Columbia students have created a chapter of the nationally-recognized group NORML, an organization aimed at dispelling what it says are the myths and propaganda regarding marijuana.

NORML, which stands for National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, is headed at Columbia by President Benji Marton, junior fiction writing major and Tommi Swift, senior film and video major. The two friends decided to form the group at Columbia earlier this year and have been working to spread the word throughout campus.

The duo said their group isn’t promoting drug use or telling people they should smoke marijuana, but rather view its use from the health care and human rights aspect.

“We are fighting for every medication to be available,” Swift said. “NORML’s bigger stance is that it is financially  not  benefiting our country. There’s proof that a lot of people are in prison that shouldn’t be,  and also I think that’s another human rights angle—a lot of people are being taken advantage of through the legal system, which needs to stop.”

On Nov. 12, the group held its first event, a screening of the film Grass, which focuses on the evolution of marijuana propaganda.

“We look at the ’30s and laugh, and there’s still propaganda today that might be not quite as ridiculous, but it’s still present,” Marton said. “I think propaganda is very dangerous. I mean, anything the government does that’s not true is something people should be concerned about.”

The group searched for faculty members to serve as their faculty advisor, but Marton and Swift said they had a hard time finding someone to support them. They sought after Louis Silverstein, distinguished professor of Humanities, History and Social Sciences to be their adviser, to which he agreed. Silverstein said he thinks it is important that Columbia has a group like this at the college.

“Columbia is an institution of higher education, and ideas like this, which are controversial, should be discussed in the open,” Silverstein said. “The goal is to see what makes sense in terms of the legalization of marijuana, how to separate fact from fiction and come up with a same public policy.”

Silverstein said he agreed to be NORML’s faculty adviser because he felt that students are entitled to have their voices heard.

NORML has been trying to generate more events on the campus, however the group is having difficulties because of the lack of student involvement. During its meetings, NORML has shown films that focus on people who have been directly affected by medical marijuana use, which they have found beneficial.

“I think that the [representatives] of the medical side of marijuana are totally self-explanatory,” Swift said. “You see these people in extremely dire situations; for the government to say, ‘No, you can’t have this because it’s deemed socially inappropriate’ is so ridiculous.”

Marton said that because he is graduating in fall 2010 and Swift in spring 2010, his main goal is to see the group continue at Columbia after he and Swift graduate.

“We want to make the group present in the Columbia community,” Marton said. “We want people to hear what we have to say.”

While no future events are set, the two encourage any students interested in the group to join the group to continue to get the discussion going on campus. They are strongly interested in hearing the students’ opinions, especially those that oppose their viewpoints.

“We are open to all points of view,” Swift said. “In all honesty, I think how things get changed is when one point of view meets up with the other. We encourage people with opposed viewpoints to meet up with us.”