Drug Facts

Next week is Drug Facts Week, an event organized by NIDA supposedly to promote facts, but in actuality more to promote propaganda.

So we have our own counter version at DrugWarFacts.com, which I’ve been advertising on Google (as well as on this site), and it’s gotten some pretty good hits, particularly lately. To take a page from their social marketing plans, I plan on doing some tweeting and facebooking of drug facts and getting others to do so during this week.

Give me your best facts. Real facts. Both drug facts and drug war facts. Ideally, these should be 98 characters or less including spaces (in order to tweet it and provide the appropriate link and hashtag). Short and sweet.

Examples (you don’t have to give me the character count — these are just to give you an idea of the approximate length you should aim for):

Fact: Most marijuana users never use any other illicit drug. What gateway? (74 characters)

The largest study (by NIDA) showed no increased risk of cancer for even heavy marijuana smokers. (97 characters)

And go.

Update: Give me a source link, when possible. I’m going to list these at the drug facts site and have links to the sources of info.

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78 Responses to Drug Facts

  1. Jon Doe says:

    Fact: No one has ever died of a cannabis overdose.

  2. Dante says:

    I am far, far to old to tweet.

    Here’s mine:

    Smart people support drug reform. Our government doesn’t. You make the call.

    (78 characters?)

  3. darkcycle says:

    Fact: Marijuana is non-toxic and has no dangerous side effects.
    48 characters.

  4. darkcycle says:

    Fact: Marijuana does not interact with other drugs, and cannot contribute to poly-drug overdose.
    74 Characters.

  5. darkcycle says:

    Fact: The drug czar is a lying sack.
    23 Characters.

  6. claygooding says:

    Marijuana users don’t have hangovers.

    • Jon Doe says:

      Some would argue that. I know I’ve personally experienced a certain grogginess and slight headache the morning after smoking a bit too much. However, it passes quickly and isn’t nearly has debilitating as an alcohol hangover.

      • claygooding says:

        The only time I had the mentioned headache was when I smoked someone else.s weed that I couldn’t vouch was organic or not treated with chemicals.

  7. daksya says:

    Pete, you may want to amend that cancer factoid from “(by NIDA)” to “(funded by NIDA)”. Tashkin et al. used a NIDA grant, but theirs wasn’t NIDA in-house research.

    • claygooding says:

      My understanding on Tashkin was that he worked for NIDA,searching for harm in marijuana for 15(?) years,before he got the grant for the lung function study.

    • Pete says:

      Thanks, Daksya… I’ll have to cut letters elsewhere to do it (Twitter doesn’t really lend itself to conveying all nuances and legalisms). I’m going to have more information for each factoid at the site where it links. That should clarify it.

  8. claygooding says:

    Fact: Your body has receptors in it that only cannabis can provide.

  9. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    Prohibition sux!

  10. Leonard Junior says:

    Fact: Our government would rather cage, assault and sodomize cannabis users than let them have their constitutional rights.

  11. Francis says:

    I would include some facts related to harms caused by alcohol, e.g., addictiveness, health risks, role in fueling violence, etc.

  12. Bailey says:

    Fact: The federal gov’t has provided medical marijuana to patients for over 20 years.

    Fact: Marijuana is the most common illegal drug used by criminals, US presidents, and everyone else.

    Fact: Marijuana arrests occur every 19 seconds in the US, over 4 out of 5 are for possession.

    Fact: Methamphetamine is considered safer than pot, according to US law.

    Fact: The gov’t no longer calls it “The War on Drugs” and they want you to know that’s a big change.

    Fact: House Speaker John Boehner has multiple alcoholic drinks almost every day.

    Fact: China is the world’s largest hemp producer; the US is among the top recipients of its products.

    Fact: The Justice Dept. believes medical marijuana patients aren’t entitled to the 2nd, 4th, 9th, and 10th amendments.

  13. Matthew Meyer says:

    The AMA opposed cannabis prohibition in 1937.

  14. Matthew Meyer says:

    Prez Franklin Pierce used cannabis in Mexican-American war, wrote to family “about the only good thing” there.

  15. Matthew Meyer says:

    In 1988 DEA Judge F Young called cannabis “one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.”

