Keene State College junior Scott Dyer worked with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) to bring his own group to campus called the Keene Cannabis Coalition (KCC).
According to Dyer, this student-run group is ultimately working towards the legalization of marijuana for both recreational and medical use in New Hampshire.
Dyer, founder and president, stated the purpose of this group is, “to pursue and raise awareness of legalization efforts throughout New Hampshire.”
Dyer said he started this cause through the Integrative Studies Program (ISP) course, Student Empowerment and Activism, taught by KSC Education Lecturer Elizabeth Dubois.
In this course, students are required to become activists themselves by, “creating a purposeful plan to implement in the community or with an organization,” Dubois said in the March 27 edition of The Equinox.
Another group on campus, Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), has similar intentions. However Dyer explained the KCC is focused solely on marijuana legalization, whereas the SSDP mission is for a better drug policy for all drugs.
Contributed Graphic / Jesse Reynolds
When KCC held its first meeting Monday March 31, Dyer said he was expecting maybe 15 students to attend and was pleasantly surprised when 28 showed. He said several others contacted to him expressing interest but were unable to attend, bringing the new group’s total member count to around 35.
Chair of the Publicity Committee for KCC, Dylan Renner, said this group’s main purpose is to bring more awareness to this up-and-coming issue.
“We support reform for marijuana medically and recreationally, but definitely in a very responsible way. We’re not trying to come off as a bunch of stoners who want to make it easier to get our weed, that’s not the point at all. Marijuana has a lot of benefits,” Renner said.
Currently 19 states allow medical marijuana, including several New England states such as Connecticut, Maine and Rhode Island.
According to NORML’s website, research shows that marijuana is a, “valuable aid in the treatment of a wide range of clinical applications,” including “pain relief, nausea, spasticity, glaucoma, and movement disorders.”
“Over-the-counter pills and prescriptions that are chemically made, obviously some of that works but marijuana is a natural substance,” Dyer said.
Dyer continued, “It has a lot of scientifically proven things that the government and others didn’t take into consideration when they made the drug illegal.”
One way the KCC plans to bring attention to marijuana law reformation is through educating not only its members, but also the KSC community at large.
“We really want to distribute accurate health facts about marijuana,” KCC Vice President Jesse Reynolds said.
“That way, members of the group can go out and distribute that information to others,” he said. “It’s a subject that’s getting popularized and definitely gaining mainstream attention, but it’s also still somewhat taboo and that makes it hard to find accurate information about it, we really want to change that,” Reynolds said.
Apart from marijuana’s medical benefits, members of the KCC noted the monetary benefits of legalization through regulating and taxing the drug would be significant.
“You can’t ignore the fact that the money being brought in right now in Colorado [where marijuana is legalized] is substantial,” Renner said.
Renner continued, “That’s a lot of money that can be used towards a lot of issues that we have in this country — anything from education to unemployment.”
Through informational tables at events like Earth Week and Solarfest at KSC, the KCC explained they want to distribute informational pamphlets to evoke knowledge in students about marijuana reformation and also spread awareness about the coalition.
Dyer said they are hoping to bring the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) to campus Spring Weekend. In addition, the group is also working to bring 2014 New Hampshire Governor candidate Andrew Hemingway to campus to speak about a variety of topics including marijuana legalization. Group members said they hope for this to take place during the 2014 academic year. “If you enjoy smoking marijuana, whatever, that’s one thing, but if you’re interested in learning about how marijuana reformation works and trying to fight to get marijuana laws changed, I mean — that’s what it’s all about,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds continued, “If you’re sick of having to worry about cops and live in constant fear for doing something that’s not really harming anybody else and that’s not really harming yourself and you want to learn more about your rights when it comes to the police definitely considering joining the KCC.”
Rachel Heard can be contacted at rheard@keene-equinox.com
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Keene Cannabis Coalition is newest club on campus
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