2 Groups Offer Drug Plans

Programs to combat the drug problem in Ann Arbor were advanced last night by two groups in close contact with some segments of the youth of the city. Speaking before the City Council, the resentatives of the Tribal Council and the White Panther Party outlined their plans to combat the drug problem and suggested actions which can be taken by the council. Matthew Lampe, speaking for the Tribal Council- a group composed of representatives from a number of youth organizations and other persons- said his group plans a five-pronged attack on the problem. He said in the near future the Tribal Council hopes to establish a community center for the city's youth which would be a "place to go and something to do" for young persons. Plans cali for programs at the center involving a communal store, equipment to permit youth to publish a news letter and musical programs. "This is needed as an alternative to drugs," Lampe said. Further, Lampe said plans are in the mili for a "youth-to-youth" education program which would talk of hard drugs as a community- as opposed to a personal- problem. He said at the present pace here, the city's youth may be headed toward a drug-dependent culture. Another program being backed by the Tribal Council is to work with the various youth houses and communes to establish a program of providing space to those on hard drugs who are trying to kick the habit. Some who are trying to solve this drug problem, Lampe said, live in houses "where everyone else is shooting dope. It is hard to get off the habit there." If space were made available in the various houses, Lampe added, youth could be given 24-hour supportive help. Lampe said that at tonight's meeting of the Tribal Council there will be a request that persons dealing in hard drugs be boycotted. Also, Lampe said the Tribal Council is backing plans for therapeutic groups which could build on other programs. David Sinclair, speaking for the White Panther Party, said the youth of the city have been hard-hit by the drug epidemie. To combat this problem, Sinclair offered the following suggestions: -That the City Council immediately enact legislation removing marijuana, hashish and all other forms of the cannabis plant from the list of substances illegal to possess and use in the city of Ann Arbor; -That council immediately direct the city pólice department to cease expending its energies on the pursuit and prosecution of persons for sale of cannabis products ; - That council Immediately direct the city pólice to cease arresting and prosecuting persons for possession andor use of any drug; -That council assess the savings to the city effected by the curtailment of pólice activities in this regard and that council pledge doublé the amount saved íor the purposes of dealing with the medical effects of the epidemie and its social and political causes. "The White Panther Party considers that the City Council, if it wishes to give substance to the concerns implied (by the report of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Drug Abuse), must recognize the f act that drug addiction and drug abuse are medical problems with social and political roots, not problems of law and order," Sinclair said. "The City Council must face up to the fact that humane attempts to deal with the problems of drug abuse among the young will be fruitless so long as the city continúes legislatively to support falsehoods about cannabis and so long as the city continúes to employ drug laws as a justification for attacking the youth colony," he said. Mayor Robert J. Harris said the attorney's office in the near future will be bringing in recommendations regarding ordinance changes recommended by the Blue Ribbon committee.