Does marijuana cause "amotivational syndrome?" As a five-year marijuana legalization activist, I have long argued that this is simply another piece of government propaganda about a drug which all objective medical studies have found to be safer than any of the legal drugs used in this culture. To the approximately 10,000 recreational users of marijuana at this university: You now have the chance to prove that I am right.

This November, six months after graduating with highest distinction from this university, I was planning to leave this cold, conservative state and move to California. Then I got a phone call from Rob Kampia, current president of Penn State National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, informing me that he would be running for Undergraduate Student Government president this spring. Finally sensing some real hope in this movement, I decided to put off my move until May 1993, and fight hard to dig a strong foundation for this movement in Pennsylvania in the interim.

Rob Kampia and running mate Beth Schneck are not just the "marijuana smokers" candidates -- they are the candidates for anyone who believes that adults have the fundamental right to control their own bodies and minds. They will work hard to reinstitute recycling, hire a gynecologist at Ritenour, begin a rape awareness program, resolve the bike path fiasco, abolish the ridiculous "3-person limit" on town housing, and crack open the budget to give students some ammunition in their fight to stop tuition increases. They are the only ticket with actual "activism" experience -- Rob with his civil liberties issues and Beth as a volunteer at the Women's Resource Center.

They will break their asses to fight for the rights of all of the students, fostering a sense of student empowerment encouraging everyone to join in the struggle. Even if you don't smoke pot, consider that their marijuana proposal is fairly modest -- make things fair and consistent by reducing the University's marijuana disciplinary sanctions to those of an alcohol violation (one semester disciplinary probation), of which the students voted in favor during last year's USG elections on a non-binding referendum.

If you do smoke pot, now is your chance to finally make a stand. Take two or three minutes on Wednesday, April 1 to go into the HUB (or your commons if you live in a residence hall) and vote for Rob Kampia and Beth Schneck. Send the message that amotivational syndrome is a dirty lie. Stand up for your rights -- and tell all of your friends to do the same. Show me that there is a reason to stay in Pennsylvania. I really believe that there is hope here, and that you will come through. However, if Kampia/Schneck don't get at least 5,000 votes, I'll have to assume that pot smokers in Pennsylvania simply don't care about their rights, and I'll be going to California with an aching in my heart.