On-campus political groups went head-to-head Thursday night to debate drug policies as part of the Political Science Association (PSA)'s debate series this semester.
The topic was chosen by the College Libertarians, one of the four groups participating in the debate. The Libertarians were joined by the College Democrats, College Republicans and College Socialists. The debate started off with two questions from the moderator and then each group could pose a question for the others.
The Libertarians were given the first chance to speak at the debate, and quickly emphasized their belief in the individual. Members fully supported legalizing all drugs.
"Really, the reason why we should legalize drugs is the government is not our mother," Nicole Ritschel (junior-political science) said.
The Socialists were in agreement with the Libertarians. Socialist debaters cited capitalism as partially to blame for drug problems in the United States.
"The reason people do drugs is because life sucks," Kyle Horstmann (junior-labor studies) said. "And the reason why life sucks -- capitalism."
The Democrats and Republicans both opted for a more conservative approach to the issue than fully legalizing drugs. Democrats stressed an option that focused on rehabilitating addicts instead of simply punishing them.
Chris Alphen (senior-sociology and political science) said such reforms need to start now.
"[This issue] is something that needs to be handled by the government now," he said.
Republicans chose instead to target dealers, suggesting a plan that would attempt to stop distribution instead of punishing addicts through strengthening border security.
However, they did stress that drug addicts do sometimes turn to crime to acquire drugs and that those crimes should be punished.
"I think addiction, while making them a victim, can also make them a criminal when they're breaking the law to acquire their drugs," Josh Crawford (sophomore-crime, law and justice said).
The students also debated the merits of medical marijuana use. The Republicans were the only students opposed to using it for medical purposes.
Instead, they suggested harnessing substances in marijuana used for medical reasons to eliminate the negative effects of smoking.
The other debaters fired back, defending their stance in favor of medical marijuana.
"The Republicans keep stressing a safe way to harness the [medical substances] -- it's called a vaporizer," said Socialist Paige Heimark (freshman-history and psychology).
