From a young age, American children are warned about the dangers of marijuana. They learn to understand terms like "gateway drug," the "War on Drugs" and "burnout."

The laws of American society enforce this stigma of marijuana with harsh punishments. The possession of marijuana is illegal for everyone (with some medical exceptions), and the punishment for possession can range from probation to long stints in prison.

According to the FBI Uniform Crimes Report, there have been more than eight million marijuana-related arrests in the United States since 1993, including 786,545 in 2005. Marijuana users have been arrested at the rate of one every 40 seconds. Almost 90 percent of these arrests are for possession.

Alcohol, on the other hand, is legal. According to Narconon, an international, non-profit public benefit organization dedicated to eliminating drug addiction through prevention, education and rehabilitation, in the year 2000 alone there were 85,000 deaths in the United States alone caused by alcohol.

The amount of deaths caused directly by marijuana: zero. According to the Merck Index, an encyclopedia of chemicals and drugs published by the United States pharmaceutical company Merck & Co., it is theoretically impossible to overdose on marijuana. Marijuana-related deaths are also low according to Narconon, numbering arguably fewer than 1,000.

This is the type of information that a new Registered Student Organization at the UW wants to inform the public about.

The National Organization for Reforming Marijuana Laws and Students for a Sensible Drug Policy (NORML/SSDP) are on a mission to gather support from and educate the public about drug policies and laws concerning marijuana that they find to be inexplicably unjust and to dispel the stigma surrounding the use of marijuana.

"We want to start educating the population at the UW and Seattle about the myths that have been fed to us for years," Tim Kelly, president of NORML/SSDP, said. "We feel that current drug laws unfairly target pieces of the population who are underrepresented. Marijuana users are forced to keep it in the closet. We want to normalize it."

Members of NORML/SSDP want the laws involving marijuana to be equivalent to those involving alcohol. Their main argument for this is the great disparity between the injuries and deaths resulting from marijuana and those caused by alcohol.

"Some people who oppose current marijuana laws refer to us as the D.A.R.E Generation," Vice President Jaclyn Kaul said. "We've always been told that marijuana is wrong. However, the facts have been left out. Alcohol is legal, but definitely not safer."

Besides handing out flyers and demonstrating in the Quad, members of the organization are rallying with their larger national organizations to build support for the SAFER Initiative (Safer Alternatives for Enjoyable Recreation).

According to SAFER Colorado's Web site, the initiative "would make the possession of less than one ounce of marijuana legal under state law for individuals 21 years of age and older," effectively taking a step towards equalizing the laws concerning alcohol and marijuana.

"We want this question to appear on the spring ballot in Seattle," Kaul said. "Do you agree that the punishment for marijuana use should not be greater than that for alcohol?"

NORML/SSDP encourages students to seek them out, regardless of their outlook on drug use.

"I want to encourage people [to] get out and talk to us," Kaul said. "Even if they don't want to smoke or don't smoke, we want to talk to them so that they and us can learn more about the myths surrounding this issue.

More Information:

www.norml.org

www.ssdp.com

safercolorado.org/