Form of Rebellion

But others, to whom drugs are a simple form of rebellion, saw the Monro statement as just another expression of the intolerant and wholly ridiculous attitude of the older generation. The Farnsworth statement, too, appeared intemperate, just filled with scary stories and no facts to back up anything. A teaching fellow, who helped write the narcotics section of the President's Crime Report, attacked the medical report in a letter to the Crimson. The Farnsworth Report says "marijuana produces significant dependence, to a serious degree" and can "of course, lead into addiction to narcotics." The President's Report disagrees with both arguments.

One freshman told his proctor, "If they have to make up all these stories about car accidents and the lacing of pot with stronger stuff, I'm convinced that there is no case against marijuana. They're grasping at straws."

Of course there is one very good case against pot--it is illegal, very illegal. Possession can mean up to five years in prison, and in Colorado a person can be executed for selling drugs to minors, on the second offense. The University may not approve of the drug laws, but it has to enforce them. In fact, it often keeps outsiders from enforcing them--that is the advantage Harvard has.

A Boston attorney challenged the marijuana laws this May in Suffolk Superior Court on the grounds that pot is neither harmful nor addictive. He seems to have a good case. Dr. Norman Zinberg of Harvard cites in a recent article in The Public Interest several reports--Allentuck and Bowman, Murphy, and LaGuardia--which contend that pot is harmless.

What is needed, Zinberg says, is more research; then an unbiased, unmoralistic appraisal of drugs should be made. The laws as they stand now serve as a fine deterrent to any kind of debate and any kind of study. That may be how authorities want it, the situation is unlikely to stay that way much longer.

Drug use, at Harvard and across the country, will probably continue to increase next year. The Narcotics Bureau--a remnant of Prohibition--has asked for more men to work on marijuana. Even if it gets them, arrests will be sporadic at best. Harvard, understandably, is not ready to take the lead in getting the laws changed. The University will be better off going back to the head-in-the-sand approach until either drug use subsides or the laws are changed. And that seems to be just what Harvard will do next year.

The main reason for the increase, both here and elsewhere, seems to be that students are using drugs earlier. They are starting in high school or prep school and are coming to Harvard with contacts already made at home or in Boston.