In Columbus, OH, this year's theme of the annual Hempfest, organized by the OSU chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, will be "A Higher Peace in This Time of War."
SSDP here is very active, and its leaders -- Sean, Sarah, & Russell -- are intelligent, articulate, very left-wing, and most attractive young persons; they have been valuable student activist leaders in activities ranging from strike support to anti-war mobilization. Its leaders' well-rounded left-wing perspective, however, doesn't necessarily trickle down to all the youths that they mobilize for pot/hemp/drug decrim issues, alas.
On May 4 last year, about 800 kids showed up for the SSDP-organized "Million Marijuana March" in Columbus (I don't know how many participated nationwide), marching down High Street from OSU to Goodale Park in high spirits, happily chanting, "I Smoke Pot and I Like It a Lot!" to the delight of drivers and passersby, many of whom wildly honked and cheered in support of the march. At Goodale Park, Sean gave a brief speech linking the war on drugs on the domestic front to US wars past and present, especially Plan Colombia, and in the speech he asked the pot-positive kids to remember the four students murdered at Kent State on May 4, 1970. For most kids who marched, that may have been the first time that they heard about Kent State, Plan Colombia, etc. An admirable effort to move a single-issue movement into a left-wing direction. SSDP has never been able to mobilize the same number for activities that go beyond the domestic pot/hemp/drug decrim issues, though. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>