a focus Pot haze Connecticut pot smokers can go back into hiding. Last spring they tentatively opened their closet doors a crack and let a little smoke escape. Not enough for most police to smell out and track down, but enough for a progressive state Superior Court judge to sense that the state marijuana law looked unreasonable, so he declared it unconstitutional. Evidently, the smell offended the state Supreme Court. They overruled the Superior Court's findings Monday, re-activating the law classifying marijuana with amphetamines and barbituates. The Supreme Court handed the law back to the lower courts with an observation that medical reports finding marijuana effects relatively harmless were “inconclusive.” Last February, state Superior Court Judge Robert 1. Berdon, dealing with a marijuana possession and intent to sell case, ruled unconstitutional the 1972 law which classified marijuana with barbituates and amphet mines. He said it was an “irrational grouping," for a drug as “harmless" as marijuana should not be classified with the more potent drugs. Berdon based the ruling on denial of constitutional guarantees of equal protection under the law. Berdon’s decision was not an endorsement of full legalization of marijuana. But it did imply that convictions and punishments could be handled with more leniency for marijuana smokers, than for other illegal drug users. The state Supreme Court obviously thinks other- wise. They have refused to recognize that hundreds of marijuana users in the state laugh off the law each week. practicing a perpetual form of contempt for the law. Many of the legalization arguments are old and familiar; for instance. the often-drawn comparison between the last decade of prolific pot-smoking and Prohibition. Regardless of medical reports, people drink alcohol. and they smoke tobacco and marijuana. We know the effects of the first two practices —- yet no federal or state government is attempting to clear. alcohol and tobacco from store shelves. Ironically, marijuana smoking remains prohibited, although some studies indicate its effects are less harmless than those resulting from alcohol. The ruling directly touches young people, who comprise the majority of marijuana users. Evidently. the state Supreme Court does not know the meaning of the word “progressive." Or they are secretly scared politicians afraid to tread on hot coals laid by state conservatives. Where there is smoke. there must be fire — but it smolders in the courts. and not with the users. PIRG Is Not A Ripoff To The Editor: ConnPlRG stands for Public Interest Research Group. and is working at over 150 campuses throughout the nation. It is stu- dent research with assistance by professionals. who in turn are hired and controlled by students. We need the funds. to pay the professionals. to get at the pro- blems that part-time student vo- luntccrs cannot hope to do by themselves. These problems include: con- sumer protection; occupational safety; ecological concerns; ra- cial. sexual and age discrimina- tion; student rights; government and corporate responsibility. A part-time volunteer organization without professional assistance cannot be effective here. We are unlike any other stu- dent organization because our sphere of research goes beyond academia confines. Therefore un- like any organization on campus we need a more effective funding mechanism to achieve the contin- uity and professionalism that the solutions to our problems de- mand. We did not simply slip by the students and ‘get on the fee bill. We had to go out and petition and explain to the students what we were all about. They responded with two or three times more signatures than any other student organization petition here has ever amassed. "hf addition. a committee was set up (composed of administra- tors. faculty and students) by Frederic Adams. Vice-President for Student Affairs and Service. to I study just how worthy ConnPlRG was to be on the fee bill. This study was so extensive that the committee was unable to report back to the Board of Trustees until late last spring. Hence the Board of Trustees‘ inability to approve of PlRG until their July meeting. All the infor- mation and investigations about PlRG took place when everyone was on campus. In short. all that work last year did not coerce the students into paying. but simply allowed Conn- PlRG's name to appear on the fee bill. If the student does not wish to support public interest research then he has simply to check no on the fee bill. Is this too much to ask for in comparison to how much PlRG has to offer? I feel not. The {Libertarians are pro- fessed anarchists and as such will not support any form of ‘social organization. We at PIRG know and believe that one person alone cannot hope to stand up against the monied interests of the state who continue to work against the public interest. it takes organiza- tion and professional assistance. and that's what PlRG's all about. Lawrence Ouellette Chairman The Lone Ranger By LARRY W. BOWMAN It has been the hallmark of Henry Kissinger’s foreign policy style to personally! involve him- self at the center of complex negotiations. In what may be his last major diplomatic effort, he is now off to Southern Africa to confront the many problems of that too long neglected region. Even for the Lone Ranger of western diplomacy the prospects must look daunting, and there just may not be enough silver bullets left. At the heart of the current mission is the joint American- South African desire to resolve the Rhodesian crisis quickly. One must assume the Zurich meeting with Prime Minister John Vorster of