cannabisnews.com: Ex-Fed, Pothead Butt Heads Ex-Fed, Pothead Butt Heads Posted by CN Staff on September 10, 2003 at 08:05:47 PT By Bill Medley, The Sedalia Democrat Source: Sedalia Democrat Despite the lure of a free trip to Amsterdam, former Drug Enforcement Administration agent Robert Stutman turned down a chance Tuesday night to get high with the editor of High Times magazine. Mr. Stutman and the editor, Steve Hager, debated marijuana legalization before a sold-out crowd as part of the Stauffacher Artist and Lecturer Series on the State Fair Community College campus. Halfway through the debate, Mr. Hager, dressed in a T-shirt, denim jacket and jeans, tried to tempt Mr. Stutman to join him at the Cannabis Cup, a marijuana harvest festival scheduled for this fall in Amsterdam. "You eat great, you sleep great and you have the best sex of your life," Mr. Hager said in touting the benefits of marijuana. Mr. Stutman, wearing a polo shirt and khakis, rejected the offer and said he didn't think he'd have fun "hanging out with a bunch of 55-year-old hippies." But it wasn't all joking as the two discussed conflicting scientific studies, treatment for users and the historical background of hemp and other controlled substances in the United States. Mr. Hager said the value of hemp, from which marijuana is taken, was unparalleled to any other crop. He said a single marijuana seed, once planted and harvested, could provide someone with "free medicine for the rest of their life" and produce thousands of consumer goods, from paper to clothes. "Every farmer in Missouri can add this crop to their rotation, and it would be a benefit and a boon to Missouri," Mr. Hager said. Mr. Stutman, a DEA agent for 25 years, said several scientific journals had disputed the alleged benefits of medicinal marijuana and showed that it was five times more likely to cause cancer than cigarettes. He said that even though hemp is legal in Europe, no one buys clothes made from the material. "Just because God made it, doesn't make it good for us to use," Mr. Stutman said. "Any doctor who tells you smoking is good for you is a fool. Thirty years from now, some of you may have lung cancer and ask, 'Why me?' " Mr. Stutman warned that if marijuana were legalized, the number of people who use it would skyrocket, causing more accidents and an elevated need for treatment programs. "The fundamental question is: Do you want to live in a free society?" Mr. Hager countered. "I want to live in a society where people are free to make bad decisions. The drug war's a war. It's a war on our own people." Mr. Stutman said the public, courts and science were all against drug legalization. "If one of those three groups agree with him ... I will concede it should be legal," Mr. Stutman said. "We have a right in this country to limit our freedoms. There's no such thing as unlimited freedoms."Source: Sedalia Democrat (MO)Author: Bill Medley, The Sedalia DemocratPublished: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 Copyright: The Sedalia Democrat 2003Website: http://sedaliademocrat.com/Contact: editor sedaliademocrat.comRelated Articles & Web Site:High Times Magazinehttp://www.hightimes.com/ Marijuana Debate Gets Heated http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16115.shtmlDEA, High Times Go Head To Head in Debate http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16103.shtmlExperts Debate The Legalization of Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15936.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #8 posted by BGreen on September 10, 2003 at 14:40:51 PT I Bought 4 Hemp Shirts at Hempworks in Europe "He said that even though hemp is legal in Europe, no one buys clothes made from the material."I'm sure I wasn't the first customer the store ever had.This entire "heads vs. feds" tour is a joke. This DEAth hack lies at every stop. He's so full of shit I can smell his breath when I read his words.The market for hemp has been diminished by the idiotic DEAth and their global reign of terror.If cannabis caused even a slight increased risk of cancer or lung disease it would have manifested itself by now. We've had too many people using cannabis for too long to continue this lie. In thirty years there won't be an increase in cancer rates caused by cannabis because cannabis doesn't cause cancer.On a related note, the senator from southwest missouri, roy blunt, our rabidly insane prohibitionist senator who made the national news in June, 2003 for this story:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/11/politics/main558123.shtmlBlunt Tries To Blunt Tobacco Furor(CBS) House Majority Whip Roy Blunt is coming under fire for trying to help tobacco giant Philip Morris in last year's homeland security bill.At issue is a measure to stop the smuggling of contraband cigarettes that Blunt, R-Mo., tried to quietly slip into the 2002 bill creating the Homeland Security Department. Blunt pushed the provision at the request of Philip Morris, to which he has close personal and political ties. The provision was yanked out of the bill as soon as Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., found out about it, according to a report in Wednesday's Washington Post. Democratic Party officials accused Blunt of exploiting his position to benefit a contributor.blunt, the idiot who thinks God made a mistake for putting cannabis on earth and has suffered from two recent bouts with cancer, made the news again today:http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-brf-blunt-engaged,0,6202225.