Good day to you, my fellow inhabitants of America. And as fellow inhabitants of this country, I assume to a certain extent that we all have some similar core values. I think that you think like I think in the sense that we all believe in the idea and concept of a beautiful thing called freedom. This freedom, of course, is infringed upon everyday in innumerable ways. This time though, it’s close to home. It is happening here at Mississippi State University right under our noses. What am I talking about? Ignorance. Lack of responsibility. Lack of proper research.
More specifically? Hookahs.
Yes, hookahs. For those of you who don’t know what I mean, a hookah, by the usual definition, is a glass pipe originating from India and uses water filtration and indirect heat for smoking herbal fruits and sometimes a mixture of fruit and tobacco. Recently, a friend of mine suffered a terrible ordeal in her residence hall because of a serious lack of responsibility and ignorance. Her hookah was confiscated because it looked like a bong.
The justification for confiscation? Referenced were the student housing rules that can be found at housing’s Web site. I encourage you to go read them as I did. Give those hard workers the benefit of the doubt. You’ll probably find what I did, and what I found was quite aggravating.
Absolutely nowhere on the housing list of prohibited items does it mention a hookah, for it does not even mention anything about pipes. The only item on this list that could be construed to refer to a hookah is “controlled substances,” which a hookah is definitely not. Regardless of this, my friend was written up for “paraphenalia -> hooka pipe.”
Ironically funny isn’t it? Kids who can’t even spell “paraphernalia” or “hookah” writing someone up for it? You can just imagine how “proud” they probably felt. After all, they were making the residence hall a much cleaner, healthier, safer and more success-promoting place. They probably discussed it in their work circles for a couple of days.
The story doesn’t end here however, not with such a serious charge as drug paraphernalia. Don’t worry, though; you’ll see that there are some intelligent heroes in this chronicle.
Due to the severity of the charge, she was referred to the dean of students. She had to go get a statement from the police station saying that there were no drugs involved with the hookah. At the station she asked the investigator if it had been tested for drug residues or anything else, and there was no clear response. He proceeded to state that the officer present should charge her regardless, because the hookah was considered paraphernalia whether or not there were residues. Thankfully for her, the confiscating officer became the protagonist in this story. I don’t know who he is or what his name is, but to me, he is fitting of my favorite name of Alexander, after the first greatest conqueror and unifier of the known Old World. Anyway, Alexander was actually the epitome of an informed and fair police officer, for he had used his own time to look up the law in the Mississippi Code on his own.
He found what I did, and you can even look it up also at Michie’s Legal Resources Web site. According to the code, the state does not outlaw these specific types of pipes unless they are “used, intended for use or designed for use in ingesting, inhaling or otherwise introducing marijuana, cocaine, hashish or hashish oil into the human body,” among many other things. Further, the code specifies that “a court or other authority should consider, in addition to all other relevant factors” things such as “statements by the owner or by anyone in control of the object concerning its use; prior convictions; the proximity of the object to controlled substances, the existence of any residue of controlled substances on the object,” along with many more factors.
Well, she specifically stated, and it is well known, that a hookah pipe is used for the smoking of herbal fruits and tobacco. No prior convictions. There were no controlled substances involved. No residues. See where I’m going? No case. No basis for such a terrible ordeal.
I’m thankful for officers like Alexander and deans who realize that Mississippi is behind on the hookah trend and culture.
Now some residence halls are posting signs that say something like the following: “Hookahs are drug paraphernalia. Illegal.” Kids smoke marijuana out of apples. Should those be banned from the dorm too? Spoons as well?
One of my good friends and a resident assistant told me something quite revealing when I asked him about this.
“We have been trained to lie and make up rules if necessary in order to maintain control,” he said.
As far as I’m concerned, this smells like a ploy for them to make up another bogus rule in order to try to keep people “in control.” This is about something much bigger than hookahs. Who are they to make up something that is not even in the Mississippi Code? There has to be a legal system and process with required approval and checks and balances for creating new laws at Mississippi State University.
Remember what I wrote about earlier this year? A law is only a law if it is enforceable. Don’t let them try to scare you and coerce you into not doing something which is perfectly legal when used properly. There are several hookah bars in Jackson and Madison. Hookah is a great way to get together and socialize. People get together and abuse the most popular drug, caffeine, all the time. As long as you are at least 25 feet from all campus buildings, as their rules specify, there is nothing legally wrong.
Live free or die hard, guys.
Julio Cespedes is a junior majoring in biological engineering. He can be contacted at [email protected].