PAGE FIVE Students Perspective: National and International from CPC Pick up a newspaper, magazine, watch the television, listen to the radio . . . You cannot avoid the youth and their increasing impact on society. A placard says "McCarthy for Presi dent" and with this symbolizes the growing dissatisfaction with the present political structure and specifically a dis satisfaction with the war in Vietnam. Backed by this rise in activism, especi ally student activism, a whole tradition of student riots in Europe through the centuries. Students, by their psychological nature, are freer than most other member of a society. On the whole they aren't strictly confronted with the decisions to earn a living and the responsibilities involved. The idea that they should be molded to play their roles for the times is obsolete and it has been demonstrated, both here and abroad, that there is vast discontent with a dominating politics of any Nation over the world. A Hypothetical: Narcotics On Campus? Keith is skying. Taking hold of his mind, his body suddenly grows to fill the entire room. The ominous quiet of the dorm rises to a crescendo of hums. Keith doesn't feel guilty about his actions, nor does he fear the police. For him, the police just represent another branch of the Establishment for which, he has re spect. Like many of today's youth, Keith belongs to that special sub-culture of society which has really dropped out. He hasn't dropped out simply because he has turned to pot, he hasn't turned to hippie type because that requires too much to commit himself socially. No ... Keith has completely dropped out. He is just a leaf on the deluge of society. He is not like his friend Thomas B. Tom is very active in student affairs, soft spoken, and fairly gentle. As a matter of fact Tom is too active. His fellow students despise him, from the moment he came to G. tech. he has made one fatal social mistake. He has taken a stand on something. He, skies on occasion. Meanwhile, in another dorm across campus, Bart J. is. busily wrapping small envelopes of marijuana, commonly known as "nickel bags". Mark, an honor student, ■sells marijuana for fun and profit. The fun part comes from somewhere out of state by any means of transportation feasible. For you see—Mark is a user too. He pays for his own "pot" by selling it, for about ten dollars/gram. Methedrine is coming more and more to the fore, although marijuana is still by far the largest selling narcotic in the U.S. It is estimated that around 30 lbs. of unprocessed "Meth" enters New York everyday. The reason why methedrine is rapidly replacing marijuana is simple con venience. Meth is easier to ship, hide, and use. Tonight, Keith and Tom are both going to Professor S's for coffee and small talk. After Keith and Tom leave Professor S. and his wife will 'sky' until early in the morning. Over their lives hangs the ominous cloud of apprehension and the paranoia which accompanies the user. Many years before, while Professor S. Was teaching up north, a few faculty members were discharged for being implicated by the police as pot users. The good Profess or and his wife know that being caught at this more conservative college could bring worse results. Sleeping quietly across campus in the new dorm is George Y. George is what the Establishment calls a "leader of Men", perhaps leader of robots would be a better terminology. You see George doe sn't think; he emotes. Presently he is dreaming of the excitement of future operations. Tucked away in one of the corners of his mind are the thoughts about his new assignment. Just this morn ing, the Dean had called him into his office and told him about the "sudden rise in the use of narcotics on the campus." George's assignment, "if he should choose to accept it", is to crack this syndicate. There is only one catch THE GUILfORDIAN George never gets the right man; he always succeeds in causing a disturbance which keeps the users on their toes. Also his constant harassment brings many non commitals over to their side. Some pot-smokers begin to treat it as if it were a religion. Perhaps this the prime reason why so many narcotics agents avoid any direct contact with stuff. They say that an agent can no longer be trusted after he has been on a "trip". Most agents wash their hands after every investigation in order to pre vent any accidental trips. Most narcotics agents are passionately against the hipp ies (Pot Smokers too)! The strength of their conditions leads one into caution when listening to their arguements. One never knows who is a "Narc" and who isn't. The results of this is that the user is submerged in a state of constant paranoia. Fortunately, the person who has turned on, very few people are ever appre hended and those who are, are hardly ever prosecuted. What will happen to Keith, Bart and Tom? Fear, anxiety, and Flight. Which isn't to bad, if you like plenty of excitement. Perhaps someday government policy will become versatile enough to handle these deviants, but this seems very far off when viewed in the cool hard light of the governments diffi culties in handling the Negroe. It seems highly unlikely that in a land of bigotry, and prejeudice that good-sense will prevail

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view