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1. Maxine Waters introduces bill to end mandatory minimums
2. UGA NORML Faces Hearing On UGA Trademark
3. Connecticut Poll: Decriminalize small amounts of pot
4. CBS News Poll: Americans Oppose Legalizing Marijuana

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• Spring planting tips

The group that sold T-shirts with a picture resembling Hairy Dawg smoking a joint under the Arch will face a formal hearing with the University.

Georgia NORML, a student organization that advocates the reform of marijuana laws, has been accused of breaching copyright violation laws.

The Hairy Dawg image violated trademark regulations, according to the University and the Collegiate Licensing Company.

NORML was informed of these accusations in a letter from the Collegiate Licensing Company. The company told NORML it could not use the image of Hairy Dawg to promote and sell items.

Wojciech Kaczkowski, president of NORML, signed an agreement confirming NORML stopped selling the T-shirts, would not sell any more and had no intention of violating trademark law.

“It pretty much stated that we are not using any images of [the University], and I signed the letter because I did not want to engage in any legal battles with the CLC,” Kaczkowski said.

Despite signing the agreement with the Collegiate Licensing Company, Kaczkowski said he believes NORML did not violate trademark law because a member of the group drew the image and the image was used as political satire.

He argued NORML was targeted because of the group’s stance on marijuana.

“There are so many businesses in Athens that use the image of Hairy Dawg, and we are being singled out,” Kaczkowski said.

NORML has faced two informal hearings, one on Monday and one on March 6.

Kaczkowski said the University decided to put NORML on probation. The University also requested a plan from officers detailing how they would manage NORML for the next year if they decided to forgo a formal hearing.

“Accepting the sanctions would mean that we admit that we had violated the code of conduct, and we don’t believe we have done that,” Kaczkowski said.

via NORML.ORG US GA: Edu: Georgia NORML Faces Hearing On UGA Trademark.

You can see the image University of Georgia NORML got in trouble for and my commentary on the silliness of the University’s claim. America has a very strong tradition of protecting political satire. They’d better tread lightly, lest we push this for a serious lawsuit.

Because despite the fact that respectable figures such as Barack Obama and Michael Phelps are both one-time admirers of Mary Jane, they are not the ones advocating for the legalization of what seems to be a common and relatively harmless illegal drug.

Instead, we have the University’s chapter of National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Law member who suggested meeting for a 3 p.m. interview last year at Dunkin’ Donuts. This guy showed up blazed out of his mind, about to down a few doughnuts before heading off to a screening of the latest Harold and Kumar movie.

And even though that image fits into my column better than the herb at a 311 concert, I didn’t make any of it up. Not a bit. That’s how he wanted to spread his message to the media. It’s too bad, because I think they have research and sense on their side. They certainly slapped University officials in the face.

The problem is that instead of the suit and tie many would expect from a group trying to reform a set of laws, we have Harold and Kumar go to the Arch.

We have a spokesman holding a “news conference” looking like he just rolled out of bed and can’t wait to roll into a pile of his finest ganja.

Sorry guys, but the laughs you got from people walking by are what you can expect to get from people in the Capitol. Your audience will remain a small group of fellow tokers.

So go ahead and hit me with the “conformist” label. Tell me how I would have everyone on campus dressing like Frat-tastic Freddy and Sally the So-ho. It’s not true – I love color in my life.

But you know who doesn’t? Congress. And the second they see Weed lovin’ Willy in the Capitol with sporting red, green and yellow, they’re going to smile and walk away. It won’t matter how many purple haze-loving hippie signatures you have on your petition.

So try a shave and a shower, maybe a blazed visit to the barber, and then pitch your message. Maybe you’ll get somewhere. Even if you don’t, you’ll always have Afroman.

via Better image key in marijuana debate – Opinions.

Oh, do I get pushback from some marijuana activists when I make this point!  ”We shouldn’t have to dress like ‘the Man’!”  ”They need to accept us for who we are!”  ”We don’t need to be ashamed of our diversity!”  ”It’s hypocritical to dress up like a corporatist when that’s not what we are!”  ”We should be proud of our tie-dyes and long hair and scruffy beards!”

Nobody is telling you to not be who you are, we’re just saying, “be the best you can be”.  For example, Vivian McPeak, executive director of Seattle Hempfest, is one of the most articulate and well-informed advocates for cannabis law reform in the country.  He also has back-length dreads and facial hair.

But when Viv shows up to represent to the mainstream, he’s wearing a nice suit, his dreads are tied back and neat, his beard is trimmed and presentable.  And for some occasions, he will just defer to someone else more “square” looking, because he’s self-aware enough to know how the mainstream media will frame him and unselfish enough to think of the mission over himself.

