DICKINSON COLLEGE TO HOLD MARIJUANA DEBATE

A debate on the subject of whether marijuana should be legalized in
Pennsylvania will pit Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed
against Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

"Since President Nixon declared a war on drugs in 1971, billions of
state and federal dollars have been expended to enforce anti-marijuana
laws," said Daniel Kenney, a professor of political science at
Dickinson College, who will moderate the debate.

To be argued is whether the money has been well spent, Kenney said,
whether legalization for personal consumption would benefit the state
or create "reefer madness"; what political implications a state
legalization initiative would have during an election year; and
whether medical marijuana should continue to be outlawed.

NORML is a public-interest lobby that for more than 30 years has
opposed marijuana prohibition, believing that the recreational and
medicinal use of marijuana should no longer be a crime.

The debate will be sponsored by the college's Clarke Forum for
Contemporary Issues at 7 p.m. Sept. 4 in the Great Room of the Stern
Center on West and Louther streets. It is free and open to the public
and will be followed by additional discussion immediately afterward in
Room 102.