The Washington Post editorial staff is dumb as a box of rocks
The Post came out with an editorial today on Salvia: Meet -- or Don't Meet -- Salvia
Remember, this is one of those solutions in search of a problem. Most people who use Salvia never want to again. It has no evidence of causing addiction, and there would be very little interest in it (except in a very small population who use it for spiritual exploration purposes) if it wasn't for all the legislators calling attention to it by outlawing it.
Although 13 states have prohibited or otherwise regulated salvia, the herb is not banned under federal law and is sold legally online and in specialty shops that carry drug paraphernalia and other products. Given the rapid rise in its use, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration should conduct a formal review to determine whether access to it should be restricted or banned.
The DEA? Oh, yeah, that's an unbiased and scientific approach. The DEA wouldn't know science if they accidentally broke down its door and shot its dog. And unbiased? It's like putting a bank robber in charge of securing our nation's financial structure (Oh, wait...)
Of course, the Washington Post does have good reason to be concerned based on the other experts they consulted for this editorial:
But the federal agencies should consider the 5,000 or so salvia videos posted on YouTube, many appearing to show disturbing effects, as a spur to take this substance seriously.
Turning to YouTube videos and the DEA for creating public policy.
Does this mean that if there were a bunch of YouTube videos showing people smoking the editorial pages of the Post that we should consider a federal criminalization of that as well?
Because we could do it.
6:37:47 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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