European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 25, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 16 the stars and stripes wednesday May 25, 1977 William  n. Is conservatives wrong on pot stand the conservative party of Newyork state la of All political parties the closest to my heart or reasons ideological historical and personal and that party is now engaged in making a bad mistake with National implications. Herewith a Cri de Coeur from a godfather Godson of that party. In new York state As in so Many Stales there Are draconian penalties for smoking marijuana. Three years ago Visitin Attica prison. I spotted alone in his cell a John p. Roche the prof s offence aiding . It is understandable that a Colleg might try to fire a professor for giving Aid Ana Comfort to an enemy in wartime it impart of the constitutional definition of trea son. However providing Aid and comforto the government of the United states in peacetime hardly merits academic prose cution except at Brooklyn College in new York  one Michael Selzer of the political science department was brought up on charges. His offence after doing some re search in Europe on the personality characteristics of terrorists he spent is minutes with an official of the Central intelligence Agency discussing his work. That s All. He was not an employee of the Agency they had not commissioned his project All they wanted was to debrief him a fancy Way of saying find out if he had Learned anything interesting. The practice is very common in the govern ment based on the sensible theory that intelligent americans travelling abroad May provide additional perspectives an affairs of state. Sometimes it can provide important in formation to modify one example a bit. The department of defense Learned Acci dentally from an Engineer that some air Force planes would have trouble Refu Lingin a nato country because of incompatibility Between Gas hoses and intake  was visiting a base on other matters when a Usan plane made an emergency Landing and had watched with some amusement As the mechanics improvised smaller fuel spout. It took them 40 minutest apparently if this Chap had been a pro Fessor of engineering at Brooklyn College he would have been in trouble. Like professor Selzer he had not been a spy but took it As a matter of course that his experience was available to his country. But Brooklyn College s political scientists went into spasm which would require a Franz Kafka to describe adequately. First of All. Selzer s brother in Law also a member of the department fingered him for his wicked deed and the collective appointed an and hoc committee to investigate and recommend appropriate action. Then in january this committee re ported Back to the department a general policy  the operative Section read it is the position of the members of the political science department that the standards and ethics that underlie membership in the academic Community precludes any agreement by a faculty member to work secretly for a government intelligence gathering Agency let s Stop Here for a moment. As i stands this makes perfectly Good sense except i would broaden it to the general academic usage that no faculty member engage in outside employment without the knowledge of his institution. Whether that Job is moonlighting As a columnist or spying out in Kurdistan for the Cia under scholarly cover is irrelevant. But did pro Fessor Selzer work secretly for a govern ment intelligence gathering Agency his colleagues apparently thought so and with one dissent they recommended to the president that Selzer be dismissed the minutes of the department meetings Selzer abroad was not there to defend himself suggest that opinion was almost unanimous on the crucial Point that Selzer had admitted being a Covert .  were a number of moving speeches about the wickedness of cooperating wit the . As undermining academic free Dom and , Selzer never confessed anything except talking for 15 minutes to a ."debriefer." what is wrong with that i once spent half an hour on the phone with a Tass news correspondent who wanted my views on the Jackson amendment without feeling that this somehow aligned me with the soviet politburo i told him it was for real which i would have told anybody who called. If my colleagues had accused me of making an association with the russians to use a term employed against Selleri would have told them Totake a flying jump off the Washington to  say this to emphasize the Point not to equate the . Which is our Side with Tass which is a notorious . Cover. What it comes Down to is a Man who had previously been recommended for tenure by his Collongues is now in limbo eve though the president of Brooklyn College refused to give him the sack. The Cas against him was pure Flim Flam but Indi Cates the intensity of an anti american Lynch mentality among intellectuals who should be the first to take arms against such quintessential anti americanism. Cd King fat lurch to May be the Emp of civilization As we have know it 21-year-old former student busted in som Rural county and sentenced by a literal minded judge to two  the late sixties and Early seven ties the Public mood changed to the extent of opposing jail sentences for marijuana users. However a referendum in californian 1972, proposing decriminalization for marijuana users was Defeated and it was wearily assumed that America would set out resolutely As in some of the surviving prohibition counties to maintain primly a Law on the books while regularly flouting it. My guess is that you could walk into police station in new York City dragging on a marijuana cigarette without getting arrested but there is always that judge out there before whom a marijuana users occasionally paraded who simply Leafs through the statutes and prescribes the legislated penalty. It is to shelter the occasional victim that a Reform Bill has Bee put together in Albany which Bill at the last Reading is threatened by concerted lobbying against it by the conservative party of new . Serphin maltese executive director of the party is Correct in pointing out that there is increasing evidence of the danger of marijuana. Or. Nicholas Pace presi Dent of new York City s Council on Alco holism writing in the new York times designates alcohol As the single most dangerous drug now consumed in the unite states but tells us that marijuana could better it. Scientific studies worldwide have shown that chronic marijuana use causes inhibition of cellular growth reduction in sperm production development of abnormal sperm cells interference of the synthesis of important genetic material in the cell interference with the immune system destruction of chromosomes abnormal embryonic developments and birth defects in experimental animals and above All brain  cannot be overemphasized that to seek a Reform in the Laws is not to encourage the use of marijuana tire one proposition does not follow from the other anymore than it follows that the stricter the penalty the More infrequent the use. The proscription of marijuana smoking by Law has failed As unmistakably As National prohibition failed. What is needed int such Laws As recurrently on the books in new York which punish Possession of As Little As one Quarter ounce of marijuana with up to one year in jail and up to seven years for greater amounts. What s needed As or. Pace suggests is something on the order of the Sac Ramento citation diversion program which requires youths arrested for posses Sion to take a drug information study course upon the completion of which their arrest records Are wiped  any explicitly conservative party is especially vulnerable to the charge of in thinking traditionalism and it is awful to think of the contempt the party will earn itself if it succeeds in its current  is said that the conservative party seeks an Opportunity to show its muscle. Ifs an analysis by John Stuart Mill is Rele vant. He said in a speech in parliament never meant to say that the conservatives Are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people Are generally conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that i hardly think any gentleman will deny it. Suppose an party in addition to whatever share it May possess of the ability of the Community has nearly the whole of its stupidity the party must by the Law of its Constitution be the stupidest party and i do not see Why honorable gentlemen should see that position at All offensive to them for it in sures their being always an extremely powerful  but there Are other ways to achieve Power and these should be elected. Id