Nassau Community College Hosting Debate On Legalized Marijuana

Legalizing recreational marijuana has become a hot-button issue in New York this year. Gov. Andrew Cuomo supports the measure, but both Nassau and Suffolk counties seem poised to opt-out of allowing the drug to be sold.

Now, Nassau Community College will be hosting a debate on April 8 titled "Should Marijuana Be Legalized?" The debate will be free and open to the public, and will start at 12:30 p.m. in room 252-253 of the College Center Building.

The debate will feature Erik Altieri, the director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) against Alex Berenson, a former New York Times reporter and the author of "Tell Your Children," a book about the link between teenage marijuana use, mental illness and violence.

Altieri oversees NORML's federal efforts and works on strategy for its many state and local chapters around the county. His previous work for NORML includes federal and state lobbying, legislative outreach, social media networking and managing its PAC. NORML advocates for the legalization of marijuana.

Berenson worked at the New York Times for more than a decade, but left in 2010 to devote himself to writing fiction. Conversations with his wife led him to begin researching the science around cannabis and mental illness, a project that became the book "Tell Your Children," published in January 2019.

For more information about this program, call 516-572-7148.