Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan and a retired sheriff’s deputy from South Carolina found some common ground April 2 in a debate over whether some drugs should be legalized.

Duncan, who opposed legalization of drugs, debated against Earl Barnett of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition during a forum at UNC Asheville.

About 50 people attended the debate, which was sponsored by Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

Barnett, a retired Greenville County, S.C., deputy, said that he does not advocate drug use, but argued that U.S. drug policies do more harm than good.

He compared the prohibition of drugs to the prohibition of alcohol in the 1930s, which he said created more problems than it fixed.

Much of the debate focused on marijuana use. Duncan said he would not argue that alcohol is less dangerous than marijuana.

But he added that legalization of the substance would send a message to young people that it is safe, and therefore would be the wrong course of acion.

He added that most of the times he has caught a person with marijuana, he has simply destroyed it in front of them rather than charge them with simple possession.

Dealers of hard narcotics should be the primary target of law-enforcement officers, Duncan added.

He also cited a connection between drug use and other crimes, noting that about half of those incarcerated at the Buncombe County Detention Center have substance-abuse problems.