SPEAKERS BRING MARIJUANA DEBATE TO UF

A stoner and a narc were pitted against each other in a "Great Debate" over
the legalization of marijuana on the University of Florida campus Wednesday
night.

More than 1,000 people - mostly students, and judging from applause and
outbursts, mostly pro-legalization - turned out for the debate. Scores had
to sit on the carpeted floor of the Reitz Union ballroom and many more had
to stand outside the doors.

Steve Hager, editor of the counterculture magazine High Times, said
marijuana should be legal to grow and to use because "it's good medicine"
that drug makers want to keep illegal so they can keep selling overpriced
synthetic drugs such as Ritalin. He also suggested that if marijuana was
legal, the use of alcohol and tobacco would decrease because people would
get the same effect without the hangover or headache.

Retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent Robert Stutman countered that
while the chemicals that reside in the plant may one day be proven to be
useful medically, smoking marijuana has always been shown to be harmful.

"The natural form of a drug is not necessarily the best," he said.

You wouldn't hear a doctor tell patients, "Eat some poppy seeds" if they
needed morphine treatment, Stutman said.

Stutman cited a study that said marijuana is five times more likely to cause
throat cancer than tobacco, and legalization would only lead to more users
and more cancer.

Stutman said, "You don't have the right to do any (drug) you want to do"
because drug users affect more than just themselves.

Hager said, "I think people should have the freedom to make bad decisions."

Stutman surprised the audience when he said "just because we made two
mistakes" in legalizing alcohol and tobacco doesn't mean "we should add
another drug into the mix."

In response to the applause the audience frequently showered on Hager,
Stutman said it's hardly a shock that a college audience is pro-marijuana.
With age, however, that would change, Stutman said. He even cited a recent
media report where renowned rap star and former High Times "Stoner of the
Year" Snoop Dogg said he was giving up smoking pot because he wanted to
raise his family.

Hager and Stutman, who frequently said they respected each other's views,
have been debating each other at colleges and universities across the
country for more than a year as part of series intended to bring the issue
of legalizing marijuana to students.

Both said people shouldn't face jail sentences for using the drug.