iry 31,
MARS HILL, NORTH CAROLINA
February 14, 1970
Academics of Drugs Reviewed
4iss Vil
slay aS
ersity Wilmoth casually deuces a basket while the opposing player attempts, In vain, to
irst gafl* a* oI Thursday, Feb. 12, Jim was only a lew points from breaking the school
home points In a career.
7 p.m.
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tterial.
lini-Mester Could Provide
ew Realm of Opportunities
by Linda Baldwin
jls will^ou know, every once In a while
season ° it’s fairly often these days),
(ball to*^® Hill College comes up with an
a for progressive education. The
division^st development in this pleasing
ingles concerns an idea that just
singles^ t let go; the possible incorpora-
wlll the mini-mester system into
ir of curriculum program.
^ f ® /’tini-mester system basically
lobin t® ® ® a fall semester lasting
II begi(V cpt--Dec., a spring semester
9 from Feb.-May and a January
which time each
aen would be able to direct his
' ® ® one course for four
•tom 7*^® feasibility of such a
iQfh discussed at
^17 I far. members of
IIj omaa student body by Dr.
Waw Professor of Physics
^..'^orest University.
ister°'^it^^ ^®rner, the mlnl-
leoenrt^^ fo’’
,den," "J, ®*®dies by advanced
'mbers'^i^allowing some faculty
'dents wh
^four-week a"?'’ remedial aid.
^e subject program in
vatlve „ 7"®'® kinds of in-
>se example,
'®'’ difficml! 7*’°
'■squired tn °"®
e for th ° apeak in that langu-
*sfer duration of the mlnl-
"'a miqh1°‘i®'' '® ®'“-
as unluf P'^egram in an over-
« aome of the
't'niunltv people Involved In
OPQ of “®''®'°Pa’ent might live
> rne communities In the
Buncombe-Madison area while con
ducting a particular project or sur
vey. Wowl The possibilities for the
mini-mester are as limited or un
bounded as our imaginations!
During the fall and spring semes
ters each student would be limited
to four courses. The reduction in
course load would provide students
with the opportunity to apply more
emphasis on fewer subjects. This
would entail a restructurization of
the college’s academic requirements
but could be done efficiently and
without a loss of educational Intake
on the part of the individual student.
For those who have mournfully
complained that they would like to
do more concentrated studying in
their preferred academic field the
mini-mester system sounds like an
answer to a prayer.
If the mini-mester system should
be adopted for use at MHC, stu
dents would probably continue to
begin the fall semester in late Au
gust and to complete the academic
year in early or mid-May. Christmas
break, which is already deemed un
necessarily long by most students,
would be shortened to allow time
for the mini-mester. However, the
mini-mester Itself would be a
change in the normal school routine
and would probably help students
avoid mid-winter scholastic lethargy.
Mr. Bob Knott, Chairman of the
Curriculum Sub-Committee, has said
that a proposal to adopt the mini-
mester system will be presented
next month to the faculty for ap
proval. Should the proposal be ac
cepted It has been speculated that
the 1971-72 school year would be
(continued on page 3)
by Wilson Laney
Introduction; Recent attempts to
stimulate student body interest in
the drug problem and its inher
ent social, moral, psychological, and
physical implications—by the Hill
top and by both Baptist and Metho
dist student organizations seem to
be failing. Their failure would seem
to be indicative of one of two fac
tors; either extreme student apathy
or a lack of knowledge on which to
base an opinion. Discounting the first
as improbable on the mentally alert
MHC campus, the second must be
in large measure responsible; so
the following is an attempt to pre
sent briefly the basic facts about
the most controversial of the Illegal
drugs.
The addictive and “mind-expand
ing” drugs can be divided into
several classes, depending upon
how you wish to classify them;
stimulants as opposed to depres
sants; addictive vs. non-addlctive;
or psychedelics, amphetimines and
barbiturates, and narcotics.
The psychedelics, hallucinogens,
or “mind-expanders,” include five
different groups of drugs; pheny-
lethylamlne derivatives (mescaline,
from the mescal cactus of Mexico,
which was discovered long ago by
the Mescalero Apaches); triptamine
derivatives (such as psilocybin and
psilocin, from Mexican mushrooms);
peperidyl benzilate esters; phen
cyclidine; and the controversial LSD,
which stands for d-lysergic acid
diethylamide. There are also some
hallucinogens which are derivatives
of amphetimines, such as MDA,
MMDA, and STP (dimethoxy-met-
hylamphetamine).
LSD is an organic compound
which is relatively simple to syn
thesize. Any college student who
has had a semester of organic
chemistry could run off a batch in
a couple of hours; all it requires is
proper ingredients and a few pieces
of glassware. The effects which
LSD will have on any individual are
completely unpredictable (as is the
case with any of the psychedelics).
Factors which can affect how one
reacts are one’s personal mood; the
setting in which the drug is taken;
the experience expected; the mean
ing for the individual of the act of
taking the drug, etc. Possible effects
could include the following; sight
is intensified; colors are vivid and
intensified and seem to glow; images
are numerous and persistent; illu
sions and hallucinations are com
monplace; details are sharper; depth
perception is greatly enhanced,
and so forth. The mechanism of
action of LSD, and any possible
damage which might result, are
both the subject of controversy.
