DEBATE TO CLEAR PURPLE HAZE AROUND LEGALIZATION

It was the beginnings of a beautiful friendship -- Steve Hager,
editor-in-chief of High Times magazine, and Bob Stutman, former DEA
agent, ready to beat each other's brains out in front of a college
audience -- verbally, that is.

"We actually first met onstage, and we did not like each other,
trust me. We did not get along. We almost had a fistfight on the
stage the first time," Stutman said. "But what's interesting, is
what happened, maybe a couple debates later we were at a school that
was a very conservative school and somebody in the audience started
attacking Steve personally. They werecalling him the devil,
basically, incarnate."

But, a man of the law such as Stutman would not allow the civil
debate be changed into a personal attack on his debate partner, even
if they disagreed.

"I couldn't let that happen. I told the kid to sit down and shut up
and stop attacking people personally," he said. "I think Steve had
never had anybody like me stand up for him before. And suddenly
we've become very good friends. And, you know, he's done that for me
at times."

Tonight at 7:30 in Tate Grand Hall, however, Stutman and Hager won't
be acting as friends -- they'll be verbal opponents in the
University Union's Heads vs. Feds Debate.

Stutman and Hager will debate the issue of marijuana legalization
before a University audience.

Hager and Stutman have toured college campuses around the country to
help students explore different facets of this controversial national issue.

"It usually sets a record for attendance for a lecture event at most
schools," Hager said. "Many have us back every two or three years
because it gets bigger every time we re-visit."

According to Hager, the debate usually ends up surprising students
by the way that the debaters interact and also how their feelings
change as they listen to both sides.

"A lot of students come expecting to jeer at Bob, but he hypnotizes
them, and they end up liking him," he said.

"It probably helps that I give him respect during the show and it's
obvious from the way we bust each other's chops that we are actually friends."

Jonathan Gibson, head of University Union's Ideas and Issues
Committee, said he's excited to see the duo's unique dynamic onstage.

"I think they're certainly some of the most qualified people,"
Gibson said. "I think as a former DEA agent and editor-in-chief of
High Times magazine. Personally I can't think of anyone more
qualified to talk about this."

Stutman said he always enters the debates prepared to defend himself
against questions from a largely pro-legalization University body.

"Probably 85 percent of the audience will be for Steve's point of
view. So I am always on the defensive. Questions will always be
against me or they will be posed as questions, but verbal attacks
against me," he said. "And I understand that, that's one of the
things I try to tell students is just because you like what Steve
says doesn't mean you should accept it at face value. You really owe
it to yourselves to make him prove everything the way you make me
prove everything."

Stutman has two main goals in mind to achieve with every debate.

"Number one, we make them think. That's the most important part.
Number two, we do away with the caricatures of who they think we
are," he said. "In other words, you think marijuana user, you think
Cheech and Chong. It's completely not like that. You think of a
narc, you think of, you know, a narc, right? And I like to think I'm
not a narc like most of them will think I am."

Hager's main objective is to make the evening enjoyable for students.

"You introduce new data as it becomes available and try to keep it
humorous and theatrical if possible," he said. "You score points if
you can get the audience to laugh, and Bob and I relish the laughter
as much as anything."

The debate to legalize marijuana with Robert Stutman & Steve Hager

When: 7:30 tonight

Where: Tate Theater

Price: Free for UGA students/ $5 for non-students