South Africa produced at least minimal agreement on strategy to be followed. At the heart of this diplomatic initiative is a plan jointly devised by the United Kingdom and the United States where a projected $1.5 to $2.0 billion in financial guarantees would be made avail- able to the 270,000 white Rhode- sian settlers. This is what is meant by "protecting minority rights" in the current negotiations. The money (presumably raised by Western governments) would secure the land and property held by whites whether they emigrate immediately or remain in Rhode- sia during and after a transition to African rule. Vorster must surely have a- greed to press Rhodesia’s Prime Minister Ian Smith to accept this cash settlement and, at the same time. to agree to a majority rule transition over perhaps a two year period. It remains unclear whe- ther Vorster will tighten South Africa's economic stranglehold over Rhodesia if Smith is predict- ably recalcitrant. The cause for this joint Ameri- can-South, African initiative a- rises out of the foreign policy debacle suffered by both coun- tries in Angola. In order to forestall the possibility that the Soviet Union and Cuba would repeat their Angolan success in Rhodesia. they (the Americans and the South Africans) are seeking instead to overthrow Smith themselves. Their reasons are clear. A military solution in Rhodesia (whether assisted by foreign troops or not) would almost certainly bring to power the most radical Rhodesian African nation- alist faction. This would mean that from Angola to across the heart of — Southern Africa to Mozambique. Marxist-oriented regimes would hold command. Such results pose substantial economic and strate- gic problems. and would almost certainly lead to an immediate escalation of pressure against South Africa itself. What are Kissinger's chances of success? lt must be recognized from the outset those most eager for a power transition in Rhodesia are not the Rhodesians ‘them- selves. Ian Smith has given no hint of any eagerness to retire, and the African nationalists are so frag- mented that each contending group shapes its strategy less by the desire for African power, and more by an assessment of its own chances of ultimately acquiring power. Thus, in effect, Vorster and Kissinger want to impose a solution on Rhodesians who. for the most part, do not share their goals. The potential for trouble is endless. Three pitfalls seem to stand out. The first is Smith will not give way and Vorster will find it politically impossible to force him out. Smith has based his entire strategy on the promise of con- tinued South African assistance. If pushed, he could surely embarrass Vorster or, also likely. escalate his attacks on neighbor- ing Mozambique in the hopes of provoking the Soviet Union and/ or Cuba to respond. This would give some credence to his off -stated view that white Rhodesia is the frontline against Communist expansionism. There is no indication that Western governments under any circumstance would fight beside white Rhodesia. but Smith's po- tential for making things messy is boundless. And Vorster has to take some care with Smith be- cause of his own domestic politi- cal situation. The second pitfall is that the Rhodesian Africans will remain fragmented. This is quite likely, and probably means any deal will be rejected by one or another faction. The Zimbabwe African Nation- al Union militants and the guer- rillas associated with the newly emerged Third Force are solely committed to armed struggle. Qlntmertirttt Baily (llampua Serving Storrs Since 1896 Susan A. Okula They are not only likely to reject any deal which would hand over power to Joshua Nkomo of the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union, but they would try to sabotage any financial deal made on behalf of the whites. No indication seems to exist that the frontline presidents of Zambia, ‘Tanzania. Botswana. Mozambique. and Angola are united on a single Rhodesian African faction. or on the financial plan. The entire African picture is loaded with uncertainty. Finally. there remain the broader issues of big-power rival- ry as it unfolds in Southern Africa. The Soviet Union scored a major foreign policy success in Angola. Both the Soviet Union and China are active in Mozambique. and each has good relations with the FRELIMO government there. How the Rhodesian situation turns out will have a lot to do with the future constellation of politi- cal forces within Southern Africa. Neither the Soviet Union or China has much interest in seeing Kissinger pull off a diplomatic coup. Through arming and train- ing of liberation movements. they can rightly claim a voice in the final settlement which Kissinger will find hard to overcome. or to swallow. The failures of past American policy in Southern Africa are likely to be hard for Kissinger to live down. In this situation all the opponents of a moderate solution in Rhodesia (whites and blacks alike) need to do is stall and wait. The urgency seems much greater in Pretoria and Washing- ton than it does in Salisbury. Moscow. Peking. or the liberation movement base camps. Larry W. Bowan is an assistant professor of political science at U C omi. Editor-ln-Chief Mark A. Dupuis Managing Editor Tony Robert S. Kravchuk Business Manager Cronin Steven D. Hull Senior Editors John Hill [[1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. John J. Kwolek ................... .. Mark Gould ........................ .. Marla Romash .................... .. Kathe Rogers .................... .. James Schembari ................ .. 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