This does not mean I reject our heritage and culture, far from it.  I rock my tie-dye where appropriate and can be as silly a blazing stoner as anyone else.  But I understand that when the Beer Industry lobbyists show up in Washington, it’s not Larry the Cable Guy and Will Ferrel from “Old School” chatting up the representatives.

You will never find an activist quicker to jump on a media opportunity than Mason Tvert of SAFER.  Yesterday I told you of the campus controversy at the University of Georgia, where our NORML chapter there made a “Legalize” t-shirt featuring the Georgia bulldog and the famous Arch (click link for pics).  I hadn’t even considered the fact that UGA logos appear all over alcohol-related products…

ATHENS — Controversy erupted at the University of Georgia late Wednesday afternoon after university officials threatened to throw a student organization off campus for producing T-shirts that call for the legalization of marijuana and feature a drawing of UGA mascot Hairy Dawg smoking a marijuana cigarette. Students responded Wednesday evening by teaming up with a national non-profit organization to launch a “Stop the Hypocrisy” campaign in defense of the shirts and their political statement, and highlighting UGA’s use of its logo and mascot to promote alcohol use. More information is available at the campaign’s Web site.

Georgia NORML at UGA will hold a news conference and demonstration Thursday at 12:15 p.m. in front of the UGA Campus Bookstore in Tate Plaza, at which students will be wearing the controversial T-shirts and displaying examples of officially licensed UGA alcohol paraphernalia purchased by students in the campus bookstore.

Statement from SAFER Executive Director Mason Tvert:

“Hairy Dawg is a public figure, and these T-shirts clearly constitute political satire. Surely UGA’s lawyers are aware of the sound legal precedent that protects the freedom to such political speech. The administration simply dislikes the marijuana-related content of that speech.

Every objective study on marijuana has concluded that it is far safer than alcohol both to the user and to society. Alcohol contributes to overdose deaths, injuries, sexual assaults and date rapes, whereas the use of marijuana does not. Why is it okay for UGA put its logos on shot glasses and other alcohol-related paraphernalia — and sell it to students and visitors at the campus bookstore — but not okay for Georgia NORML to depict Hairy Dawg making the safer choice to use marijuana instead?

UGA officials should leave Georgia NORML alone and stop sending a dangerous ‘alcohol-only’ message to students.”

(RedandBlack.com) A club that sold a T-shirt with the image of Hairy Dawg smoking marijuana and sitting by the Arch is in trouble because of the University’s logo policy.A member of the Georgia chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws drew the picture of the University mascot during the fall 2008 semester. The group put the image, drawn by sophomore Greg Stone, on 50 t-shirts and its Web site.

NORML President Wojciech Kacowski said his organization was contacted via e-mail on Feb. 11 by Megan Janasiewicz, a program adviser for the Center for Student Organizations. Janasiewicz instructed NORML to remove the image from its Web site and to stop distributing T-shirts, according to a copy of the e-mail obtained by The Red & Black.

If NORML didn’t follow the University’s instructions, the group’s status as a student organization would be in question, the e-mail stated.

Later in the week, Janasiewicz sent Kacowski an e-mail to notify him that the club could continue selling the T-shirts.

“We understand that this fundraiser probably supports your organizations initiatives and are willing to acquiesce in this matter,” Janasiewicz wrote, according to a copy of the e-mail obtained by The Red & Black. “Please remember to have all future shirt designs approved by the University.”

But the matter was not resolved. On Monday, Kacowski received a contradictory e-mail from Joshua Podvin, assistant director of student activities and organizations.

Podvin wrote the Office of Legal Affairs asked the Center for Student Organizations to have NORML turn in all unsold T-shirts and to take the image off its Web site by today at 5 p.m., according to a copy of the e-mail obtained by The Red & Black.

I checked out the logo policy at University of Georgia and it appears the visage of “Hairy Dawg” is property of the athletic department.  But if UGA NORML’s bulldog is supposed to be Hairy Dawg, then he’s lost his cap and collar and gotten a lot of Botox injections.

The arch is part of the UGA logo, however. But the UGA arch isn’t covered with marijuana vines and, in a somewhat M.C. Escher sort of way, that center column of the arch can’t possibly be footed along the same plane as the outer columns without embedding directly in Botox Dawg’s lower spine. I believe the center column actually rests behind the front face of the arch, thus rendering it a frame of a poorly-built lean-to.

UGA NORML sold out of the fifty shirts and the resulting controversy over a bulldog head and a weed-covered arch has informed people far outside Athens, Georgia, that there is a college NORML chapter there. Let this be a lesson to everyone involved. I’m not sure what the lesson is, though.