New NORML Chapter Organizes Marijuana March 
BY MATT GREEN AND ALYSON DAME

At 7:30 p.m. on May 5, a large crowd gathered at the Tappan Square bandstand for the first annual Oberlin Marijuana March. The event, which lasted about two hours, consisted of performances by student bands and speeches.
The event was sponsored by Cures Not Wars, an international organization advocating the reform of marijuana laws in various countries around the globe. A hundred and fifty cities conducted similar events on the same day. Approximately 60 people showed up in support of the event. “I was really surprised by the attendance,” co-organizer and sophomore Blake Rehberg said. Rehberg continues to learn how big the marijuana scene at the College is. “I know second-hand of professors and staff people who smoke,” Rehberg said.
On a local level, the event was organized on a whim by the local chapter of the National Organization For Reform of Marijuana Laws. Rehberg started an Oberlin chapter of NORML earlier this year. The club is headed by Rehberg and sophomore Jesse Kanson-Benanav. The event was partially intended as a kickoff for the recently formed NORML chapter in an attempt to get people’s attention and build a membership base. “This seemed like a good way to get publicity and new members,” Rehberg said.
As a student organization, the chapter is in the charter process.
On a larger scale, the event was a protest against marijuana laws in this and other countries. “We want to raise awareness of the harm that’s caused by our society’s views on marijuana and benefits that can come from reform,” Kanson-Benanav said. Rehberg also spoke. “The main point of my talk was education. That’s what NORML needs to do is educate people about their rights,” he said. Rehberg cited the fact that possesion of under 100 grams of marijuana is not criminal in Ohio. One could be fined, but not sent to jail. “That’s almost four ounces, people need to know stuff like that. All I ever learned was ‘Don’t do drugs, Say No to Drugs,’ and that led to me being arrested three times,” he said.
NORML believes that marijuana should be legalized for recreational and medicinal use, as well as for the production of industrial hemp. The rally remained orderly throughout its entirety, with no intervention from either police or security. “We feel that smoking pot at these events deligitimizes the movement,” Kanson-Benanav, who was pleased by the minimal police presence, said. 
Rehberg and Kanson-Benanav met with Security before the event, but Tappan Square is public property and therefore patrolled by Oberlin police. 
“Security doesn’t really care,” Rehberg said, adding, “I’ve been on North Quad smoking and they walk by and it’s blatantly obvious. I’ve been in the ’Sco with people smoking and three security guys there.” 
NORML intends to continue as an active club next year with plans to organize a second march in May of next year. A long-term goal of the Oberlin NORML chapter is to organize a medical initiative in Ohio. Rehberg said that the currently conservative Ohio state governent was an obstacle, but is not deterred. “It’s a long-term goal, definitely. But within the next ten years I feasibly see a medical initiative being passed,” Rehberg said.