'Heads vs. Feds' brings legalization debate to campus

By: Noelle Lynn Blood

Posted: 10/30/09

More than 500 UNO students of all ages, eclectic styles and varying opinions flooded the Milo Bail Student Center Nebraska Room Wednesday afternoon to hear both sides of "Heads vs. Feds: The Debate Over the Legalization of Marijuana," presented by Maverick Productions.

Pro-legalization commentary came from Steve Hager, former editor-in-chief of High Times magazine. Robert M. Stutman, a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, refuted Hager's statements.

Students attended for a variety of reasons. Some had already decided their position on the issue.

"If alcohol can be legal, why can't marijuana? I think the side effects are minimal compared to drunk driving," said Samantha Liechty, 21. "If the United States is a free nation, what you do in the privacy of your own home is your own business."

Others came to learn about the topic and get a well-rounded viewpoint.

"I think it's important to know both sides of any political controversy," said Paul Sanchez, 18. "Being ignorant on one side doesn't solve anything. I want to be a sponge and absorb everything."

The event, moderated by David Gnam of Maverick Productions, began with a 10-minute DVD presentation providing background information on both Hager and Stutman. It then moved to opening statements from the speakers, an open question and answer session with the audience and then closing statements.

Hager spoke about why marijuana should be legalized in America. His first point was that marijuana is medically beneficial for many disorders and diseases including AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, strokes, asthma and head injuries. However, the U.S. government does not formally recognize this.

"Let's not forget, according the United States government, marijuana is Schedule 1," he said. "Do you know what that means? It means it has absolutely no medical use whatsoever. It's the equivalent of standing in a raging hurricane and having the United States government tell us the wind ain't blowing."

He went on to say the health care system is "broken" because of increased cost and decreased quality of care.

"It shows the problem with our health care system that they will not even consider natural plants as part of the pharmacopia," Hager said. "There is no doubt in my mind that marijuana is the gold standard of medicine and the refusal to accept this medicine is based on profiteering by the pharmaceutical companies who only want synthetic drugs that they control patents on."

Hager also said scientific research on medicinal benefits of marijuana is stifled. He referenced a 1974 study conducted by the University of Virginia in which rats were given brain cancer and then injected with THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. According to the study results, the rats given THC lived longer than the control rats that were not given cancer. The THC shrank or entirely eradicated the tumors in the rats.

However, in 1976, President Gerald Ford stopped all public marijuana research and granted exclusive research rights to major pharmaceutical companies. Since then, companies have been working to develop synthetic forms of THC to produce the medicinal effects without getting the user "high."

"Steve [Hager] said marijuana is the greatest medicine in the world. It will cure everything from AIDS to whatever Z begins with," Stutman said. "If Steve were honest with you, he and I would completely agree. There are 435 chemicals in the cannabis plant. Two of them, Delta 9-THC and cannabinoids, will be good medicine."

Stutman said $28 million has been put into researching these two chemicals, but two of 435 is not a high enough ratio to generalize marijuana as "good medicine."

Hager also addressed the issue of incarceration related to growing, selling and possessing marijuana. In America, more than 2 million people are behind bars, and 40 to 50 percent of them are serving time for drug-related offenses.

"Having your biggest population behind bars is not exactly a hallmark of a free society," he said. "When I was in high school, this country was famous for building schools, hospitals, interstate highways. Over the last 15 years, we've just been building prisons. Now the prison system is being privatized, turned over to corporations to be run for profit."

Hager said people arrested for drug problems should be receiving treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail time.

"This is a tremendous tragedy. We have to stop warehousing people in prison and keep them as useful members of society," he said. "Stop destroying lives over a plant that never should have been illegal in the first place."

Stutman used his opening statements to fully refute every one of Hager's points.

He quoted an author of Hager's aforementioned University of Virginia study: "When one smokes, only a small amount of cannabinoids can be expected to reach the tumor. Smoking marijuana will never cure cancer."

Stutman said Hager redefined the argument by listing intellectual-sounding reasons for legalization but that most users don't have a legitimate reason behind their behavior.

"Most pro-legalization people are not pro-counter culture, they're not marijuana medicine people, they're not hemp people," he said. "They want to use it as their intoxicant of choice. 'I want to get stoned and I don't want to get hassled about it.'"

Stutman said the main reason he is against legalization is because it would create more marijuana users. This presents several potential consequences.

Marijuana is approved for the treatment of glaucoma because it lessens pressure on the optical nerves. However, in non-glaucoma users, this results in impaired depth perception, which can contribute to automobile accidents. Marijuana can also lead to addiction.

"Many people in this room know someone who has gone from marijuana as a part of their life to marijuana becoming their life," Stutman said. "That's called addiction."

Stutman closed by reiterating that he and Hager are close friends and that while they disagree, they both have relevant points on their sides.

"Just as you have many friends who say, 'Marijuana made my life,' Steve Hager and I have many people who've come up to us after shows and said, 'Marijuana screwed me up so bad I never recovered,'" he said. "It is a very rational argument that we both present."

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