The U.S. Department of Justice says that alcohol plays a pivotal role in two-thirds of all cases of violence against an intimate (a spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend), and blames alcohol for contributing to 100,000 sexual assaults against young people every year. That's right, alcohol hurts more people than al Qaeda.

Of course, alcohol does not always lead every consumer of it to violence. Most people who drink alcohol don't hurt anyone. But a large percentage of those who do get violent have been drinking alcohol. Should we ban it? We tried that once with miserable results, and we've banned other substances with equally bad outcomes.

We could stop promoting alcohol so heavily, but the impact of doing so would probably not be large. What to do? Well, what if there were a substitute for alcohol that didn't make anyone violent? What if this substitute were far less dangerous than alcohol to the health of the person using it, as well as to those around him or her? What if this alternative substance even had health benefits and medicinal properties and potentials? What if this substance satisfied the desire for intoxication without actually containing anything toxic, and you woke up the next morning without a hangover? What if this magical substitute for alcohol could boost the economy, free prisoners, reduce prison budgets, free up police to address serious crimes, and subtly improve our culture if only we could discover what it was?

A friend at a party gets sexually violated by someone who has been using pot, a family member is killed by a high driver or a schoolmate is beaten by her father every night after he smokes a joint.

Wait a second; that does not sound right. Substitute alcohol for marijuana in all of those situations and you will have something closer to the actual picture.

That is the message that the executive director of Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), Mason Tvert, wishes policymakers would get. He said that compared to alcohol, marijuana is “less toxic, less addictive and associated with far fewer social problems, especially on campus.”

So why is alcohol freely available to all adults while marijuana is still prohibited at every level of government?

Kelly Maddy had a message for the revelers at the Cannabis Revival on Saturday afternoon — reforming America’s marijuana laws must be a grass-roots effort.

“We need you to get up, put down the bong, and get active,” he told the throng gathered around the pavilion at Landreth Park. “No longer can we sit silent, because silence is consent. If we continue to give them silence, all they will do is continue to give us bad laws.”

"Students for a Sensible Drug Policy" was the topic of a talk last night at Missouri Southern State University by Mason Tvert, a Colorado resident and staunch advocate for relaxing the penalties for possession of small quantities of marijuana.

Tvert in his attempt to empower students to join the debate spent a great deal of time presenting arguments justifying the use of marijuana over alcohol, both drugs, but one that carries what he considers an unjust penalty for possession.

Revival a reform-oriented event

Since 1997, Joplin NORML's Cannabis Revival has entertained and distributed information about cannabis and cannabis laws.

"It's a reform-oriented event so we're trying to inform people in a fun atmosphere about marijuana law reform and show them that, as a citizen, they can get involved," said Kelly Maddy, president of Joplin NORML.

Maddy said the aim of Cannabis Revival is to inform people about marijuana laws and what people can do in regards to changing the laws.