There are as many different opin
ions as there are references to the
subject.
Marijuana, grass, pot, hashish,
etc., are all rough synonyms for the
same mild hallucinogen, which Is a
derivative of the hemp plant. Can
nabis sativa. The commercial varie
ties (which are used for making
rope) reach a height of 16 feet. The
drug producing strains are usually
much shorter and extremely branch
ed, since the drug is obtained in
the form of a resin from the leaves.
Marijuana can be eaten, smoked, or
chewed in various forms. Unlike the
other psychedelics, it is not a single
compound, but a complex mixture,
which affects the central nervous
system. The effects are comparable
to those listed above for the other
psychedelics.
Amphetamines and barbiturates
(“pep pills, phennies, bennies, and
goofballs” in the user’s parlance)
could very well be the most abused
of the commonly available drugs.
Amphetamines, such as Benzidrine,
Dexedrine, and Desoxyn are all de
rivatives of the compound ampheta
mine, which is a colorless, mobile,
slowly volatile liquid. All ampheta
mines are stimulants, producing
such effects as wakefulness, men
tal alertness, increased initiative
and elevation in mood, enhanced
confidence, euphoria and elation,
lessened sense of fatigue, increased
ability to concentrate, and talkative
ness. They are commonly used to
treat mild nervous depressions,
some forms of mental disorder,
alcoholism, narcolepsy, Parkinson’s
disease, and are also used in diet
pills to dull the appetite.
Barbiturates (Barbital, Phenobar-
bital. Nembutal, Seconal) are de
pressants. They are all deriva
tives of the compound barbituric
acid. All of them have a hypno
tic or sedative effect and in proper
doses produce sleep. Common uses
are in sleeping pills, as anesthetic
agents, and in treating epilepsy.
The narcotics, or hard drugs, in
clude opium, morphine, heroin, and
cocaine. The first three are all de
rivatives of the opium poppy,
Papaver somnifrum. They all re
lieve pain, produce a deep sleep,
and produce a sense of euphoria.
Cocaine comes from the coca bush
(Erythroxylon cocae), and is useful
to medicine in that it blocks nerve
transmission in nerves and thus
serves as a local anesthetic. All of
the narcotics are strongly addictive,
which is why their use is now
avoided except in extreme cases
where no substitute would be as
effective.
Further information on drugs is
readily available in the library in en
cyclopedias, particularly Britannica,
and in books such as The Beyond
Within and The Drug Dilemma, both
by Dr. Sidney Cohen.
Resource Development Program
Shapes Up For Summer Activities
The second Mars Hill College Re
source Development Program has
been approved by the North Caro
lina State Board of Higher Educa
tion and Dr. F. B. Bentley, president
of MHC, for operation beginning on
March 1, 1970. The project has re
ceived a Title I aid and Education
Grant of $20,000 and is supported
by funds from other public and pri
vate sources. It will offer opportu
nities for 65 students to actively
participate in municipal government
al agencies as well as individual
projects throughout Western North
Carolina.
Dr. Sheron Keiser has been
named Director and Miss Linda
Baldwin, junior from West Columbia,
S. C. will be the Co-ordinator. In
addition to MHC students there will
be interns from twelve to fifteen
other universities including five stu
dents from the University of Puerto
Rico.
The summer 1970 Mars Hill pro
gram will be an expansion of a
pilot project undertaken with the
State Planning Task Force of North
Carolina last summer that encom
passed twenty-three projects and 38
MHC students. The initial project
was directed by Dr. R. L. Hoffman,
Academic Dean of MHC, and is con
sidered to be the outstanding ex
ample of a successful model by
which an academic institution can
Imitate developmental plans. Appli
cations for the Summer 70 project
are available from the Community
Development Institute offices be
tween 8 and 5 Monday through Fri
day. Deadline for completed appli
cations is March 14.
Linda Baldwin, newly-appointed
Student Co-ordinator for the sum
mer internship program, will assume
duties March 1 for the physical ad
ministration of the internship pro
gram. She is a junior majoring in
English and Political Science-Socio
logy and is presently Editor-In-Chief
of the Hilltop.
According to Jim Elens, Student
Co-ordinator for the 1969-70 school
year, the coordinatorship was initially
a policy-making position, but in Its
present form it performs a key role
in the CDI and is an Ideal admin
istrative training base. During the
summer program, Linda will work
with a budget of $88,000, 65 stu
dents, 34 faculty members and ap
proximately 40 agency representa
tives. She will be responsible for
recruiting students from North
Carolina and other states to work
in the program. For these students
she will arrange travel allocations,
room and board and lend any as
sistance possible to make the pro
gram run smoothly. Her responsibi
lities also include working with
agency representatives Interested In
the program and arranging accomo
dations for them. Besides these acti-
vites, a tremendous amount of paper
work will be involved.
As Student Co-ordinator. Linda
will represent the college In several
conference. In the future she will
represent MHC at the Education
Board in Raleigh, at the Service
Learning Center in Atlanta and pos
sibly at educational committee con
ferences in New York. Following the
completion of the summer internship
on Aug. 31, she will be busy clos-
(see summer internship p. 3)