  16. Matthew Meyer says:

    US prison pop increase 1925-1972: 105%; drug war era 1972-2010: up 705%

    • Emma says:

      100 years ago heroin, cocaine, and cannabis were sold over-the-counter in the US, use was much lower than today.

      There is no evidence that prohibition has ever had a long-term effect on drug use.

  17. Matthew Meyer says:

    Federal law allows medical use of cocaine but not cannabis.

  18. Matthew Meyer says:

    The feds say children as young as 6 can have meth legally (Desoxyn) but no one can use cannabis.

  19. Matthew Meyer says:

    Incarceration for drug offenses correlates more closely with law enforcement funding than with drug use rates. (http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/63)

  20. allan says:

    The gov’t has known since 1974 that cannabis fights cancer (this one sits high atop my list – that fact appalls me)
    ( http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n572/a11.html?310095 )

    “every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish” (RM Nixon to HR Haldemann) (perhaps a category for anti-facts?)
    ( http://www.csdp.org/news/news/nixon.htm )

    Turkey eliminated criminal control of heroin by legalizing the growing of opium for medicine.
    ( http://www.encod.de/info/AF-LEGAL-SOLUTIONS-FOR-OPIUM.html )

    DEA law judge Young called pot “one of the safest therapeutic substances know to man.”
    ( http://www.druglibrary.org/olsen/medical/young/young4.html )

  21. Peter says:

    the greatest risk to cannabis users is the law
    OR
    the dangers of cannabis are far outweighed by the risk of being caught

  22. claygooding says:

    THC,the devils drug for 25 years,now a medicine sold by big pharmacy.

  23. thelbert says:

    fact: cannabis sells itself. prohibition has to be shoved down your throat.

  24. Dante says:

    Only two groups benfit from the War on Drugs: Drug Cartels and the DEA. Can you tell the difference?

  25. Ben says:

    Fact: The DEA and violent drug cartels both want the same thing: higher drug prices.

  26. Scott says:

    Fact: The Commerce Clause has been irrationally applied to allow the Controlled Substances Act.

  27. Twatter (No One Cares What You're Doing) says:

    Fact: Marijuana is a schedule 1 controlled substance along with meth, lsd and heroin.

  28. Sukoi says:

    This is completely off topic but MPP is listed in the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) this year. This is a yearly campaign where federal employees can donate a portion of their salary, or simply give a one-time donation to any organization on the list and it is pushed pretty hard on all military installations – NORML was actually on this list a few years ago and I don’t know why LEAP isn’t. The ironic thing about this is that it is a way for money to go DIRECT from the federal gubmint into a drug law reform organization. So if any of you know of anyone who is in a position to contribute, please let them know about this.
    http://www.bestcfc.org/detail.asp?ID=11181

    • that’s good news sukoi! about a decade and a half ago i started boycotting CFC because they *didn’t* have any reform orgs in the program.

      of course, these days i wouldn’t donate to any of them via CFC except LEAP, but it’s great that for those who wish to do so they have such an ironic vector.

      i’ll pass it along to my friends who still remain in government service.

  29. Chris says:

    I’ve always liked pointing out that morphine, meth and cocaine are all schedule 2, while cannabis is schedule 1. This alone should be enough to convince anyone that the scheduling of cannabis is not based on the actual potential for harm or medicinal uses, but politics.

  30. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    A study done in Canada quantifies the increased cost of health care for cannabis users at $20.50.

    http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/publications/cannabis/bck/7
    ……………………………………………………
    The Canadians are obviously don’t think of “Hi, I’m from the government and I’m here to help” as a joke.

    • Peter says:

      this was around half of 1% of the total spent on “enforcement”

      • Duncan20903 says:

        .
        .
        But that was too many characters.

        How about 2 consecutive entries?

        A study done in Canada quantifies the increased cost of health care for cannabis users at $20.50.

        A study done in Canada quantifies the annual cost of law enforcement for cannabis at $328.00.

  31. rita says:

    Politicians who lie about the effects of marijuana lie about other drugs, too.

  32. Rick Steeb says:

    “Storm Crow’s List” –Google it!

  33. Dudeman says:

    Fact: Nora Volkow’s brain scans don’t imply that prohibition is the best policy.

