In an effort to rekindle interest in a student group for the legalization of marijuana, a small group of students met to discuss the goals of the group.

Nine students gathered Wednesday in the Memorial Union to talk about forming a student chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), led by Becky Terrill, sophomore in genetics.

“We want to have fun and also change some laws,” said Terrill, who was the president of the ISU chapter of NORML last year. Although last year’s group split up due to internal problems, Terrill said she is ready to regroup and start working to accomplish the group’s goals.

“One of the major goals of the student group will be working to change local laws,” she said. “We want to get people in the city council to change the zero-tolerance policy. I think maybe we can have that repealed.”

During the meeting, students suggested the group could wage an anti-war on drug campaigns, sell buttons, make T-shirts and also petition various laws.

“If we get a lot of signatures, they might listen,” Terrill said.

Another goal of NORML is to legalize industrial hemp and make others aware of its advantages, she said.

“Industrial hemp isn’t smoked because it cannot produce a high, but it is used for products such as rope, soap, shoes and clothes,” she said. “More and more people are thinking industrial hemp is a good idea.”

One of the hardest battles for NORML will be convincing “people who have a hang-up with marijuana being the gateway drug,” Terrill said.

However, Terrill said she believes that legalizing marijuana actually will dissuade users from trying other drugs.

“If you didn’t have to go to the black market, you wouldn’t have to know the crack dealer down the street,” she said. If marijuana was for sale at the store, Terrill added, that connection wouldn’t exist anymore.

“I wouldn’t ever have met those people, and it would’ve been a good thing,” she said.

David Grimesey, who attended the discussion, noted the importance of this group for marijuana activists.

“By joining a group like this, instead of one person going against [the opposition], you have a group of people going against them,” said Grimesey, junior in political science.

Grimesey’s involvement with NORML stems from discovering for himself that marijuana wasn’t as bad as he was being told.

“For the largest part of my life, I lived under the myth of what marijuana was all about,” he said.

While Grimesey is interested in NORML’s agenda, he said he realizes the group won’t easily gain acceptance.

“It’s going to be really hard,” he said. “This city and state is conservative.”

Terrill was first introduced to NORML at Iowa State when she was a freshman and saw an ad in the Daily for “free weed.”

“I thought, no way they’re giving away pot at the Memorial Union! Or if they were, it had to be bunk,” she said.

It turned out the ad was actually referring to NORML’s Free the Weed campaign.

“They were doing what I’m trying to do now — looking to start NORML up again and keep it going,” Terrill said. “I’ve been trying to do it ever since.”

Terrill said she is looking for students interested in being officers for the group.