Norm Coleman in 1971-;  a pot-smoking student hippie
activist leader of Students for a Democratic Society  at Hofstra University N.Y.
seen protesting the war and lambasting U.S. policies.
The Rockefeller drug laws are the term used to denote the statutes dealing with the sale and
possession of "narcotic" drugs in the New York State Penal Law. Under the Rockefeller drug laws,
the penalty for selling cannabis, including marijuana was included in the statute even though they are
not "narcotics" from a chemical standpoint, or possessing four ounces (approximately 113 grams)
or more of the same substances, was made the same as that for second-degree murder: a minimum
of 15 years to life in prison, and a maximum of 25 years to life in prison. On the books for nearly
35 years, the racist Rockefeller Drug Laws have failed to curb drug use or abuse in New York, but
have successfully destroyed thousands of lives—all at taxpayer expense

Norm Kent’s open letter to Sen. Norm Coleman

“Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman isn't shy about telling people that he was campus radical who
opposed the Vietnam War in the late 1960s. However, the freshman Republican Congressman
would prefer people not know that he smoked marijuana during that turbulent period. NORML
board member Norm Kent went to college with Coleman at Hofstra University in New York and has
written a strong letter below; part says “How about admitting that if the Rockefeller
drug laws were applied to you, Norman Bruce Coleman on Long Island in
1968 you and others we knew and loved might just be getting out of Jail
now.”  Norm Kent , also today is a practicing attorney now wrote this letter to his former pot-
smoking partner Norm Coleman accusing him of hypocrisy on the drug issue!”

________________________________________________________________















Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman acknowledges on his website that he was a "campus organizer in
the '60s" when he attended Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. His Wikipedia entry states: "He
ran for student senate and opined in the school
newspaper that his fellow students should vote for him because
he knew that 'these conservative kids don't fuck or get high like
we do... Everyone watch out, the 1950s' bobby-sox generation is
about to take over.'" Several photos (reproduced here) show the
then longhaired Coleman speaking through a bullhorn and
unfurling an anti-war banner with other students.

Since that time, the Brooklyn, NY-born politician graduated from
the University of Iowa Law School and stayed in the Midwest,
where he worked as a prosecutor in Minnesota for 17 years
before his two terms as mayor of St. Paul. In 1996, he switched
parties - from Democrat to Republican - and in 1998
lost the Minnesota governor's race to Jesse
Ventura. In 2002, Coleman was elected senator
by a 2% margin. He benefited from the sudden death
of the state's incumbent Paul Wellstone, who died
in a plane crash 11 days before the election.

___________________________________________________________________

NORML board member Norm Kent, who is a lawyer as well, went to Hofstra with Coleman. Kent
recently received a form letter from Coleman regarding his current anti-marijuana position. It reads,
in part: "I oppose the legalization of marijuana because, as noted by the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, marijuana can have serious adverse health affects on individuals. The health
problems that may occur from this highly addictive drug include short-term memory loss, anxiety,
respiratory illness and a risk of lung cancer that far exceeds that of tobacco products. It would also
make our transportation, schools and workplaces, just as examples, more dangerous."

Offended by Coleman's comments, Kent fired of a letter to his former smoking buddy._



NORM KENT'S LETTER TO SEN. NORM
COLEMAN

Dear Mr. Coleman,  

My friend Norman.

Years ago, in a lifetime far away, you did not oppose the legalization of marijuana. Years ago, in our
dorm rooms at Hofstra University, you, me, Billy, your future brother-in-law, Ivan, Jonathan, Peter,
Janet, Nancy and a wealth of other students smoked dope.

Sure, we had to tape the doors shut, burn incense and open the windows, but we got high, and yet
we grew up okay, without the help of the Office of National Drug Control Policy's advice.

We grew up to become lawyers. Our other friends, as you go down the list, are doctors,
professors, parents, political consultants and professionals. No one ever got cancer from smoking
pot or diabetes from using a joint. And the days of our youth we look back fondly upon as years
where we stood up, were counted and made a difference, from Earth Day in 1970 to helping bring
down a president and end a war in Southeast Asia a few years later.

We smoked pot when we took over Weller Hall to protest administrative abuses of students' rights.
You smoked pot as you stood on the roof of the University Senate protesting faculty
exclusivity.










As the President of the Student Senate in 1969, you condemned the raid by Nassau County police
on our dormitories, busting scores of students for pot possession.

You never said then that pot was dangerous. What was scary then, and is as frightening now, is
when national leaders become voices of hypocrisy, harbingers of the status quo, and protect their
own position instead of the public good. Welcome to the crowd of those who have become a
likeness of which they despised. Welcome to the mindless myriad of legislators who gather in
cocktail lounges to manhandle their martinis while passing laws against drunk driving.

We have seen more people die last year from spinach then pot. We have endured generations of
drug addicts overdosing on a multitude of drugs, from heroin to crystal methamphetamine. In your
public life, as an attorney general, mayor and United States senator, you have been in the forefront
of speaking out against abuses which are harmful. You have been a noble and honourable public
servant. How about not being such a dope on dope?  

How about admitting that if the Rockefeller drug laws were applied to Norman Bruce Coleman on
Long Island in 1968, or to me, or to our friends, and fellow students, you, I and others we knew
and loved might just be getting out of jail now? How about recognizing that for too long too many
have been wrongly arrested, unjustly prosecuted and illegally incarcerated for unconscionable
periods of time?  

How about recognizing that you have peers who have smoked pot for 25 years or more and they
are successful record producers, businessmen and parents?

How about standing up and saying you have heard and witnessed countless stories of persons who
have used pot medicinally, as I have, to endure the effects of chemotherapy?

You who have travelled to Africa and seen the face of AIDS so up close and personal would deny
medicinal marijuana relief to those souls wasting away from malnutrition, nausea and no access to
fundamental medicines?

How about not adopting the sad and sorry archaic path of our office of drug control, which this
week suggested pot smokers are more likely to become gang members than others?



How about standing up and saying: "I, Norm Coleman, smoked pot in 1969." That "I am not a gang
member, a drug addict or a criminal."



How about saying: "I was able to responsibly integrate my prior pot use into my life, and still
succeed on my own merits."  

How about standing up not only for who you are, but who you were?

How about it, Norm?

I will always love, admire and cherish what you have achieved and accomplished and the goals you
have met. I will always fondly look at the remarkable success of your present.

How about you looking back at your past and saying: "What I did was not so wrong and not so bad
and not so hurtful that generations of Americans should still, decades later, be going to jail for
smoking pot - nearly one million arrests for possession last year."

Can't Norm Coleman come out of the closet in 2007 and say "These arrests are wrong - that there
is a better way, and we need to find it."

You might find more integrity and honor in that then adopting the sad and sorry policy of our Office
of National Drug Control Policy.

You might find the person you were!

Norm Kent,  your his former smoking buddy._
Norm Coleman in 1971-;  a pot-smoking
student hippie activist seen protesting the war
with his mega phone lambasting U.S. policies as
leader of the radical anti-establishment
Students for a Democratic Society at Hofstra
University N.Y.
Norm Coleman photographed on the roof of the
University Senate Building after his radical group
took over the building. According to school buddy
Norm
Kent, after placing the anti-war poster on the
building from the roof Norm Coleman got high
smoking pot to celebrate.