Marijuana legalization spurs heated debate

Proponent claims drug increases sex drive Heated arguments -- but no tell-tale scent -- filled the air last night in Logan Hall for a debate about marijuana smoking. In honor of Drug and Alcohol Awareness Week, Curtis Sliwa, founder and president of the red-bereted Guardian Angels, and Steven Hager, editor-in-chief of High Times -- a magazine dedicated to marijuana -- presented their arguments and answered questions from the students who crowded into the room. Facing an openly hostile audience at times, Sliwa first presented arguments against the legalization or use of marijuana and urged students to consider how the drug affects relationships with other people. "Drugs just poison your body and get you into wacky-dacky land," he said. But Hager adamantly insisted that there were no serious problems with smoking pot. "We have 20 million people who aren't going to stop using cannabis no matter what -- and I'm one of them," he said. "And nothing the government can say or do, and not all the jack-booted [Drug Enforcement Agency] thugs in the world are going to change my mind," Hager said. He went on to argue that the current ban on marijuana constitutes a violation of his freedom of religion. Hager explained that without drugs, the great rock music of the 1960s would never have been created. And he said marijuana had sexual uses as well. "It definitely increases your sex drive," he said. "It causes a three-alarm fire in your boxer shorts." Hager also urged students not to buy marijuana but to "grow it in your backyard." In an interview after the debate, Sliwa said he expected the audience to favor legalizing marijuana because of college students' typical feelings on the matter. But he felt confident that the drug would never become legal. "The generation of the Sixties was into experimentation and questioning authority," he said. "I was of that generation, and my peers have actually gotten more conservative, more opposed to any kind of decriminalization and legalization. They are the swing vote and they could easily have made that the law of the land." Although students often seemed to side with Hager, they listened intently to both speakers. Wharton junior and Drug and Alcohol Resource Team President Jonathan Brightbill, who moderated the event, concluded the debate to the dismay of audience members who clearly wanted to continue the discussion. "The debate was pretty good. It was nice to see the school had an intelligent forum on this kind of issue," Engineering junior Mike Greenspan said at the end of the program. The event's planners worried early in the night that the unexpected rescheduling of Billy Joel's Connaissance lecture would draw students from the marijuana debate. But incoming DART President Jordan Greenbaum, a College junior, said he was pleased with the way the event turned out. "It was a terrific forum, and it was good for us to change things and focus on drugs, because we usually concentrate our events on alcohol abuse," he said. "We're looking forward to planning more events like this in the future." Kate Ward-Gaus, health educator for Student Health, said she felt the evening was an important and positive experience.