Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
When Brendon Rivard stands before the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws members, he has one simple message: Reform isn't sparked by what you say, but by how you say it.
"Let's role play," Rivard said to his NORML activists in training. "Pretend I'm a college Republican debating you in front of the Student Union."
Rivard zips his jacket up to his neck. "The higher the zipper the more neo-conservative," Rivard said with a grin. "I say I'm a constitutionalist, and I don't think the forefathers would have approved of legalizing hemp. What do you say?"
Kaila Nichols eagerly raises her hand.
" 'Some of my finest days have been spent on my veranda smoking hemp,' " Nichols said, quoting Thomas Jefferson.
As president of NORML's UCF chapter, Rivard works closely with his fellow students to ensure strong talking points like Nichols' aren't lost in members' short-term memory.
He's learned that the way to talk about reform, is to speak so that policy makers will accept your message as well as understand it.
Whether shaving his head to play a cancer patient for political street theater, drafting bills as a senator in student government, or standing in front of the Union debating nay-sayers Rivard uses every experience as a lesson in argument and the language of compromise.
"Rivard's first position in NORML was director of communications," said Tyler Smith, NORML's current communications director. "We have to be careful not to give the wrong message to people. We are a group promoting drug reform, not drug use."
Smith said Rivard's guidance helped him fill the communications position when NORML elected Rivard as president. Rivard credited his first NORML position with teaching him how to talk to students about cannabis reform.
"Being on the ground all the time got me to meet a lot of students who both agreed with me and disagreed with me on a lot of issues," Rivard said. "It helped me understand that no one student's opinions are ever right. It takes a combination of different aspects of an opinion to really make the perfect policy. The goal is to compromise, meet in the middle and see where you can take the best of both aspects."
Rivard desperately wanted to reform UCF's sanctions on cannabis, but administrators were reluctant to tackle the issue for fear of encouraging drug use among students. He needed to find the right strategy to reach a compromise.
Inspiration came to him in the form of a NORML guest speaker: Mason Tvert, executive director of Safer Alternatives for Enjoyable Recreation.
Tvert used a strategy of comparing cannabis to alcohol. In Denver, Tvert called a press conference and challenged the mayor to drink a beer for every joint he smoked. Tvert predicted only one of them would exit the duel standing and that person would have consumed the safer substance. The mayor declined.
"SAFER's idea of comparing cannabis to alcohol is probably the most effective strategy NORML can use on campus," Rivard said.
He had long taken issue with the fact that UCF had no campus standardized punishment for students in possession of cannabis. Students caught on a first offense with cannabis might be punished as harshly as a student caught on their third offense with underage drinking.
Rivard was a senator in the Student Government Association, so he put Tvert's strategy to a vote. On the ballot of the '08 student elections, Rivard included a resolution asking students whether cannabis penalties should be equal to alcohol penalties for first, second and third offenses.
"He convinced me to vote for the equalization resolution," said Elizabeth Herrera, a high school friend of Rivard and volunteer for the Future. "I have never smoked marijuana, but I work in housing, and I know that students have been punished harshly."
Herrera was among the 57 percent of students who passed Rivard's resolution. SGA assembled a task force to send his equalization reform into UCF's Golden Rule. Rivard said he had to make language compromises with the task force members as he'd done in the past to overcome resistance to "cannabis" legislature.
"They just wanted to make sure we weren't promoting drugs," Rivard said. "The standardized punishments don't apply if there's any aggravation associated with the crime. That helped build support for the referendum."
The key to successful reform boiled down to acceptable word choice and strategy. Rivard will submit his referendum to UCF's Golden Rule Committee this month. He considers equalization his greatest achievement at the university.
SGA president Logan Berkowitz chaired the equalization task force that Rivard sat on. He would later appoint Rivard as SGA's director of student advocacy.
"Brendon has just been a huge student advocate at UCF, within his community, within his own clubs and organizations," Berkowitz said. "And I felt that someone with that type of passion, given the opportunity on a broader scale, would benefit the UCF community."
In 2009, Rivard will graduate from UCF, and he plans to enter law school. Before leaving, he hopes to get SGA rolling toward cannabis related measures such as medical amnesty and housing reform. He's worried that momentum for these causes may die as new blood comes into SGA.
"New senators come in, and they just don't know about the work that's been done on these issues," Rivard said.
Until his time is up at UCF, Rivard will be drumming up support for NORML's cause at the group's table outside the Student Union. He will be quick to discuss his talking points with any curious party.
"A true market conservative would end the war on drugs because of the money it wastes," Rivard plans to say. "Hemp was used as rope to help us win World War II," or "When you think of a drug, no one thinks of deaths caused by aspirin or alcohol. More people die from both of these than marijuana. More people die from vending machines tipping over on them than marijuana. War on drugs? Where's the war on vending machines?"
The conversation at the NORML debate table will remain long after Rivard has left the university.
His legacy will spark from the spoken words of future student activists and in the change of policy that affects all of UCF.
News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Central Florida Future
Author: William Richards
Copyright: 2008 Central Florida Future
Contact: Central Florida Future
Website: NORML's president pushes for sensible policy - News
"Let's role play," Rivard said to his NORML activists in training. "Pretend I'm a college Republican debating you in front of the Student Union."
