Pubdate: Mon, 26 Jun 2000
Source: Daily Times, The (MD)
Copyright: 2000 The Daily Times
Contact:  (410) 749-7290
Author: Shelia Hotchin, Associated Press

MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT SEEKS HIGH SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS

BETHESDA, Md. -- Maryland may require its high school students to do 
volunteer work to graduate, but how the students donate their time is 
largely left up to them.

So two Walter Johnson High School seniors decided to work for a cause they 
support: legalizing marijuana.

Eighteen-year-old Scarlett Swerdlow got permission from her high school 
last semester to fulfill her service learning requirement by doing clerical 
work and research for the Marijuana Policy Project.

She was later joined at the MPP's Washington office by a classmate, 
17-year-old Keely Owens.

"I think there's definitely irony, but it's good," Swerdlow said. "I think 
it's important that students and teachers realize prohibition is really 
harmful." The MPP says it now plans to seek volunteers from other public 
high schools.

"Now that Scarlett has jumped through the hoops herself and gotten us 
approved as an allowable organization, we think it will be much easier to 
reach hundreds of students in Montgomery County, if not thousands of 
students nationwide," MPP Communications Director Chuck Thomas said. "It's 
a win-win situation because either we get the volunteer help or we sue the 
schools and get the attention."

Swerdlow, who went undefeated during her years on the school's speech team, 
decided to volunteer at the MPP after a speech she gave on marijuana law 
reform was criticized by judges, who called the topic inappropriate.

Thomas suggested she put her hours at the organization toward her service 
learning requirement.

"A lot of times, we just wait until a perfect opportunity comes our way" 
said Thomas. He said people convicted of drug offenses have also 
volunteered at the MPP for their mandatory community service.

Swerdlow said she and her classmates were startled by how easy it was to 
get permission from the school service learning coordinator.

"She just kind of looked at the form and said, 'Yeah, it's approved,"' 
Swerdlow said.

Kathy McGuire, director for comprehensive pupil services for Montgomery 
County Public Schools, said the MPP is not on the district's list of 
approved organizations, which includes such organizations as the 
Alzheirner's Association, the Anacostia Watershed Society and the 
Montgomery County public libraries.

That means a school official and a parent must approve it for each 
individual student, she said.

"It may be something that is not my cup of tea, or what I think the kids 
should be doing. McGuire said. "But the parents have signed off on it."

Swerdlow's mother, Duchy Trachtenberg, said her daughter was probably the 
perfect student to blaze that particular trail. The teen-ager was in the 
top five percent of her class, and both and Owens were National Merit 
commended scholars.

"I'm sure Scarlett had all I's dotted and T's crossed," said Trachtenberg, 
a social worker who counsels adolescents. "It was somewhat controversial, I 
she clearly believed in it... I think it took a lot of courage and I think 
it's an educational opportunity"

Maryland and the District of Columbia both require public school students 
to do community service for graduation. Califormia  is considering a 
similar requirement, according to the Corporation for National Service.

At least a hundred school district scattered throughout nearly all 50 
states have a service learning requirement.

Swerdlow and Owens are not the first students to stretch the requirement's 
boundaries.

"'Students have gotten credit for advocating that service learning go 
away," said Luke Frazier, the director of the Maryland Student Service 
Alliance, which is part of the state Department of Education.

Several years ago, some Carroll County students met the requirement by 
lobbying against service learning, Frazier said.

About the same time, the Ayn Rand Institute argued in several newspapers, 
including The Washington Post, that service learning was involuntary 
servitude. The Marina del Rey, Calif-based organization encouraged students 
to volunteer there as a protest against the requirement.

"We believe that the individual is sacred, and he has the right to life, 
liberty and the pursuit of his own happiness." said Scott McConnell, 
communications director for Ayn Rand Institute. McConnell said the 
institute usually has two or three volunteers at any given time.

"Personally I would much rather support that kind of effort simply because 
the legality issue of it;" Frazier said. "The (MPP) stands for the 
legalization of something that is currently illegal."

Frazier said he would recommend that school officials examine whether 
volunteering for the MPP contradicts any of the school's safety or drug 
policies.

"But it's a local issue," he said. "It's a safety issue. It doesn't seem to 
be a political issue so much, or shouldn't be."
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart