NWU-Pukke first in dagga debate Legalise the use of dagga. This is the topic on which the North-West University’s A debate team placed the facts on the table against the University of Pretoria in the ATKV University debate competition in Bloemfontein.
With a creative approach their argument made them the debate champions of 2014. “We told them we don’t want to justify the use of dagga, but regulations are always easier than a ban is,” says Paul Maritz, a member of the NWU team and chief whip of the “government”.
Maritz says for the final round a coin was tossed to decide who stands for the legalisation of dagga, i.e. the government, and who the opposition is. He also received the award as the Best Language user.
Maritz, Martin Hattingh, Christo Slabbert and Lizeri Mitchell then had to advance arguments in favour of the legalisation of dagga. For two hours you forget about your own opinions, says Maritz, a fourth-year theology student. Then you believe what you say. “Naturally you speak in front of a bunch of judges who are quite conservative. We asked them to be open-minded.” And they were open-minded.
Maritz says in the summary they came to the conclusion that people’s lives are more important than to keep the use of a drug, of which there is very little research that proves the harmfulness thereof, illegal.
The Puk team stated that they could find only three instances in the past 60 years where people died as a direct result of dagga. Jaco van der Walt, debate manager of the ATKV, says there were six universities and 12 teams that participated in the competition.
He laughs about the choice of the theme and says at the beginning there were a wide variety of themes, from land reform to the mining industry and even the Oscar Pistorius trial.
They considered the legalisation of dagga as theme on account of Mario Ambrosini, a Member of Parliament for the Inkatha Freedom Party, who recently announced in parliament that he uses dagga for medicinal purposes.
With a creative approach their argument made them the debate champions of 2014. “We told them we don’t want to justify the use of dagga, but regulations are always easier than a ban is,” says Paul Maritz, a member of the NWU team and chief whip of the “government”.
Maritz says for the final round a coin was tossed to decide who stands for the legalisation of dagga, i.e. the government, and who the opposition is. He also received the award as the Best Language user.
Maritz, Martin Hattingh, Christo Slabbert and Lizeri Mitchell then had to advance arguments in favour of the legalisation of dagga. For two hours you forget about your own opinions, says Maritz, a fourth-year theology student. Then you believe what you say. “Naturally you speak in front of a bunch of judges who are quite conservative. We asked them to be open-minded.” And they were open-minded.
Maritz says in the summary they came to the conclusion that people’s lives are more important than to keep the use of a drug, of which there is very little research that proves the harmfulness thereof, illegal.
The Puk team stated that they could find only three instances in the past 60 years where people died as a direct result of dagga. Jaco van der Walt, debate manager of the ATKV, says there were six universities and 12 teams that participated in the competition.
He laughs about the choice of the theme and says at the beginning there were a wide variety of themes, from land reform to the mining industry and even the Oscar Pistorius trial.
They considered the legalisation of dagga as theme on account of Mario Ambrosini, a Member of Parliament for the Inkatha Freedom Party, who recently announced in parliament that he uses dagga for medicinal purposes.
- Article by Beeld