Sara Watson Arthurs, The Times-Standard -- More research is needed on medical marijuana, and Humboldt State University might be just the place to do it, said Dr. Rebecca Stauffer, director of student health and counseling, Saturday afternoon.

Stauffer was part of a panel discussion on medical marijuana held as part of the higher education track of workshops at the North Coast Education Summit at HSU. About 45 people attended.

Moderator Sally Botzler, education professor at HSU, said the purpose was to have a dialogue rather than a debate -- that is, participants should listen to each another's perspectives rather than try to convince each other that their view is the only right one. The event, which also included time for audience comments, continued in a civil manner.

Jesse Goplen, a student at HSU, shared his own experience as a medical marijuana user. Goplen said he'd tried prescription medications for his panic attacks but found that they didn't help and had side effects that left him feeling “zombified.” Marijuana, by contrast, helped relieve the panic attacks, he said. Goplen said he uses a vaporizer rather than smoking his marijuana.

”I've seen a lot of people who've really been helped by cannabis,” he said.

HSU President Rollin Richmond said he believes medical marijuana law “provides an excuse” for people who want to use the drug recreationally. Richmond, a geneticist by training, said different people's bodies respond differently to the same substance.

”You need to be very careful about what drugs you put in your body, because you don't know how you're going to react to them,” he said. Richmond said he believes marijuana should be legalized and taxed, like alcohol is.

Arcata City Councilman Dave Meserve also said marijuana should be legal. He said marijuana-related crime, like thefts, have to do with the high black market value of the drug.

”It really is a victimless crime to use marijuana,” he said. Dr. Denver Nelson said doctors can prescribe marinol, the active ingredient in marijuana, as a medication but the medical marijuana recommendations aren't really prescriptions. Nelson said marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol -- OK for adults.