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlinesRepublican Whip Gets Engaged to LobbyistWASHINGTON -- Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt, the House Republican whip, is engaged to marry a tobacco lobbyist, his spokeswoman said Wednesday.Blunt proposed over the weekend to lobbyist Abigail Perlman, said spokeswoman Burson Taylor. It is the second marriage for Blunt, 53, and the first for Perlman, 41, she said.Perlman, who works for Philip Morris parent Altria Group Inc., does not lobby Blunt or his staff and will no longer lobby the House leadership, the spokeswoman said.As majority whip, Blunt holds the No. 3 GOP leadership post in the Republican-controlled House. He is the father of the leading GOP candidate for governor, Missouri Secretary of State Matt Blunt.Aren't you all jealous of me living in the state of misery? If this ain't crooked politics then there is no such thing.The Rev. Bud Green [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Richard Paul Zuckerm on September 10, 2003 at 11:52:18 PT: CONTACT CONGRESS NOW TO OPPOSE H.R. 1078 H.R. 1078 would require civics and history teachers to attend a FEDERALLY MANDATED program, to make sure gun control AND WHO KNOWS WHAT ELSE is taught in public schools.H.R. 1078 has been fast-tracked and WILL BE VOTED UPON THIS WEEK!!Please contact Congress and ask to OPPOSE H.R. 1078, for the reasons expressed in www.johntaylorgatto.com and www.jpfo.org? Congress should not be sticking their noses into State affairs. Indeed, there is no FEDERAL Constitutional right to an education. The Right to an Education is a STATE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT and obligation. Just as with the pot thing, let's tell Congress to respect the 9th and 10th Amendments and OPPOSE H.R. 1078. Who knows? Maybe these FEDERALLY MANDATED programs would magnify anti-pot issues, too! Richard Paul Zuckerman, Box 159, Metuchen, N.J., 08840-0159, (Cell telephone number)(908) 403-6990, richardzuckerman2002 yahoo.com. Diploma in Paralegal, New York University, 2003; Diploma in Truck Driving, Smith & Solomon School of Truck Driving, Edison, New Jersey, 1995; B.A. in Political Science, Kean College of New Jersey, 1987. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by The GCW on September 10, 2003 at 11:52:08 PT Excuse Me, but this is not complete! "Just because God made it, doesn't make it good for us to use," On the 1st page is where it says God created ALL the seed bearing plants. & HE DID SAY THEY WERE ALL VERY GOOD!& Excuse Me, but if cannabis is 5x more cancer causing, then why are there over 1,000 people that will die today alone for cancer due to cigs, but still not a single death due to cannabis use, IN ALL OF MANS HISTORY?Stutman is living in the world of the "spirit of error"!He is lost!Referenced:Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them"; and it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13 Then God said, "Behold, (37) I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and (38) to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so. Brothers, that is on the very 1st page of the Bible! Where it not only says it's good, but that it shall be food. Indians smoke cannabis out of the peace pipe where it is considered drinking the herb.Then in My Bible Gen 1 is concluded ON THE 2ND PAGE:31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very (39) good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. It says it is not just good but it's ALL -VERY GOOD!http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=GEN%2B1&showfn=on&showxref=on&language=english&version=NASB&x=17&y=10 [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on September 10, 2003 at 10:44:51 PT: Mr. Stutman better check his pockets for mouse manure; he must have several rodents residing in his pockets when he uses the word 'we'.Who is this 'we' he refers to? Does he refer only to the prison/industrial complex? WHO THE FLIPPING HELL GAVE HIM CONTROL OVER MY FREEDOMS?Is he an elected legislator? No. Is he an elected ombudsman? Nope. Is he a member of the Supreme Court, supposedly qualified on determining what the Constitution says? Uh-uh. So, where, pray tell, does he get this 'we' crap?Rights do not fall gently from the good graces of government; the American people have those rights ALREADY. The Constitution didn't GIVE any rights; for the most part, it is a document that tells what rights the *government* DOES NOT HAVE. What it *may not do*.People like Mr. Stutman are the reason why this nation may need a severe cultural housecleaning some day. They've forgotten that they are not slaves, and they demand that we forget, too. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by goneposthole on September 10, 2003 at 10:41:32 PT you just never know "Just because God made it, doesn't make it good for us to use," Mr. Stutman said. "Any doctor who tells you smoking is good for you is a fool. Thirty years from now, some of you may have lung cancer and ask, 'Why me?' " A now deceased relative railed against smoking cigarettes and cursed at what a filthy digusting habit it is. Never smoked a tobacco in his entire life. Farmed for 50 years using chemicals and fertilizers on his crops. Into his late 60's he contracted lung cancer and died a few years later. Ironic as all get out, but that is what happened. Ain't nobody getting out of here alive. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by phil_debowl on September 10, 2003 at 09:28:53 PT Link to the audio or video of this debate anyone If anyone finds a link to the audio or video of this debate, i'd love to listen/see it :). [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by byrd on September 10, 2003 at 09:00:33 PT I think We have the right to limit actions that keep people from hurting someone else. In other words, your right to swing your arm ends at the tip of my nose. So, one of the "freedoms" that were curtailed would be the one that allows me to, say, drive my car into a bus stop because I don't like people who ride buses (that's just an example by the way :) )What I do or don't do to myself is nobody's business but my own."Just because God made it, doesn't make it good for us to use," Mr. Stutman said. "Any doctor who tells you smoking is good for you is a fool. Thirty years from now, some of you may have lung cancer and ask, 'Why me?' " Yeah, well eveyone knows tobacco causes cancer but it's still legal and what right does the government have to keep me healthy anyway?Was it Frederick Douglass who said that true freedom stems from the right to be left alone?Peace. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by BigDawg on September 10, 2003 at 08:22:57 PT Excuse my language but this statement just pisses me off.>We have a right in this country to limit our freedomsDoes this sentence not make sense to anyone besides me?A right to not have rights? 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