Marijuana debates visits TCC via satellite
by Violetta Rocha
reporter

The debate over marijuana legalization heated up last semester during a satellite seminar shown on all four campuses. Representatives from the press, law enforcement and science formed the panel for “Heads vs. Feds: The Great Debate.”
Steven Hager, editor-in-chief of High Times magazine, said he supports legalization of marijuana because he believes it is a useful medicine in the treatment of cancer, AIDS and coma.
“Here is a potential medicine that many doctors want patients to have, and the really important thing about this is that if I give you a marijuana flower and seed it, I am giving you and your future generation free medicine for the rest of your life,” he said.
“We have to stop interfering with doctors and patients and let them decide what is the appropriate treatment,” he said.
According to Hager, other parts of marijuana, such as the stalk and seed, are good for producing oil, paper and clothing. He said America could move from a petrochemical toxic-based society to one based on clean, renewable resources that do not cause cancer.
Robert Stuntman, one of America’s highest profile Drug Enforcement Administration agents, contrasted Hager’s statement about marijuana’s medical powers. Stuntman said only certain chemicals of this plant are good for medical purposes.
“Smoking marijuana will never be a good medicine,” he said. “Marijuana causes dependence. When you smoke it on a regular basis, it might lead to lung cancer, mouth cancer or throat cancer.”
Stuntman cited one basic reason for not legalizing marijuana.
“If we legalize marijuana, there will be far more users,” he said. “There are 150 million users of alcohol in the United States and 15 to 17 million marijuana users. This is because one is legal and one isn’t.”
The legalization of marijuana is a decision that should not be made by marketing or by emotions, Stuntman said. He believes it should be a public policy decision based on the facts.
“If science, the public or the courts agree to legalize marijuana, I will agree with them,” he said. “Until that happens, we should not change public policy based on emotions or on what sounds good to young adults.”
Hager and Stuntman agreed law enforcement of substance abuse should not place people in jail. The money spent on incarceration should be used for drug abuse treatments, they said.
The third panelist, Dr. Billy Martin, professor and chairman of the department of pharmacology and toxicology at the Virginia Commonwealth University, acts as the principal investigator for several ongoing studies of abused drugs. Martin explained the status of marijuana as a medicine.
According to Martin, researchers, looking for an effective, non-harmful medicine, have conducted clinical studies on marijuana to determine its degree of helpfulness in treating specific illnesses. Marijuana, Martin said, has failed this test.
Martin said marijuana contains THC, which activates some receptors in the brain. Some receptors control muscles movements, others memory and concentration, but the problem, he said, is that marijuana has other toxic chemicals the body does not need.
“There is no difference between marijuana THC and synthetic THC when it is smoked. But the synthetic can be controlled more since it does not have other chemicals that marijuana has,” he said.
Martin said scientists will continue testing marijuana.
“It doesn’t matter what we determine scientifically. I think there will be interest in medical marijuana. I don’t thing this question will go away,” he said.
The seminar was the last of a five-part series Dimensions and Directions of Health: Choices in the Maze, by Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society of the Two-Year College and the National Collegiate Honor Council.