Fundraiser: Event to raise awareness about medicinal use of drug

By Antero Garda
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Many comedians like Giulian Jones are quick to point out the positive effects legalizing marijuana would have on society.

"How many times have you heard about a guy who got drunk and killed someone?" Jones asked in an interview from his home in Hollywood. "Often. How many times have you heard about a guy who smoked a joint and went out and killed somebody?"

"Maybe he got high, thought about killing somebody, ate a bag of Cheetos and forgot about it."

Jones and a huge lineup of famous entertainers, including Bill Maher, Kevin Nealon and Rick Overton, will be performing in "High Hopes" September 2, 2001 at the Improv Comedy Club in Hollywood. The show is being produced to raise awareness for the legalization of medicinal marijuana.

According to Howard Dover, the show's creator and one of its performers, 75 percent of the show's proceeds will be given to Californians for Compassionate Use, an organization that advocates the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. The other 25 percent will be given to an organization called Compassionate Moms which helps coordinate visits between prisoners and their families and also takes home-ridden patients on outside excursions.

Noting the multitude of comedic benefit shows, Dover explained that he created "High Hopes" because marijuana helped his cousin through his pain while living with AIDS. Since this realization nearly three years ago, Dover has produced nine similar benefits in the past three years in Montreal.

"Marijuana stimulated his appetite. It helped him keep down the drugs he was taking. It reduced nausea, and it helped him get back to as good health as possible," Dover said. "It really helped save him. It just got me thinking, 'Why isn't that more readily available?'"

Other performers on the show's lineup also questioned why marijuana is not legal.

"I'm thoroughly convinced over the last decade that we have legalized the wrong drugs," comedian Mike McDonald said from his home in Glendale.

Besides alleviating the pain that patients suffer, some activists point out that marijuana is more naturally produced than drugs that are already legal.

"Marijuana is grown free," Jones said. "You don't grow beer. You don't grow Pepsi-Cola. And you don't grow cigarettes. So it's odd that this is illegal."

While these activists continue to question why marijuana continues to be illegal, many share McDonald's frustration over the harsh laws regarding sale of the drug.
"It kills me how there's some kid in Michigan who's doing 18 years for buying a joint off an undercover cop at a Kiss concert, and I can go up there and kill somebody in my car and get out in three years," McDonald said. "It should be a no-brainer, but here we are having to have a benefit for this."

With the benefit show created to help raise awareness about medicinal marijuana, one performer, Cecily Knobler, feels that the college audience the college audience is
exactly the type of crowd that should attend the show.

"I think college, not that it's the first time you explore new ideas, is a time you can go against things you were taught," Knobler said. "I can't think of a better audience than the college crowd."

Not only are college students exploring new ideas. In a recent poll by USA TODAY / CNN / Gallup, 34 percent of adults favored legalizing marijuana - the highest amount in more than 30 years.

Though not everyone's opinion will change after seeing "High Hopes," Jones will still try to change the minds of his opponents.

"You will never hold up a liquor store after smoking two joints," Jones said. "You will never beat up your girlfriend after a bowl of some chronic. I guaran-damn-tee it. You might think about it, but then you're going to fall asleep in a puddle of your own piss."