant replay instead of three colors and dancing nachos, how come we can't accept a building that will say something about the age we are living in now and suggest the potential of where we could go in the future?
A potential new engineering student only sees something that has already been done, a dedication to the past and an acceptance of mediocrity.
A common criticism of Europeans is that the United States has no history or culture. Maybe we have become self-conscious and are trying to build backward in time to establish some sort of history and culture to prove them wrong. But we have always been involved with making history. That is our foundation.
We are the culture of the future and should be setting the precedent for the building culture and the buildings of the future.
TALK TO US
- Bill Bourne
St. Louis senior in architecture.
Austin Caster, editor
864-4854 or acaster@kansan.com
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HANG OUT WITH YOUR LANG OUT
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
How to find the goods
When I read "How to lose a guy in 10 seconds," I was shocked and amazed. The fact that girls are using bad one-liners to get rid of a guy does not surprise me in the least bit, but what did surprise me is that good girls are looking for good guys in bars. Maybe nice guys finish last because the girls are looking in the wrong place. Here's a tip from a genuinely good guy: If you want a guy with a little more substance, look in a place with a little more substance. A bar is great if you want to get drunk and hook up with some random person, but I don't know too many people who find their soul mates there.
The first place I would look for a good guy is the First Friday art scene in Kansas City. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, all of the art galleries in the Crossroadss district of Kansas City, Mo., open up or, the first Friday of the month. There is music, food, art and a ton of people. You might even find people you know down there. Art galleries are great scenes to strike up conversations. If art is involved there is always something to talk about. The music is usually in the open air, so unlike most concerts, talking is actually possible.
If art isn't your thing, or you just want to do some dancing, check out the KU Swing Society. If you don't know how to dance, they offer free lessons. Guys, this is a good skill to have. I have seen many girls fall for a guy who can swing. The KU Swing Society meets up every Tuesday from 9 p.m. to midnight.
If you are weighed down with schoolwork and you can't find the time to go out, a good guy can be as close as that 8:30 lecture. That's where I found a good girl. Though it's early in the morning and you
probably don't look your best, the good guys aren't going to care. If you're in a big lecture, ask that cute someone for the notes that you "missed" last week. Say that you don't have time right now but you would love to meet up for coffee or something later. Guys really like when they can explain something to that cool girl.
Girls, when looking for a good guy, you may have to put forth more effort than you do at the bars. Good guys are commonly shy, and they won't always have that liquid courage in them. If you are looking for Brad Pitt, look somewhere Brad might hang out; the environment usually reflects the guy. If the only thing around you is booze and drunken people, then Brad probably isn't there.
◆ Andrew Ford
Va.iss City, Mo., sophomore
.