  34. Dudeman says:

    Fact: If every injection drug user used clean needles there would be no intravenous transmission of HIV.

  35. DdC says:

    Cannabis Food, Fuel, Fiber, FARMaceuticals!

    Pro Life? Not even anti abortionists

    OH Gilligan!

    The Conservative Argument for Legalization

    * The war on drugs corrupts our police
    * America’s Plague of Bad Cops
    * Cops Against the Drugwar

    The items posted here describe the growing disillusionment with the War on Drugs in the law enforcement community, the growing support for reform, and some of the ways in which the Drug War corrupts police forces and encourages a war mentality that is at odds with a police officer’s intended role as an officer of the peace.

    FUCK the Drug War!

    * Lost political causes
    * Perjury everywhere?
    * AN END TO Marijuana Prohibition
    ~ By William Buckley

    Legal Lies or Legalize?

    “Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.”
    – William F. Buckley Jr.

    D.E.A.th to the Dung Worriers!

    Fellow Conservatives: Our Position Is Hypocritical April 22, 2001
    As a fellow conservative, I find myself asking: Why is the drug war worth fighting at an estimated $60 billion annually, while far more modest measures to keep weapons from criminals and emotionally volatile teenagers are doomed to failure?

    OiNkDeCePtion

  36. Servetus says:

    Fact: Marijuana is not going away.

    Fact: Medical marijuana is here to stay.

    Fact: Marijuana makes prohibitionists act totally crazy.

  37. Dudeman says:

    Fact: The US imprisons more citizens than China in large part because of the drug war.

  38. DdC says:

    Al Capone and Watergate were red herrings to divert the countries attention from the Fascist acts of eliminating competition. Booze/Ethanol or Ganja//Hemp. Get Over it!

  39. Dudeman says:

    Fact: Cocaine’s purity has risen and its price dropped for the last two decades despite the drug war: http://tinyurl.com/4yzvlaa

  40. allan says:

    The US now incarcerates almost 6X more young black males per capita than S. Africa during Apartheid. ( http://www.prisonsucks.com/ )

  41. Emma says:

    Einstein: The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by prohibition.

    “The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this.”

    Albert Einstein, “My First Impression of the U.S.A.”, 1921

  42. Francis says:

    “From 1970 to 2004, the percentage of Americans who smoke cigarettes declined from approximately 40 percent to approximately 20 percent — without incarcerating a single person for smoking.” Here’s the link. You could also juxtapose that with some stats showing an increase / non-decline in the use of illicit drugs over a comparable period of time.

  43. kaptinemo says:

    How about “Fact: Cannabis has no established LD-50 despite 40 years of research attempting to find one.”

  44. claygooding says:

    Reefer madness 1927 = media regurgitating crude government propaganda

    Reefer madness 2011 = a flourishing police state driven by asset forfeiture laws

  45. Paul Dauben says:

    FACT: One chemical from cannabis is a promising treatment for advanced breast cancer. http://www.letfreedomgrow.com/cmu/cbd_breast_cancer.pdf

  46. Maria says:

    # “Life” can change the way your brain functions, impair your senses, memory, judgment, & coordination. #drugfacts2011

    # Propaganda can change the brain and affect your ability to weigh risks and make good decisions. #drugfacts2011

    # Rx drugs can have dangerous short- & long-term health effects when used w/o education. #drugfacts2011

    (I know. I know. That’s not quite what we need in this case. More actual facts and not just mirrored rhetoric but … it’s all so maddening. Because these are “their” drug facts copied from their site with one word changed.)

    Pete, are you using the same hashtag as NIDA? “#drugfacts2011” to piggyback on the trend? If there’s character room we can use “#drugwarfacts” as well.

    • Maria says:

      Another one from their templates:

      I give my NDFW CyberShoutout to @drugwarrant @ssdp @norml @______ http://bit.ly/2jYsGN #drugfacts2011 #drugwarfacts

      Lol. “cybershoutout”… fuck me are they stuck in the late 90s?
      Also, is LEAP or CSDP on twitter?

  47. Cocaine is as safe or safer then caffeine and nicotine, in the contexts commonly accepted for these latter two drugs.

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