MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION DEBATE TURNS HEADS ON CAMPUS

Hundreds of Ohio University students packed into Baker Center Theater
to see the "Heads vs. Feds" debate Thursday night, and the size of
the crowd alone was proof that the legalization of marijuana, four
decades after the '60s, remains an issue of students' concern.

The debate pitted former High Times Editor Steve Hager against the
former head of New York City's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The spirited presentation inspired some students to create a
pro-cannabis group on campus.

"It's fun and empowering to be an activist, and it's fun and
empowering to change bad laws," Hager told the audience during his
closing statement. He suggested that students who are interested in
legalizing marijuana should get serious and start a chapter of the
National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML) or Students
for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) on campus.

"When wars end, people celebrate in the streets," Hager said. "When
this war ends, we will celebrate."

Despite their different perspectives, Hager and his opponent, former
DEA agent Robert Stutman, agreed on the benefits of students getting
involved in social and political issues.

"The day the majority of Americans vote to legalize the recreational
use of cannabis, I will support it," Stutman said.

The agent encouraged young people seeking to change America's drug
policy to realize that most people don't want to liberalize the laws
and encourage marijuana use. They should try to change social
attitudes and public policy. Students should put their opinions on
the election ballot and "play by the rules" if they want to be taken seriously.

Hager and Stutman's advice did not fall on dead ears. Interested
students stuck around after the debate to meet the debaters and
discuss the issue. OU junior Bill Hein said he spoke with Hager about
the prospect of starting an OU chapter of NORML or SSDP for about 20
minutes after the debate. Hager suggested starting an SSDP chapter as
a way to build membership and bolster student support, according to Hein.

Hein has since started an SSDP Facebook group that had 41 members as
of Sunday. The membership hasn't stopped growing, he said, and he
hopes "the people who join the organization have the cause in mind."

After the debate, OU senior Nick Greiwe created a sign-up sheet that
drew the contacts of 19 students who were interested in starting a
pro-legalization student group. He said he's now working with Hein to
start up the OU SSDP.

"We need motivated people to come, not people who just want to sit
around and talk about drugs," Greiwe said Friday.

The "Heads vs. Feds" debate showcased the common arguments of
supporters and opponents of marijuana legalization. The debaters
definitely have the credentials for their respective positions. Hager
has actively promoted the legalization movement since the 1990s,
founded the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, and has been involved in
counter-culture journalism since high school in the late 1960s.

Stutman served as a federal "street" narcotics agent for 17 years
before becoming the special agent in charge of the DEA in New York City.

Hager argued that marijuana can be effective medicine and has
legitimate spiritual uses. He maintained that the black market
created by marijuana prohibition supports corruption and drug cartels
around the world, and that drug laws in the United States inhibit
personal freedom and ruin otherwise law-abiding people's lives with
prison sentences.

"We have built the largest prison system in the world in my
lifetime," Hager said. "I think doing 10 years in the prison system
is worse for you than smoking a joint."

While agreeing that drug use alone shouldn't warrant a prison
sentence, Stutman said legalizing marijuana just validates a drug
that intoxicates, impairs depth perception, and can lead to health
problems such as lung cancer. Stutman called Hager's notion of
personal freedom "anarchy" and claimed that "Americans are not ready
to make another mistake like we did with alcohol and tobacco."

"Heads vs. Feds" was the first of four back-and-forths in Baker
Center's "Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n Roll" debate series. A debate on
music piracy featuring the founder of the Recording Industry
Association of America is set for Feb. 2, porn legend Ron Jeremy will
debate a minister on Feb. 21, and the final debate on March 6 will
ask the question "Does God Exist?"

For more information on the debate series, visit
http://www.ohio.edu/center/events/index.cfm.