cannabisnews.com: Weed Not Worth The Wasted Energy Weed Not Worth The Wasted Energy Posted by CN Staff on March 29, 2006 at 06:53:51 PT By Nick Franklin Source: Orion California -- Whether we like it or not, alcohol is the lifeblood of Chico State - in a historical sense, anyway. Unfortunately, that's gotten this school a lot of bad press over the years. You know the kind: riots, alcohol poisoning, drunken dildo-ring-toss.During the summer before my first year, family friends would poke fun at me, telling me I was going to a "party school." Meanwhile, I never heard family friends poke fun at me for going to a "stoner school." Marijuana, while commonly used in the Chico State community, has never had any negative impact on the school's reputation. Why then, you might ask, does the university boot students out much quicker for marijuana offenses than for alcohol offenses?"Because it's an illegal gateway drug," says the geeky conservative kid in front-center. Yeah, everybody knows pot is illegal, but the gateway drug thing is pretty much been accepted as nonsense.Last fall, 71 students received marijuana violations in university housing. Current University Housing and Food Service policy says that any student found with marijuana in his or her room will be asked to leave university housing immediately, said Lizanne Leach, Coordinator for Residence Hall Student Conduct. For alcohol violations, students are allowed one warning and asked to leave housing after a second offense.University officials seem to have singled out marijuana smokers as a greater threat to campus safety and performance than the alcoholics this school is known for. The last time I checked, the heavy drinkers that hit the downtown scene are beating the crap out of each other (and sober people) on what seems like every Friday and Saturday night. I also remember seeing a KTVU news story in which drunken kids were screaming and generally acting like idiots on Bay Area TV.Humboldt State is a school that will always be known for students rolling big joints of stinky weed for breakfast. Sure, people snicker about what stoners the students are, but when has negative news come out of Humboldt State?Hardly ever, and that's because the students there probably do the same thing that Chico stoners do: light up, eat piles of food and giggle at "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." This is pretty harmless stuff. Marijuana enforcement is not a huge priority or concern in Humboldt, and the area remains quiet and peaceful.Chico State could adopt a more progressive drug policy without compromising the quality of education in any way. A woman in Oroville, only 20 minutes away, made headlines in the major papers when her medical marijuana garden was raided by the DEA in 2002. She took her case to court.This is a pro-medical-pot area, and having a university behind the compassionate use movement would be of use.Other schools have approached student usage with a partially blind eye, which maintains order and accommodates the recreational desires of students. UC Santa Cruz has an honored tradition on April 20, or "420 day" when officials turn a blind eye to the cloudy Porter Meadow. The University of Colorado at Boulder has a similar thing. Neither of those schools is known for dull students, and furthermore, it's never a big deal.You don't hear about many stoners who go off and swing at their best friends after toking up, and, generally, nobody blacks out or is raped. Demonizing marijuana smoking over drinking is just an ignorant move on this school's part.The more we learn about marijuana, the more we see there is little harm with recreational use. Pre-clinical data published in the "Journal of Clinical Investigation" is rocking the medical marijuana community with research that shows synthetic cannabinoids (compounds in weed - only some pack a punch) stimulated the growth of new nerve cells and significantly reduced stress-related behavior in lab rats. Oooh.If Chico State truly were an institute of education, it would shun the pseudo-science that marijuana perceptions are based on and embrace research that is leaving McGruff the Crime Dog in the past. Pot can help people, and for those who just want to have fun, who's it hurting?Source: Orion, The (California State Chico, CA Edu)Author: Nick FranklinPublished: March 29, 2006Copyright: 2006 The OrionWebsite: http://www.orion-online.net/Contact: opinioneditor orion-online.netCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #14 posted by AOLBites on March 30, 2006 at 18:02:37 PT IE + bugs hows this for a news search =( http://news.google.com/news?q=ie%20bugsif you use it Please keep it updated !!! IE critical updates [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by AOLBites on March 30, 2006 at 17:57:36 PT try ... media player classic, it plays nearly everything...with the right codecs.. its also freeware =) mpc2kxp6490.zip is the latest win2000/XP build availible here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303&package_id=84358or in bundled in several codec packs... [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by Toker00 on March 30, 2006 at 03:58:25 PT Real-y? Then it's not just my computer. Thanks for the heads up on that. It does it with FF, too, though.The tide is turning and many people are being caught up in the Truth about Cannabis wave. Some are still submerged in it, trying to understand it, trying to varify it, some are riding it, like us here at C-news. And some are being tumbled and smashed to the bottom, like Ms. Tandy in the other article. They are being HURT by the wave of Truth. And trust me, they will wash ashore all battered and breathless, when this mighty wave crashes to the shore, washing Cannabis Prohibition away!Wage peace on war. END CANNABIS PROHIBITION NOW! [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by FoM on March 29, 2006 at 18:44:00 PT DankHank Thank you for testing it for me. That's what I got. It sure is hard to figure out what is wrong sometimes and your checking helped me. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by Dankhank on March 29, 2006 at 18:33:09 PT Real download ... i just tried at real.com with IE ...got the same 1% ...tried again, guess Real.com is goofin' [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by FoM on March 29, 2006 at 18:30:09 PT DankHank I was using IE. I don't have FF since my hard drive crashed. I always use IE. I know that isn't popular to hear but it is a browser I've always liked. Shame on me.I found a forum where people are having the same problem I am having so it could be something that needs to be fixed. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Dankhank on March 29, 2006 at 18:22:51 PT Real ... FoMsometimes the net just gets goofy ... It happens to me regularly, also ...were you using FFox or IE?try both ... [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by FoM on March 29, 2006 at 16:10:24 PT Lombar and Max I got Real Alternative installed and I was able to see the video I wanted to see but I can't get it to play again or play music so far. I'll try a few more things and I'll see if I can figure it out. It seems nice if I can get it to work for me. Thanks. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Max Flowers on March 29, 2006 at 15:40:04 PT Real Alternative I've tried this software twice, and neither time did it work at all. It would not play .ra nor .ram files, the files that it's supposed to play...If anyone here got it to work, I wonder how/why it worked for you and not me. I wish I could get it to work, because I also refuse to use RealPlayer. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by lombar on March 29, 2006 at 15:09:34 PT Real player alternative I use this on windows... I do not like realone. Real Player Alternative [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by FoM on March 29, 2006 at 13:17:34 PT Dankhank If you see this I am having trouble downloading Real Player. I have tried all different things like turning off the firewall and turning off my virus program too but it just won't go past 1% downloaded. My computer is working fine so I can't figure out why it won't download. I really like Windows Media Player but I don't think I can play RA type files with it. Thanks for any help. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Dankhank on March 29, 2006 at 12:50:21 PT Ripe for ... This campus may be ripe for a SAFER org, too.http://www.saferchoice.org/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by runderwo on March 29, 2006 at 11:17:22 PT grammar check "Yeah, everybody knows pot is illegal, but the gateway drug thing is pretty much been accepted as nonsense."He should also have cited that recent study, otherwise this claim just becomes a pissing match - "No gateway!" "Is too!" "Nuh-uh!" "Yah-huh!" ... [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by riptide on March 29, 2006 at 08:25:08 PT Whee This article makes me want to do a celebratory dance. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment