Granted, there are cheaper options that I can get my doctor to prescribe for me in the future, at least I hope. However, as there is no direct generic version of the drug I am on, I was forced to pay the $60 at this time and switching drugs will be a difficult task. What’s worse is that the insurance company gave me no advanced warning of this change in prices, but simply left me to discover thus on my own.

I had often wondered in the past why there are still so many unwanted pregnancies when a large array of birth control is readily available. However, if things continue at this rate, birth control pills will start to become a privilege of the upper and middle classes, not affordable to those who arguably need it most. I do not claim to know who is to blame for this change with certainty, though the easy target is the insurance companies themselves. Then again, recent initiatives like the 2005 Medicaid Bill that was just implemented in January decreased rebates pharmaceutical companies received for selling birth control to campuses at large discounts (this still wouldn’t help me though, as Georgetown will not fill birth control based on its Catholic morals.) In any case, measures such as these indicate that at least part of the problem is political. Without naming names, it is truly unfortunate when the politics of religion inhibit women from getting the medical protection that they are entitled to.

For those of you who did not already know, yesterday was 4/20, a day that can only be described as an unofficial “National Marijuana Day.” Thus, I wondered what people would be doing in this holiday’s honor, if one can call it that. Before shouting “ignorarmous,” what I mean is that I was curious to see what people would be doing within the confines of the law. The answer ranged from protests and petitions to discounts on medical marijuana. However, Oaksterdam University is far-and-away the most interesting example I discovered of combining marijuana with the law. Just this past weekend, classes were being held as per usual in this Oakland school.

To say that Oaksterdam (a combination of Amsterdam and Oakland) is not an actual university would still be a mammoth understatement. Nevertheless, it certainly provides an education—everything one could possibly want to know about marijuana. More specifically, Oaksterdam was founded by Richard Lee as a place to teach the basics of the marijuana business, from horticulture to the techniques for running a “pot club.” While smoking marijuana may be illegal throughout the county, it is in fact legal in California for medical purposes. Thus, Lee is allowed to run his university free from much legal prosecution. He believes that keeping his business as open as possible is the best way to avoid getting entangled with the law.

It may appear as though this school and its attendees consist of people either looking to make a quick dollar or learn to grow marijuana plants themselves while avoiding persecution. While this may certainly be the case for some, one cannot forget that the reason California legalized marijuana in the first place was on medical grounds. At least some of the attendees either genuinely desire to help people who have no other outlet for their pain or are in grave amounts of pain themselves. Regardless of one’s attitude for the full legalization of marijuana, helping people is something that cannot be condemned, on 4/20 or any other day of the year.

A “safe, effective, and reversible” contraceptive pill was recently introduced by a group of international physicians.  It seems that ‘new-and-improved’ birth control pills are being discovered in rapid fashion lately, to the point where most doctors probably couldn’t name them all. This one, however, certainly trumps all others in its uniqueness—it’s for men.

The physicians promise that this pill will provide just as much protection as the other two male options for birth control, vasectomy and condoms. It essentially works like the female pill, restricting sperm production in males. Unfortunately, there is no word out yet on when this pill will be readily available.

I commend this new opportunity for men to participate in birth control, but I cannot help but question what the result of it will be. Elaine Lissner, the director of the M ale Contraception Information Project, hails it as a way for men to “take control” of their destinies. One could not argue with the benefits of a man being extra safe in his sexual encounters, and it is wonderful when anyone decides to go the extra mile to ensure that unwanted pregnancies do not happen.

That being said, I wonder if there won’t be a few males who use it as an excuse to have intercourse sans condoms. I can only imagine the precarious results that will occur once the refrain “it’s okay, I am on the pill” can come from a guy’s mouth as well. Even if they are in fact being protected, it still leaves both parties open for a myriad of STI’s. On a whole, this new pill is beneficial, though its usage will certainly be open to a number of questions. For in the end, I wonder how many men will be eager to take such a pill in the first place, but perhaps I am being a bit too pessimistic.

This week, the Georgetown University Grilling Society (GUGS) is coming out with a new campaign; it is one that has been surprisingly controversial considering the group is best known for selling burgers on Friday afternoons. In fact, other than grilling burgers in warm weather and at school events, I’m not sure what GUGS does. However, the usually apolitical organization has caused quite a stir with its promotion of “Grills Gone Wild Week” and the associated selling of t-shirts that say “Grade A, Size D.”

While most students either find the campaign mildly amusing or simply have yet to take notice of it, many members of the pro-choice organization “H*yas for Choice” are outraged. Many of the group’s members feel that both slogans are rather degrading to women, and some have even gone so far as to create a Facebook-organized boycott of GUGS. The group is especially enraged because GUGS is an official club and consequently receives university funding, while H*yas for Choice does not. Thus, not only is there a chauvinistic theme being promoted, but it is also being indirectly supported by the University.

On the other hand, not all of members of the group or the student body for that matter agree with this condemnation of GUGS.  One member of H*yas—the only male member of course—noted that he felt that women were not being degraded at all. The campaign does not have any lewd pictures of women or any real use of women in a sexual way at all; it is simply a way to promote hamburgers with a cleverly worded slogan. With so much objectification of women in the world, would it not be better to focus on a more serious issue that actually threatened women’s rights? After all, Grills Gone Wild would not exist if Girls Gone Wild did not exist. Videos like these and the Hollywood image of women as a whole are what are to blame for the sexism in today’s world, not a few $3 burgers.

Nevertheless, GUGS put out an apology today noting that “GRADE A, SIZE D” was meant to indicate meat, and that the obvious goal of the campaign was to be funny and get the campus excited about the Spring ’08 debut of their burgers. They said that they never intended to offend anyone. They have decided to continue ahead with Grills Gone Wild Week, though they will pull the t-shirt sales for now.  Is GUGS a sexist organization for doing so? I do not think that even the hardliners of H*yas for Choice would go this far. However, it is true that the organization has no female members, which is perhaps a much more significant issue than this specific campaign itself.