U. S. Sen. Ron Wyden spoke to Tigard High School seniors on Oct. 30 to improve their political understandings on the “Student Right To Know Before You Go Act.”

His top priorities as a senator are environmental energy improvements, the war in Afghanistan, and his stance on legalizing adult usage of marijuana.

“He explained key concepts of measures and laws that are controversial,” said Tigard senior Xiao Liang.

The “Student Right To Know Before You Go Act” is legislation to help give students and parents an accurate amount of student loans they will need to invest in. It will give students the average post-graduation annual earnings and average accumulated student debt.

Sen. Wyden’s other priorities include lowering costs of Medicare and creating a tax reform bill. According to the senator, these are the leading debt growers in the country. The war in Afghanistan is also a large debt grower. He said he would like to bring troops home from Afghanistan. He is also a big supporter for using natural gas as a fuel and using smaller nuclear facilities. Natural gas is 50 percent  cleaner than fossil fuel.

Sen. Wyden both agreed and disagreed with Measure 80, which is the legalization of cannabis. He agreed that we should legalize it for industrial hemp because right now it must be imported from Canada, so that money is going out of the Oregon economy. Hemp has a much lower THC level than marijuana.

“He seemed like a really nice guy who wants to make our state and nation a better place to live and be,” said senior Meaghan Marks.