Page 1 • Reporter
News
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
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Minnesota State University, Mankato
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THURSDAY
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FRIDAY
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Alcohol education Politician runs through demonstration on platform and experience
of marijuana legalization
Mock house party seeks to educate, inform students about party safety
Tim Davis campaigns for a U.S. Senate seat with the Minnesota Grassroots Party EMRE ERKU
a&e editor
For many years, the United States has voluntarily fragmented itself into two major political parties. Citizens are asked to blindly follow them, as less popular parties incorporate abstract ideals into their policies and, therefore, are inevitably underfunded. But what exactly are “abstract ideals,” and haven’t they done much to benefit our society over the years? Third parties have been influencing our politics since the mid-19th century. Take for example the Liberty and Free Soil parties advocating anti-slavery sentiments during the Civil War. If it weren’t for the Populist Party in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, women’s right to vote, direct election of senators, and income tax would be nonexistent. During the great depression, Socialist Party ideals inspired Franklin D. Roosevelt to implement workplace safety laws, unemployment insurance, Social Security and social safety nets into his political agenda. It’s clear that all of these seemingly minor entities have helped shape America and have created new and innovative ways for us to deal with social and economic issues. United States Senate hopeful Tim Davis, Minnesota’s Grassroots Party representative, also believes in abstract implemen-
tation – the re-legalization of marijuana to be specific. Davis says that marijuanarelated arrests have led to an overpopulation of America’s prison system. With that, the vulnerability of these institutionalized citizens has caused the private prison industry to use these so-called “offenders” as a form of slave labor, a practice that has been in use since Richard Nixon’s “war on drugs” during the mid-70s. Many Americans are recreational users of the drug, while the biology of the plant has properties that are recognized by many physicians to be lifesaving. Cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma are sicknesses that can be treated, at least in part, through medically prescribed marijuana. Accordingly, Davis believes that marijuana can save lives and strengthen the U.S. economy. While countless lives have been lost due to monstrous drug cartels that specialize in the trade of marijuana, Davis believes that American subsidizing of the drug would lead to the decline of these maniacal entities and could shift the entire “green” economy into our hands, and strengthening our economy. According to Davis, marijuana’s addictiveness, as well as potential health hazards, are overblown. “Even the DEA, stuck in all
Marijuana / page 18
archive • msu reporter Students who tour the Phi Kappa Theta house Thursday will be given Solo-brand plastic cups, but instead of alcohol, they will be filled with valuable information. ERIC PERRINE
staff writer Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Student Health Services will co-host the upcoming 10th annual Mock House Party with the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. The party, which takes place Thursday from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30, has been designed to provide a “sober perspective” for MSU students according to Samantha Coffin, Student Health Services graduate assistant. Attendees will navigate the fraternity house as they encounter scenarios acted out by student volunteers, which have been designed to mimic real life low and high-risk party behaviors, according to Coffin. “So, for example, we have a marker-facing, where someone is in the kitchen passed
out and two of [his or her] friends are drawing on [his or her] face with a marker and the other two are discussing how they should handle it,” Coffin said. Those who attend will learn how to turn a high-risk situation into what health services considers a lower-risk situation. “There’s both high-risk behavior of ignoring the situation and the lower risk of actually making the choice to call 911,” Coffin said. Health services will also present other situations involving alcohol and drug use that the average party-goer may not encounter or know how to reason through. “There is a compromising sex scene where it is a couple reenacting not being able to have consensual sex because they’re both drunk, regardless to the fact that they’re a
EMRE ERKU’S AN EDITOR’S THOUGHT SEE PAGE 11
couple,” Coffin said. A peer pressure drug scene “where two friends are trying to pressure another friend into smoking marijuana” will also be acted out. Each of the scenarios, as well as the house party itself were not targeted towards a specific group of students, nor have they been designed to influence the students’ decision; but, rather to provide the tools for responsible decision-making. “I think our goal is not to target an age group and not to target drinkers and nondrinkers,” Coffin said. “We are just communicating with students about high-risk and low-risk behaviors. We are not telling students not to drink we are just giving them the tools to make good decisions when they choose to
House Party / page 18 EDITORIAL
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INDEX: A&E
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SPORTS
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