The first debate of the 2009-10 season got off to a great start with a sold-out standing-room only crowd crammed into a 300-seat theater at the Penn State Berks student center. Bob and Steve were returning to a school they'd been to around 4 or 5 years ago (no one could remember the exact year). Five law enforcement officers showed up and even had dinner with the debaters and the student lecture committee before the debate. The police chief gave Bob and Steve patches with a pot leaf and the word's "drug task force." When Steve held the patch up to his Levi jacket, they quickly took a photo. "Hager," joked Stutman, "you are dead meat." When the debate started, there was scattered heckling from the audience during Bob's intro, but after Steve requested the hecklers stop, they did. There was only one tense moment, when someone verbally attacked Bob for his career with law enforcement. Steve used the incident to point out the need to calm down and start working out compromises on this complex issue. There were some major new developments in the debate. Steve had just returned from Canada, where he visited Rick Simpson, who has been treating terminal cancer patients with an essential oil made from marijuana flowers. Many of the patients became cancer-free after ingesting a gram of oil a day for sixty days. Steve pointed out that a Spanish study by Manuel Guzman published last April showed that THC killed cancer cells while protecting healthy cells. The study is published online at:
http://www.jci.org/articles/view/37948
Another point of contention was the issue of whether most American want legal cannabis. Steve pointed to the latest Zogby poll, which said 52% of Americans want cannabis regulated like alcohol. Bob said the poll was a reference to medical marijuana, not recreational use. A newspaper article about the poll can be found here:
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may062009/mj_zogby_5-6-09.php
No doubt these issues will surface at debates coming up in the next few weeks. Bob and Steve are in Boston on October 7th, and Omaha on October 28. The only other debates scheduled for the fall semester are Watertown, NY, on November 5, and Quinnipiac, CT, on November 6.
The debate included a rare question directed at Steve, and it provoked the biggest ovation of the night. "What's your favorite strain?" a student asked.  After the words "Sour Diesel..." came out, audience erupted with cheers and vigorous applause.
While Steve was autographing books at the end of the debate, a young girl, probably a freshman, approached him. "I'm glad you spoke about marijuana abuse," she said. "I just quit marijuana. I was the only one of my friends who graduated high school because we all got into using marijuana every day." Meanwhile, another student announced he wanted to follow Steve's advice and start a legalization group on campus. He got out a sheet of paper and started taking names and numbers for the group. Steve thanked the young girl for sharing her story. "Obviously, it was having a negative impact on your life and I'm glad you found the strength to put it down," said Steve. "You should join the legalization group so you can help others who might be having similar problems."