Fall 2016 Issue 3

Page 1

GOLDEN GATE XPRESS Serving the San Francisco State community since 1927

Volume CIII, Issue 1

Wednesday – September 7, 2016

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Student protests result in new protocol by Ahalya Srikant asrikant@mail.sfsu.edu

Young medical

cannabis patients lose access

“We failed our students,” President Leslie E. Wong said in a statement released about a five-step protocol that will be used for future events. The controversial protest, led by members of the General Union of Palestine Students, resulted in a complicated investigation. According to the report, University Police Chief Reginald Parson said he wished he had received more support from Student Affairs in dealing with the protesters. “We are usually a team and one united voice,” Parson said in the report. “I felt that at some point in time earlier when it started, they should have engaged the leaders of the GUPS group about civil discourse and time, place, and manner.” The protesters faced punishment for their use of amplified sound, but the report mentioned instances when amplified sound has been used by protesters who went unpunished in the past. In one instance, protesters, who went unnamed, demonstrated next to the Republican Student Union’s table in Malcolm X Plaza and played the song “FDT (Fuck Donald Trump)” by YG and Nipsey Hussle over an amplified loudspeaker. Peter Sobrino, vice president of Young Americans for Liberty, said he believed the music limited RSU’s freedom of speech. Wong supported the five-step protocol and said “the report offers a thorough and fair critique. It makes exceptionally clear that the responsibility for the inadequate response prior to, during and following the event falls squarely on the shoulders of San Francisco State University administrators.” The report received mixed reviews from GUPS and SF Hillel. GUPS released a statement online about the investigation that read “the report highlighted that Hillel-affiliated students felt hurt by our protest, but it failed to include that we, as Palestinians who are targeted by the Mayor’s policies, felt erased by the Mayor’s presence.”

Mayor cont. page 2

Connor Caporicci can’t buy a lighter or pipe to smoke his medical-grade cannabis. Caporicci, a 19-year-old business management major, is a medical cannabis user with a legal prescription for the drug. This is the dilemma some 18 to 20-year-old legal card holders are facing now that California has begun enforcing its new Tobacco 21 Law. Passed in May, SBX2-7 has made it illegal for anyone to provide or sell tobacco products to someone under the age of 21. The law makes an exemption for military personnel, but leaves the state’s younger medical cannabis patients

struggling to get the resources they need. Retailers of pipes, bongs, vaporizers, rolling papers and other products traditionally used to smoke tobacco and marijuana have stayed under the legal radar by selling such items as tobacco products only, unless they operate as medical cannabis dispensaries. But not all dispensaries carry paraphernalia and some patients may not be close enough to one when they accidentally shatter their glass. Even smoking out of an apple requires fire. “The hardest part [of the law] is just the inconvenience of not being able to get papers or lighters,” said Caporicci, who has been denied sale at numerous gas stations and smoke shops since the introduction of the law. “It’s just a pain in the ass.” Although Caporicci doesn’t smoke

cigarettes, he finds it “annoying” that the right has been taken away from 18-year-old adults. Under the California Compassionate Use Act, adults 18 years and older can obtain prescriptions for medical cannabis to treat a myriad of health issues, including ailments like old injuries, anxiety and relief from cancer symptoms. Caporicci often relies on friends over the age of 21 to buy him a lighter when needed, but those friends could face penalties under SBX2-7 as well. Patients like Connor find themselves legally able to get their medicine but having to break laws to obtain a means to consume the medication. According to the law, people under 21 can’t be cited for using or simple possession of tobacco products, but both retailers and the general public can be penalized for selling or

giving anything deemed a tobacco product to anyone underage. The law is enforced by the California Department of Public Health, which works with investigators and local authorities and is given license in the bill’s language to conduct sting operations. Ron Owens of CDPH confirmed the department’s involvement in enforcement of the law, but also stated that the CDPH “Medical Marijuana program tracks the number of Medical Marijuana Identification Cards (MMIC) issued and maintains a registry to check for MMIC card validity.”

Graduation smooths with new initiative

New Dream Act coordinator

Speedier SHS appointments

Gators beat Warriors

by Victor Verdugo – page 4

by Breanna Reeves – page 5

by Lea Fabro – page 8

by Jesse Saeteurn – page 11

by Nik Wojcik nwojcik@mail.sfsu.edu

Cannabis cont. page 2


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Fall 2016 Issue 3 by Golden Gate Xpress - Issuu