DSU Hactivism Students Challenge Marijuana Laws

A group of DSU students is asking those in possession of marijuana to “Save Your Seeds.” The group is preparing to launch a web campaign urging everybody with marijuana seeds to save them and toss them on land where they might grow.

Team member Ashley Rieger said, “We hope to move at least a few people to action, encouraging them (in a completely legal manner) to dispose of any and all marijuana seeds in such a place as they may grow freely as intended by nature. “

Andrew Koerner clarifies that statement by stating, “We do not advocate for cultivation, as cultivation of cannabis is illegal. Rather, we advocate for disposal in areas that allow for natural growth. Plants are naturally proliferated through a variety of methods. Seeds ride the wind, stick to animal fur, or are spread through scat. Our goal is simply to be one more of those natural methods.”

By exploiting the loophole of not actually cultivating the seeds, “Save Your Seeds” hopes to avoid the legality issue of cultivation being illegal. The group believes that marijuana is a natural plant that will grow without any human cultivation. The idea behind their thinking is that nature will do all of the cultivation herself. If you need to brush up on your definition of cultivation, check out this link.

The group hopes to achieve more with the campaign that just seeing marijuana plants pop up around town. Rieger hopes it will challenge what she calls “illogical legislation” and wasted resources.

Dustin Drew agrees. He said, “we are spreading the idea that our government’s war on drugs is so ignorant and mismanaged that they are wasting millions of dollars each year…to kill plants used to make rope and textiles.”

Andrew Kramer added, “We spend millions and millions of tax dollars every year in a losing game of whack-a-mole trying to eradicate a harmless plant which, until recently, grew wild across most of the United States.

If it catches on, the “Save Your Seeds” campaign will make more work for the government organizations tasked with eradicating the plant, and Kramer said, “I want to draw attention to the absurdity of making a naturally growing plant illegal.”

The group, made up of Computer Science and English for New Media students from Dr. Stacey Berry’s Hackers, Hacking, and Hacktivism class, is still in the early stages of the project. They have purchased a domain name, set up a server, and started building a website. Team members are currently working on drafting text and images for the site, designing the layout, creating flyers, and setting up social media promotional accounts. They hope to have the website live and ready to promote in the new week. Rieger believes the biggest challenge for the campaign will be raising awareness and support.

Sarah Sproul urges anybody interested in helping to share the campaign website. She said, “Lets make this campaign explode and take over the Internet.”

The group will be hard at work launching the website and campaign, so be on the lookout to see this DSU movement take off.

–Brianna Prill