Prof, testifies pot impairs growth, development
By Tarn Lee
Marijuana impairs growth and development in adoles
cents and young adults because the drug accumulates in
.the brain, a medical physics and physiology professor
testified at a legislative judiciary committee hearing
Tuesday.
Hardin Jones, who teaches at the University of California-Berkeley,
spoke in support of a resolution
introduced by Omaha senator Patrick Venditte to study
the feasibility of stiffening the penalties for marijuana use
and sale.
Jones said marijuana use is more readily accepted by
the public recently because of dissemination of false in
formation that marijuana is not harmful. But these
studies are based on the short-term rather than long
term effects of marijuana, he said.
The active ingredient in marijuana, cannabinols,
accumulates in cell membranes in the part of the brain
which controls feeling, pleasure, self-activation, memory
and sexual functions, Jones said. -Genetic
damage
Genetic damage has been found in laboratory test
animals exposed to marijuana, Jones said. Monkevs
exposed to the drug have a higher risk of having deformed
offspring than those which are not, he said.
The risk of deformity in monkeys born td parents Di
which only the father has been exposed to the drug is the
same as when both, parents have been exposed, he said.
There has been an increase in deformities in human
births in the United States between 1973 and 1975, which
may be caused by the increase in marijuana smokers in
those years, he said.
' In addition to birth defects, and brain damage, mari
juana causes a reduction in the male sex hormone, testo
sterone, arid reduces sperm production, sometimes causing
sterility or impotence, he said.
In' women, marijuana stimulates the effects of estro
gen, the female sex hormone, he said, and causes women
to become "hyperactive sexually".
Brain damage
Brain damage appears earlier in heavy marijuana users
than in heavy drinkers, Jones said.
"All cases of brain damage from alcohol use are found
in middle age (30-40),'- he said, "but cases of brain
damage in marijuana users have been found in people
under 30."
Marijuana is more harmful than tobacco, he said,
because marijuana causes personality change, where as
cigarette smoking does not.
- Testifying against .Venditte's resolution, Barbara
Gaither, Executive Director of the Nebraska Civil Liber
ties Union, read a prepared statement by Dr. Hardy Jones',
philosophy professor, at UNL opposing a clause in the re
solution seeking to make illegal the sale or distribution of
marijuana or other possibly harmful substances.
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4
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V
..it." "
Photo by Td Kirk
Steel-drivin' man
Work begins on repairs to those awful
tracki on Vine Street.
The statement said that virtually all substances possibly
are harmful and many legal substances definitely are
harmful for some people.
DeCamp opposes
Also testifying in opposition to the resolution was
Neligh Sen. John DeCamp, who sponsored a bill in the last
session of the Legislature which, if passed, Would de
crease the penalties for possession of small amounts of
marijuana.
DeCamp is opposed to a section of the resolution
seeking to make illegal the "dissemination of false infor
mation about the effects of marijuana." He said this
assumes that someone has all the facts, and no new facts
could be introduced.
The. Legislature's executive board turned down a re
quest by Venditte to finance Jones's trip to Nebraska to
testify. Venditte said he is looking for private donations
to pay his expenses.
dailu
Wednesday, September 14, 1977 vol.101 no. 8 lincoln, nebraska
Two Lincoln employment agencies
face punitive action pending decision
By Rex Henderson
Two Lincoln employment agencies face possible loss
of their licenses for violations of the Nebraska Labor laws.
Labor Commissioner Gerald Chizek will rule on charges
made by Labor Commission investigators against Repub
lic Personnel Service System and Interchange Personnel
at a hearing Tuesday.
Both agencies are, owned by Dennis H, Penner of
Lincoln.
Labor Dept. charges say the .legal requirement that
employment agency licensees be of " 'good moral char-
acter' is no longer being met." '
Charges against Penner include the use of "blatant
ly discriminatory language" against the character and
employment potential of Gerald David Shellner, former
counselor at one of Penner's employment agencies.
v s Code system
The labor dept. also charges that Interchange personnel
used a code system to alert job counselors that certain
' employers would not accept women, racial minorities
and older applicants.
