America’s longest and most expensive war, the War on Drugs, has been going on for about 40 years and costs more than $51 billion annually, according to Drug War Statistics at drugpolicy.org.
To educate students and the community about this issue, the University of Idaho’s Students for Sensible Drug Policies (SSDP) is hosting a “peaceful End the War on Drugs Rally” with help from Young American’s for Liberty (YAL) at 1:30 p.m. Friday on the Theophilus Tower Lawn.
“I don’t want this to be a rally where people show up smoking pot, and yes, it’s on 4/20, but I want this to be about educating and informing people how to express themselves to make a statement on campus about the drug war,” said Eric Billings, SSDP member and rally coordinator. “Our country is still wasting billions of dollars on a war that has never worked in the first place by tearing families apart and locking people up for non-violent crimes.”
Candidate for Congress Rob Oats, Professor Emeritus at the UI Eric Jensen, and attorney Tim Gresback will speak at the rally. Billings said he looked for speakers that were qualified in their fields of study and would help people better understand drug policies, the issues and how to protect themselves.
“More drugs are consumed on college campuses than any other communities, and because Moscow is a college town, a lot of students get in trouble for drinking, marijuana or other drug issues,” said Jami Riener, SSDP president.
Riener said a main goal of SSDP is to get the Good Samaritan Policy initiated at UI. This means when a person calls 911 for medical help in an emergency relating to alcohol and other drugs, the Good Samaritan Policy would stop them from getting punished, even if they are under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.
“Over 70 campuses in America are using the Good Samaritan policy,” Billings said. “Without the policy intact, about 5 to 10 percent of the people who call for help get prosecuted. Which is why over 50 percent of people don’t call the cops, resulting in people dying.”
Along with policy changes, Reiner said more than 75 percent of Americans support the legalization of medical marijuana. SSDP wants to educate others about the consequences of too-harsh marijuana policies and the benefits that would come from legalizing it.
“Handcuffs are not a cure, arresting people and putting them in jail is just setting them up for failure,” Riener said. “By sending these non-violent crime offenders to jail, we’re wasting tax payer money and causing more problems.”
Riener said she hopes Idaho will eventually follow in the footsteps of surrounding states that have moved toward legalizing medical marijuana.
“Idaho is a long way from change, but change has to start somewhere,” Riener said. “Students need to know that we have a huge force when changing city ordinances and campus law. We should be following drug policies that make more sense and protect us, instead of ruining people’s lives by sending them to jail for non-violent crimes.”
Sterling Stoddard, president of YAL said the group wanted to help SSDP with this rally because a large portion of YAL focuses on limited government.
“We feel like the drug war isn’t in line with the limited government philosophy. The war on drugs has helped grow to an inappropriate scale, which isn’t an efficient use of our resources,” Stoddard said. “In Idaho specifically, I think the older generation thinks there is no need for any kind of reform, but as time changes, and our generation gets older people will hopefully begin to see that.”
Billings said although this is mainly a conservative state, the clubs hope to do this peaceful rally annually and continue to work toward policy changes in Idaho and the rest of America.
Michelle Gregg can be reached at [email protected].