THE ANALYSIS A LOOK INTO THE MARIJUANA ARGUMENTS AT
HAND.

HAGER'S ARGUMENT

"Marijuana is good medicine." That may be so, but we need to address
the larger issue of legalization for recreational purposes. Just
because a substance has a medicinal benefit doesn't mean we need to
make it available for recreational purposes.

"Hemp is good for the environment." This point may hold more weight
than the previous argument. If there are this many uses for hemp, then
an argument could be made for growing it for commercial purposes. But
getting from this point to arguing for legalization of marijuana that
you can smoke is tough.

"Marijuana legalization is good for our overloaded criminal justice
system." At first, this seems like a good point. Taking those people
out of prison who are there for marijuana-related offenses would save
the court and penal systems a considerable amount of money. But we
would have to already assume that marijuana should be decriminalized
for this point to hold. We don't talk about legalizing cocaine, which
would also get people out of prison. This could be a nice benefit for
legalization of marijuana, but by itself, this argument won't work.

"The only way to end drug gangs is by legalization." I don't know
which drugs facilitate gang violence, but I would be extremely
surprised if legalizing marijuana had much of an effect at all on gang
presence. There are plenty of other more profitable drugs to sell out
there. One point I could see being made here is that by buying
marijuana illegally, one is exposed to, essentially, drug dealers.
While I don't buy the argument that marijuana is a "gateway drug,"
already knowing a dealer makes it far easier to get into the "hard"
drugs.

"Finally, it's a central part of my culture." There is a lot to this
point, and the marijuana culture in general. While it's more an
emotional appeal than an actual argument, there's still a lot of
intuitive force behind this reasoning. Although, if you're already
committed to the illegality of marijuana, this argument won't have
much appeal at all.

STUTMAN'S ARGUMENT

"... do so by using facts, not wishful thinking." This point is
absolutely key to this debate. But this is also a societal issue and
if there is enough "wishful thinking," then that should warrant
consideration.

"Facts are facts." True, but it is our interpretation of these facts
that is really key. Statistics, for example, are just a series of
numbers. It's when we interpret these numbers, try to determine
causes, and extrapolate them to the rest of society that we can get
into trouble. Odds are, you can find certain facts to support almost
any claim. It's the task of looking at all the facts as a whole that
make this debate so challenging.

"... for the simple reason that we will have far more users." This is
what's known as question begging. Even if Stutman is correct in this
assessment, we would have to already assume that marijuana is a bad
thing to accept this line of argument. Why would more people using
marijuana be a bad thing? This is ultimately what we want to establish.

"Of course not, they both grow." This is an example of a statistic
that is open to different interpretations. What does this claim amount
to? We absolutely can't say that marijuana use causes binge drinking.
This statistic shows a correlation, but not causation. There are just
too many factors involved in parties on college campuses to link these
two factors as anything other than circumstantial.

"Because of the societal acceptance of beer that does not yet exist
for marijuana." I'm just not sure this is the case, but even if it is,
this point only furthers the argument that by legalizing marijuana
more people would use it. And just like before, this is question begging.

"You can disagree without being personal. " This is an excellent point
for anyone reading this column or planning on attending the debate to
keep in mind. We are concerned with the arguments on both sides and
nothing more. I have a great deal of respect for these gentlemen and
their willingness to carry on this debate for our, and society's, benefit.