Job orders were marked with the instructions "See
Lana" or "See Jan" indicating to counselors that the
minorities, women and the elderly were not acceptable
for the position, the charges say.
The Penner-owned firms also are charged with placing
deceptive advertising, in newspapers, referring job appli
cants to firms which had not placed job orders, failing to
pay employees the minimum wage and instructing job .,
counselors to falsify time cards to cover up the low wages,.
The charges cite five example's of misleading adver
. tising placed by Interchange Personnel.
One asked for "airport help-$8 hr," and promised
an insurance plan and paid vacation, but it failed to men
tion that the job required Federal Aviation' Administra
tion certification for flight instruction and was 'only a
part-time job, , , , -
False advertising
; Another advertisement read, "Mech. Engineer-to
$12,000, fee pd., no exp." ness." The Labor Dept. says
the company did not. pay the employment agency fee,
and the position required experience.
Numerous advertisements mentioned "good salary"
or "great salary" when the job paid $2.30 an hour, the
Labor Department charges.
Both agencies used a "10 to 15 call rule" a practice
. which violates the Nebraska labor laws, the Labor De
partment says.
Job counselors were required to make 10 to 15 calls to
other firms before providing an applicant with informa
tion on the advertisement the applicant had answered.
Jim Doyle, a Labor Dept. investigator, said several
former job counselors at the Penner employment agencies
have agreed to testify against their former employer.
Penner could not be reached to respond to the charges.
Proposal revises staff ticket policy
By Gail Stork
A UNL Faculty Senate motion outlining a revision of
the UNL staff ticket purchasing policy already is on its
way to the administration after Tuesday's senate meeting.
The proposal states that full-time employees are en
titled to iwo tickets,' whether at reduced price with cur
rent restrictions or two tickets at regular price without
restrictions or any combination thereof.
The current ticket policy which allows married staff
members two reduced price tickets and single members
only one ticket at reduced price was determined discrim-'
inatory.
The ruling was made in light of the new legislation
prohibiting such discrimination on a marital basis, said
William Sesow, chairman of the Senate's inter-collegiate
athletics committee, y
lie said his committee interpreted the new law to
mean, "only an employee of the university should enjoy
the priveleges of the university."
Student ticket policy will not change accordingly,
since they are not considered employees of the state,
Sesow said.
However, he said his committee did give much consi
deration to the new policy's effect on both' student and
general public ticket policies.
A conflict of interest report from Lloyd Fischer,
chairman of the employee benefits committee, prompted
a motion calling for the resignation of Vice Chancellor for
Business and Finance Miles Tommeraasen from the
Security Mutual Insurance Co. board.
The motion, made by senator Michael Steinman,
also stipulated that no administrator should be in
volved in private concerns touching on his university
functions.
The committee's report said a check of administrators
on insurance company boards which provides insurance
for university employees identified Tommeraasen, but
said the committee "is not in a position to judge the valid
ity of such a charge.
The senate decided to table the motion until its
October meeting.
Parking and a study on the size of the campus police
force were mentioned by Sylvia Wiegand, past chairman
of the UNL campus police committee, in addition to the
general report. Wiegand said the committee found gener
ally that "everyone on campus is quite happy with the
police except for the parking problem." . .
Commencement and the Role and Mission Statement
were also discussed by the senate.
inside vcdnccctaij
The proof was in the petition: ASUN leaders say their
referendum helped postpone stadium expansion . . p. 7
Wouldn't the red coats be surprised?: Students at
NUP1RG meeting clijim the revolutionary war was
for naught , p. 10
The way we were: Vince Ferragamo, fonner Ilusker
quarterback, looks back on Big Red with fond
memories. .
t
p. 14