Rivard zips his jacket up to his neck. "The higher the zipper the more neo-conservative," Rivard said with a grin. "I say I'm a constitutionalist, and I don't think the forefathers would have approved of legalizing hemp. What do you say?"
Kaila Nichols eagerly raises her hand.
" 'Some of my finest days have been spent on my veranda smoking hemp,' " Nichols said, quoting Thomas Jefferson.
As president of NORML's UCF chapter, Rivard works closely with his fellow students to ensure strong talking points like Nichols' aren't lost in members' short-term memory.
He's learned that the way to talk about reform, is to speak so that policy makers will accept your message as well as understand it.
Whether shaving his head to play a cancer patient for political street theater, drafting bills as a senator in student government, or standing in front of the Union debating nay-sayers Rivard uses every experience as a lesson in argument and the language of compromise.
"Rivard's first position in NORML was director of communications," said Tyler Smith, NORML's current communications director. "We have to be careful not to give the wrong message to people. We are a group promoting drug reform, not drug use."
Smith said Rivard's guidance helped him fill the communications position when NORML elected Rivard as president. Rivard credited his first NORML position with teaching him how to talk to students about cannabis reform.
"Being on the ground all the time got me to meet a lot of students who both agreed with me and disagreed with me on a lot of issues," Rivard said. "It helped me understand that no one student's opinions are ever right. It takes a combination of different aspects of an opinion to really make the perfect policy. The goal is to compromise, meet in the middle and see where you can take the best of both aspects."
Rivard desperately wanted to reform UCF's sanctions on cannabis, but administrators were reluctant to tackle the issue for fear of encouraging drug use among students. He needed to find the right strategy to reach a compromise.
Inspiration came to him in the form of a NORML guest speaker: Mason Tvert, executive director of Safer Alternatives for Enjoyable Recreation.
Tvert used a strategy of comparing cannabis to alcohol. In Denver, Tvert called a press conference and challenged the mayor to drink a beer for every joint he smoked. Tvert predicted only one of them would exit the duel standing and that person would have consumed the safer substance. The mayor declined.
"SAFER's idea of comparing cannabis to alcohol is probably the most effective strategy NORML can use on campus," Rivard said.
He had long taken issue with the fact that UCF had no campus standardized punishment for students in possession of cannabis. Students caught on a first offense with cannabis might be punished as harshly as a student caught on their third offense with underage drinking.
Rivard was a senator in the Student Government Association, so he put Tvert's strategy to a vote. On the ballot of the '08 student elections, Rivard included a resolution asking students whether cannabis penalties should be equal to alcohol penalties for first, second and third offenses.
"He convinced me to vote for the equalization resolution," said Elizabeth Herrera, a high school friend of Rivard and volunteer for the Future. "I have never smoked marijuana, but I work in housing, and I know that students have been punished harshly."
Herrera was among the 57 percent of students who passed Rivard's resolution. SGA assembled a task force to send his equalization reform into UCF's Golden Rule. Rivard said he had to make language compromises with the task force members as he'd done in the past to overcome resistance to "cannabis" legislature.
"They just wanted to make sure we weren't promoting drugs," Rivard said. "The standardized punishments don't apply if there's any aggravation associated with the crime. That helped build support for the referendum."
The key to successful reform boiled down to acceptable word choice and strategy. Rivard will submit his referendum to UCF's Golden Rule Committee this month. He considers equalization his greatest achievement at the university.
SGA president Logan Berkowitz chaired the equalization task force that Rivard sat on. He would later appoint Rivard as SGA's director of student advocacy.
"Brendon has just been a huge student advocate at UCF, within his community, within his own clubs and organizations," Berkowitz said. "And I felt that someone with that type of passion, given the opportunity on a broader scale, would benefit the UCF community."
In 2009, Rivard will graduate from UCF, and he plans to enter law school. Before leaving, he hopes to get SGA rolling toward cannabis related measures such as medical amnesty and housing reform. He's worried that momentum for these causes may die as new blood comes into SGA.
"New senators come in, and they just don't know about the work that's been done on these issues," Rivard said.
Until his time is up at UCF, Rivard will be drumming up support for NORML's cause at the group's table outside the Student Union. He will be quick to discuss his talking points with any curious party.
"A true market conservative would end the war on drugs because of the money it wastes," Rivard plans to say. "Hemp was used as rope to help us win World War II," or "When you think of a drug, no one thinks of deaths caused by aspirin or alcohol. More people die from both of these than marijuana. More people die from vending machines tipping over on them than marijuana. War on drugs? Where's the war on vending machines?"
The conversation at the NORML debate table will remain long after Rivard has left the university.
His legacy will spark from the spoken words of future student activists and in the change of policy that affects all of UCF.
News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Central Florida Future
Author: William Richards
Copyright: 2008 Central Florida Future
Contact: Central Florida Future
Website: NORML's president pushes for sensible policy - News
I think what you're saying is great. I keep thinking all the same things i just don't know how to get anybody important to actually sit down and listen to me. If anyone has any advice please let me know.
