Leave it to the Columbia City Police Officers Association in Missouri to try to turn back and increase punishments for marijuana, against the will of the voters. Six months ago the voters in Columbia City elected to decrease punishments for marijuana. Now, the police officers are trying to repeal it.

Students led the drive for the initiative that passed, and allows students to retain federal student aid by referring all marijuana arrests to a city court instead of to the Feds. Did you know you can lose your federal student aid if you are busted for marijuana? Well you can. Isn't that discrimination? Especially for the hundreds of thousands of medical marijuana users we have in the United States today. Users of marijuana should not be denied federal student loans. Alchohol is more dangerous than marijuana.

Students at CU and CSU in Colorado have been trying to get the administration to acknowledge this with non binding resolutions that passed at both campuses. Yet, both administrations refused to treat marijuana equally with alchohol.

The Columbia City police have been respecting the new initiative except for trying to change it. The Columbia Police Officers Association has got it wrong this time. Our country can't afford to discriminate against marijuana users. Our jail systems can't handle it and we shouldn't be paying taxes to lock up marijuana users. Our police forces should be focused on more serious crimes. The cops in Columbia City are wasting a lot of time.

See http://www.growingplantsisnotacrime.com for more information.

Eric Nielsen
San Diego
http://www.growingplantsisnotacrime.com