Montreal Pics

A UMF Police Campus

From my new favorite member of SSDP, our own Mr. JW;

Mike,

Please have your group read over these handouts, and be sure to tell them they come courtesy of Officer Ted Blais, head of Public Safety. I don’t have a car on campus, so I’m not as familiar as I’d like to be with some of the parking issues. The pattern indicated here would be obvious to anyone, though - this is not a student-friendly proposal. The first offense parking fine will be doubled, and a boot is being introduced that could cost students hundreds of dollars, not to mention inconvenience. Parking decals, currently free, could cost as much as $35 each next year. This would bring in, by my calculations, nearly $80,000 - all of which - unlike parking fines, which are redistributed as a part of UMF’s budget - will go directly to Public Safety. Officer Blais said that he intends to use the money to hire more staff, especially in the overnight hours and during the summer. Another portion will be used for the purchase of security cameras, both for the parking lots and entrances to buildings. It’s this last that concerns me most, and I expressed this to Officer Blais - the cameras, ostensibly in place to catch vandals, thieves, and violent criminals - are ultimately going to provide Public Safety with a formidable weapon in Farmington’s very own drug war. The cameras will be used to harass and punish those in our student body who choose to party SAFER, as well as underage drinkers. The post 9/11 proliferation of surveillance is one of the direst issues facing true liberty in our nation, violating our rights to privacy, assembly and free expression, and there is no practical need for this ugly, Orwellian tactic to be introduced in Farmington.

I’m just getting warmed up, but I’m afraid I need to get these papers to you and be on my way. I’d love to come to a meeting sometime and discuss these issues with SSDP, as well as the possibility of preparing a joint statement, or a petition of some kind which could be presented to Public Safety, as well as to the President, the Board of Directors, and the student body - perhaps on the student center projector? Thanks for your help, and... Peace

JW
james.oliver@maine.edu

JW is a member of UMF's Campus Residence Council.

Here's an interesting link, it shows security statistics on campus. Based on these statistics, do you feel unsafe enough to start installing cameras on campus?

New study finds Cannabis, LSD, & MDMA safer than Alcohol & Tobacco.

Yep. From the article;

“Drug policy is primarily aimed at reducing the harm to individual users, their families and society. But at present there is no rational, evidence-based method for assessing the harm of drugs. We have tried to develop such a method. We hope that policy makers will take note of the fact that the resulting ranking of drugs differs substantially from their classification in the Misuse of Drugs Act and that alcohol and tobacco are judged more harmful than many illegal substances.”

This is nice because they're all scientists, but then figured it all out for the policy makers too, so they don't even have to think extra hard!! Hooray science!!

A Sensible Drug Policy at UMF

From my Symposium submission form;

Campus drug policy is severely flawed. Students use illegal drugs in their dorm rooms, or share beers with R.A.’s, and our zero tolerance policy is nothing but counterproductive and inefficient. Scare tactics and disinformation no longer keep students away from drugs, and studies have shown that D.A.R.E’s misinformation actually causes students to use drugs rather than “Just Saying No”. Simple programs that are already in place at prestigious universities like McGill and Brown like harm reduction and medical amnesty would greatly affect the student’s relationship with the school. A sensible drug policy here on campus would not only make UMF unique, but it would also increase retention rates as well as reduces public safety funds wasted on the draconian drug policy we now have in place. This presentation will show the harm caused by the current policies, and the many benefits of what I consider a sensible drug policy.

April 11th! I know you want to go.

Winning the War on Drugs

SSDP Minutes for 2/14/07

Topics Discussed:

-SSDP Montreal Conference on Harm Reduction
-Bring ID
-Passport or Government Issued ID and Birth Certificate
-Register online for Free
-or else pay $5-10 at the door
-Dress appropriately
-Leaving at 12:30 PM on Friday.
-Meet at 12 behind UMF Computer Center
-Discussion on the different talks taking place at the conference

Members Present:

Nick Tolman
Sam Clark
Patrick Fontane
Jason Aceto
Marc Chiavon
Lauren Lobikis
Mackenzie Brooks
Dan
Davin Currie
Andrea Skillings
Mike Simpson
David Rocha
Derek Beaudet

Minutes for 3/07/07

SSDP Minutes 3/07/07

Topics Discussed

-Montreal Conference
-Need van drivers
-See UMF budget committee about money

-SSDP Northeast conference in Rhode Island
-Ask SSDP if they'll pay for RI and Montreal

-Tony's presentation of the THC Ministry


Members Present:(some signatures on the sign in sheet were illegible and some names were omitted because of it or I got their names wrong)

Nick Tolman
Tony Scala
Logan Simpson
Lauren Lobikis
Eric Talbot
Mckenzie Brooks
Matt Dolittle
Nate Burns
Mike Simpson
Paul Kabatznick
Sam Clark
Patrick Fontane
Adam (can't read last name)
Dave Rodna

A Department of Education Drug Survey.

From Facebook;

This survey was conducted by the Department of Education on campus at the University of Maine at Farmington. Those tested consisted only of first and second year students living in the dorms during October of 2005.

MORE INFO ON CANADA
March 16-18, 2007

Also; Do some lazy person activism.

From the site;

Since 1998, nearly 200,000 aspiring college students have been stripped of their financial aid just because they have drug convictions, usually for small-time marijuana possession. Meanwhile, convicted murderers and rapists are eligible to continue receiving federal student loans and grants.

Students need your help to pressure Congress to overturn the harmful and unfair aid elimination penalty. To make taking a stand as easy as possible, we've created a pre-written letter that you can edit and send to legislators.

West Paris Intitiative Gets Denied By Homophobic Christians

Yeah, smoking cannabis is totally like homosexuality...

Leave it up to the Christian Civic League to link those two;

“It’s good to be a citizen of West Paris today.” Pastor Dallas Henry, who leads Hosanna New Testament Church in neighboring Oxford, said, “The purpose behind this initiative was to do the same thing that the homosexual movement has done [in Maine] in the past, which is to normalize immoral behavior, in this case, marijuana smoking. The West Paris voters were not fooled by this effort by out-of-towners. It is encouraging to see people stand up for what is good, right, and proper.”

Pro-Pot Gets Smoked

Mmmm Ayahuasca

Wiki: Ayahuasca

Hot Damn!

Posted at TurnMaineBlue.com Imagine my surprise as I opened what I've generally considered a conservative paper to the editorial section. There, in big letters, I saw, "Legalizing pot..." and my jaw dropped.

From the Morning Sentinel: This weekend, residents of West Paris will be voting on an initiated local ordinance calling for this small Oxford County town, population under 2,000, to be declared a low-priority enforcement zone with respect to marijuana-related offenses. The community doesn't have a police force of its own. If passed, the law would apply to the county sheriff's office, which has jurisdiction in West Paris. It's questionable whether the ordinance would be legal, let alone enforceable. Nevertheless, its passage could send a small message to Augusta that there is grassroots sentiment in Maine for pot law reform and that the issue needs to be discussed -- seriously -- at the state level. It's generally agreed that marijuana is no more harmful than other recreational drugs that are perfectly legal -- alcohol and tobacco -- so why not treat all three the same way? ... We should consider converting a tax burden into a tax asset. That last part is the crux of the modern movement's argument. I would love to see this on the ballot in 2008.