UA STUDENTS HEAR ARGUMENTS FOR, AGAINST LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

TUSCALOOSA - Listening to Bob Marley sing the lyrics "legalize it,
I'll advertise it" may have put some of the more than 700 University
of Alabama students gathered at the Ferguson Center plaza Wednesday
evening in the mood for herbal refreshment.

But the only smoke being blown on a balmy weeknight came from tobacco
cigarettes as students heard from two speakers from opposite ends of
the marijuana legalization debate in a forum called "Heads vs. Feds."

The event, which featured Steven Hager, editor-in-chief of High Times
magazine, and Robert Stutman, former head of the New York office of
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, was sponsored by UA's
University Programs.

UA junior Andrea Holder said she came to hear what both speakers had
to say, but she also was hoping to see some sparks fly.

"I thought it would be interesting to hear the two different
perspectives, but I also thought it would be a little entertaining to
have them go at it," she said.

Holder, a native of Panama, said she is on the fence about whether
marijuana should be legalized because she's not sure Americans are
ready for the responsibility.

"I don't think people need anything more to justify reckless
behavior," she said. "Sure, people argue that it's worked in
Amsterdam, but American culture is different. I don't know if
Americans are responsible enough to handle it."

Holder appeared to hold the minority opinion in the crowd as students
hooted and cheered for "head" defender Steven Hager, the first to speak.

Hager told students that marijuana was "good medicine" and proceeded
to paint a picture of an America sustained by hemp that was far less
polluted, healthier and had fewer prisons, for which he received
thunderous applause.

"When I was in high school our country was famous for its schools," he
said. "But the No. 1 growth industry in the U.S. today is prisons. I
believe that people have the right to cultivate their own medicine.
Cannabis is a lot safer than many legal drugs like Paxil."

Despite Hager's popularity with the masses, Robert Stutman came out
swinging with the facts about why marijuana should not be legalized.

Stutman said that most of those who claim they smoke marijuana for
medicinal and religious reasons are hiding behind their desire to smoke.

"The issue has nothing to do with those things," he said. "The issue
is --I want to smoke when I want to get high off grass and I should be
able to do it when I want to.' There is not one recognized medical
group in the U.S. that would endorse smoking pot."

Stutman said while some research has shown that ingredients in
marijuana may have medical value, "smoking pot will never be good for
you and any doctor who tells you that it is, is a fool."

He cited the high levels of cancer-causing materials that make
marijuana joints three to five times more cancerous than the average
cigarette.

Hager and Stutman agreed that putting people in prison for drug use
was bad policy, however.

Eager students like UA senior Janette Durn lined up to ask questions
of the two speakers.

Durn said she believes there was such a strong interest among students
because there are legal substances like alcohol that have been proven
to be dangerous, but have not been criminalized like marijuana.

"I think marijuana should be decriminalized and people possibly fined
for possession instead of put in prison," she said. "Money that's
being put into the prison system could be used on education. The money
from the fines could be used to pay teachers salaries. There are just
better things that could be done."