Tuesday, November 9, 2004

Stupid Reading Sometimes an article shows up that is so bad, so ignorant, or so blatant in its lies that you just can't help marveling while you read it. This was published in The Columbian: Long before today's extremely potent strains of cannabis were developed, there were individuals who suffered severe psychotic episodes when smoking marijuana (feral cannabis hemp). In fact, this phenomenon was the basis of "Reefer Madness," the 70-year-old zombie movie about individuals who became crazed from smoking marijuana.     Today, pro-legalization partisans complain that "Reefer Madness" and the thousands of scientific studies that document marijuana's many insidious and dangerous side effects, are "just scare tactics" and insist that marijuana be given the same status as alcohol and tobacco.     Today marijuana is so potent (compare taking 20 aspirin at a time instead of two) that it has become a leading cause of drug related medical and psychiatric emergency room episodes, impacting thinly-stretched medical resources. Read the rest of it. It's truly amazing. There are so many outright lies in the piece that I can't count them all. Pointing them out is like identifying the sand on a beach. The author, Sandra S. Bennett, is director of the Northwest Center for Health & Safety (her own organization) and is married to William Bennett (not that one). After her son died of a cocaine related death, she apparently decided to go into denial, start lying, and encourage the prohibition conditions that lead to the deaths of young people. If you support prohibition, you are part of the drug problem. [Thanks to Scott] 8:26:20 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

A new blog Check out Loretta Nall's new U.S. Marijuana Party Blog. 8:13:01 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []