Pot debate: should it be legalized?

The mood of the crowd was excited as the True Life debate kicked off Thursday night in Chumash Auditorium.

The evening began with a short film on the background of the two speakers, Steve Hager and Bob Stutman.

Hager was the first to speak, giving a 15-minute speech on his top five reasons marijuana should be legalized. These included the fact that marijuana is a good medicine for certain diseases and he argued that it is a cheap and easy way to lessen the suffering of many.

Another argument Hager made was that sending people to jail for marijuana use is not only filling our jails but hurting these people. They go in as a drug user and come out a serious criminal, he said.

“Locking these people up is not solving anything,” Hager said.

Hager’s final point was that marijuana is part of his culture of peace and fellowship.

“It’s the sacrament of our culture,” Hager said. “We are good people and we deserve some respect.”

Bob Stutman spoke next, giving his reasons that marijuana should not be legalized.

Before he even began refuting Hager’s arguments though, Stutman asked the audience to be a skeptical and intelligent group.

“I expect you to challenge everything I say because that’s intelligent,” Stutman said. “I also expect you to do the same for (Hager’s) arguments.”

Stutman said that he thinks there are two chemicals in marijuana that are beneficial in medicines and believes they should be extracted and used.

He argued that although these should be used, the entire product did not need to be legalized to do so.

He also agreed with Hager that people should not be sent to jail for the use of marijuana.

“I do not believe anybody should be thrown in prison for the use of any drug,” Stutman said.

He said that marijuana should be legalized the day a majority of Americans, or the court system, can agree that it deserves to be legalized.

He said this would not happen until scientists and doctors had enough evidence to show its worth, and this has yet to happen.

After their opening statements, Hager and Stutman answered student questions which ranged from questions on whether activists should be users or not, and whether marijuana is truly a “gateway drug.”

Students at the debate seemed largely interested in hearing both sides of the argument and learning all they could about the issue.

“It is interesting to hear representatives of each side, and I wanted to see who had stronger points on the issue,” said Daniel Palmer, Forestry and Natural Resource junior.

“I want to understand why it’s illegal and what steps need to be taken to get it legalized, and what are the benefits of having it legalized,” said Nicholas Estrada, Forestry and Natural Resource sophomore.

Other students were in favor of one side (mainly legalization) but were hoping to hear the other side of the argument.

“I’ve been supporting legalization so long I’ve never heard the other side,” said Jerry Miszewski, junior math major.