Wichita State University - Parnassus Yearbook (Wichita, KS)

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Smoking Criminals. Dirty, desperate, hippie freaks with long matted hair, who do nothing but sit around in sweatshirts and sandals plotting hideous crimes to support S100 a day MARIJUANA habits. This is the attitude many people had about marijuana as late as 1976 in the never-never land of Kansas. Thousands of writers spent countless hours trying to convince the public mar- ijuana isn't the Killer Weed legends tell it to be. NORML Cthe National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Lawsb has produced hundreds of pamphlets trying to inform people marijuana isn't deadly, isn't addictive and that there are no hard facts stating conclusively marijuana is more harmful to the body than a can of 3.2 beer. Even the National Institute on Drug Abuse released a statement which was published Feb. 12th in the Wichita Eagle, stating: Research con- ducted since last year's report failed to support the concern that chronic mari- juana use leads to genetic damage, lower fertility rates or more serious impotence problems. But no one listens. Instead, they prefer to listen to ex- perts like former Wichita Police Cheif Floyd Hannon who made statements 28!Seventies such as: You're going to get every damn bum in here CWichitaJ like Berke- ley and Ann Arbor did because of the laxity of the laws. Hannon also did a good song-and-dance about the age old problem of marijuana leading to other social problems: and when they get blown out of their minds they get in a car and have accidents or go out and commit crimes. We have the cases to prove it. Hannon, of course, failed to mention any specific cases that occurred in Wichi- ta or anywhere else. But in Kansas the word of a police- man, any policeman, is better than fact. After all, what do doctors know? You can never be too sure about those col- lege graduates. They have no idea what the real world is like. So it's no wonder that when Dr. Keith Green announced in May, 1976, that he'd developed a form of liquid marijuana that was proven successful in relieving an eye disease, glaucoma, many people shuddered. Although his mari- juana eye-drops were considered by re- searchers to be Has good or better then any anti-glaucoma medication currently available, serveral people said flatly they'd rather go blind than get hooked on that stuff. Terrific.

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Moses Allison. You don't have to be a schizo to appreciate or play jazz, but it does seem to help. Jazz is known as the soul-searching sound and is perhaps be- coming one of the most requested styles of music in Wichita. KMUW plays 23 hours of jazz a week. The music depart- ment of W.S.U. offers one formal con- cert in the spring and several informal concerts throughout the school year. Rock and Roll is a conglomeration of all styles of music. It has been ampli- fied, equalized and synthesized. Itusedto be that all you needed to be a rock star was a couple of guitars, amplifiers and a new song. Today, however, rock stars are indulging their fantasies with extra- vagant stage settings, costumes and the- atrics to hold the attention of their audiences. Rock must be the most pro- gressive sound of all the music we listen to today. flihe. nostalgic surge has also found a place in the rock industry with the return of Neil Sedaka, Elvis and the Beach Boys. 2 7!Seventies

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v - Wait While experiments continue into the medical uses of marijuana, a blind public shivers behind a defensive wall of ignor- ance. Aside from possible uses of mari- juana as a treatment for eye disease, there are also studies concerning the use of marijuana to relieve vomiting in can- cer patients and to dilate pulmonary air passages for severe asthmatics. But re- search moves slowly because it's met with so many obstacles. Kansas law is very strict concerning possession of marijuana. Other states have adopted laws which reflect a cer- tain degree of understanding toward marijuana smokers. In Maine possession of up to lk ounces of marijuana is a civil fine of not more than S200 with no jail term or criminal record. In Cali- fornia possession of up to an ounce is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than 5100. Meanwhile, back in Kansas... If you're convicted for the first time for possession it's punishable by a S500 fine, up to one year in jail, or both. On the second conviction, you're faced with 52,500 fine and possibly a 1-to-10-year jail sentence. And that isn't all... To make things worse, the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Dept. is under the juris- diction of a state court rather than a municipal court. This means if you're arrested by sheriffls officers you're taken directly to jail and booked. Since the municipal court has jurisdiction over many misdemeanors at state court you may be booked on a felony charge. Every year many people get criminal records for committing crimes no worse than their fathers or grandfathers when they sipped illegal whiskey during the days of Prohibition. The same people who hated Carrie Nation for being a reactionary usually shake with anger at the idea of marijuana being legalized. They shake their fists and wonder what in the hell is happening to the moral fiber of our society. Then they slink off to the American Legion halls to drink away their problems over a high stakes poker game. And life goes on. No amount of writing helps. The pub- lic refuses to be educated. Police and the courts won't listen and don't care. They turn away from the sounds of their own children being dragged into crowded jails. They can't understand why those .damn kids keep smoking that stuff when they know what can happen to them. 29!Seventies