Today’s fact-free enablers – David W Freeman and Monica DyBuncio of CBS News

Once again, lazy press lap up the Drug Czar’s deceitful offerings and present them as scary facts.

Drugged driving report shows high toll among young

But a new report Kerlihowske [sic] pointed to includes a stark and surprising fact: In 2009, 3,952 drivers fatally injured in car crashes tested positive for drugs. That represents 18 percent of all fatally injured drivers.

Stark and surprising, huh? Unless you actually look at the report. No, I don’t mean reading the whole report. I mean unless you actually get as far as the second paragraph of the overview.

It is important to note that drug involvement means only that drugs were found in the driver’s system. Drug involvement does not imply impairment or indicate that drug use was the cause of the crash. Drug presence as recorded in FARS includes both illegal substances as well as
over-the-counter and prescription medications, which may or may not have been misused. Unlike alcohol data in FARS, there is no measure of the amount of drug present.

Hmmm, maybe not so stark and surprising. The surprising thing may be that it’s only 18% of any particular population that would test positive under those parameters.

And David W. Freean and Monica Dybuncio continued to parrot all the tricksy “statistics” of the Drug Czar without once questioning.

And data from 2005 to 2009 show that 42 percent of fatally injured drivers who tested positive for marijuana were under 25, according to the statement.

What does that mean? That is the most meaningless statistic I’ve ever heard (and yet it sounds “scary” as though marijuana was the cause). Is it that people under 25 are more likely to get into crashes? True – check any insurance company’s rates. Or that people under 25 are more likely to use marijuana in general (and thus would be more likely to test positive regardless of when they had used it)? Also true. Is it that marijuana is a contributing factor to a significant number of fatal crashes for young people? Not based on this data, which doesn’t even measure that.

David Freeman and Monica DyBuncio: If you’re reading this, please take a moment to inject some facts into your coverage of this drugged driving thing that the Drug Czar is trying to promote. And be aware that the Drug Czar is Required by Law to Lie.

None of us want impaired people out on the roads, regardless of the method of impairment. But scare stories based on manipulated statistics that divert attention from real problems do none of us any good, and could end up causing real harm.

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72 Responses to Today’s fact-free enablers – David W Freeman and Monica DyBuncio of CBS News

  1. N.T. Greene says:

    The problem remains: statistics are a huge part of their argument… and no one fact checks them.

    More from me on this later.

  2. Dante says:

    “None of us want impaired people out on the roads, regardless of the method of impairment. But scare stories based on manipulated statistics that divert attention from real problems do none of us any good, and could end up causing real harm.”

    Exactly!

    And the kicker? Whenever they end up causing real harm, and you ask them why they did it, the answer will drive you crazy:

    For your safety. They caused real harm, and it was for your safety.

    The irony is painful.

  3. ezrydn says:

    Just two more deer in the headlights.

  4. kaptinemo says:

    Another reason why I don’t watch TeeVee anymore. My tolerance for bright-eyed, vapid stupidity and cheerfully displayed ignorance has dropped below the level of whale manure.

    It’s enough to make you wonder if the eugenics movement might have had some validity, after all. Because, when it comes to traditional media, I’d swear that we’re hip-deep in idiots masquerading as journalists.

    • claygooding says:

      Kapt,,I believe in evolution and that survival of the fittest does not necessarily mean the strongest,,but intelligence is a large part of the equation.
      All we can hope for is that the gene pools are not replenished by these idiots before their time is ended and that will raise the IQ of our race.

      • primus says:

        Jared Diamond, in his book “Guns, Germs and Steel” makes the point that in our culture, it is germs that select, and they don’t select for intelligence. In other cultures, the selection process is much more on the basis of intelligence. In some primitive cultures, if you like a man’s wife, you kill him and take her. If he is smarter than you, he kills you instead. Diamond states that the natives of Papua-New Guinea are some of the most intelligent people he has ever met.

    • Ed Dunkle says:

      The more history I read, the more I realize that the press has always been crappy. To cite one example, the New York press, including the NY Times spent decades lauding the achievements of Robert Moses. Only until the debacle of the World’s Fair, and Nelson Rockefeller’s fancy footwork with brother David (head of Chase bank), did the press finally realize that Moses was the prime cause for the decline and urban rot of New York in the 60’s and 70’s.

      Anytime the press gets a story correct we should throw a party and give ’em a bunch of Pulitzers.

  5. Scott says:

    I posted this in the Wall Street Journal comments:

    Prohibitionists always proclaim disaster will strike, if we weaken or eliminate our drug laws. That makes sense, because if there is no disaster, there is no need for us to fund prohibition.

    Drug laws have been weakened many times over the past several decades. Portugal decriminalized all drugs a decade ago. Fourteen states have legalized medical marijuana (including CA a decade and a half ago), while fourteen have decriminalized it.

    It is obviously to the prohibitionists’ benefit to now proclaim their ‘See! We told you so!’ campaign, but no such campaign exists.

    What exists instead is our drug czar talking about drugged driving. But as nicely observed by one blogger responding to CBS’ lack of proper journalism, the drugged driving issue is grounded in deceit:

    http://www.drugwarrant.com/2011/10/todays-fact-free-enablers-david-w-freeman-and-monica-dybuncio-of-cbs-news/

    As soon as the mainstream media stops exercising extreme bias in favor of prohibition, the public majority will finally understand that the war on drugs is one of largest scams ever perpetrated, and drug abuse is not really the target; your wallet is.

    This scam involves greatly funding gangs of all sizes, militarizing our police force, and helping the prison industrial complex make more money by throwing more Americans in prison (mainly over a plant for which no conclusive science proves any harm in moderate use).

    “The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by the relaxation of enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices or through the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed by our criminal laws. For instance, any changes with respect to drugs and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them. Legislation has been proposed in numerous jurisdictions that could lower minimum sentences for some non-violent crimes and make more inmates eligible for early release based on good behavior.” – Corrections Corporation of America 2010 Annual Report

    The worst part that no prohibitionist here has ever addressed in the lengthy time I have posted here is the FACT that the Commerce Clause has been irrationally applied by our Supreme Court to authorize the Controlled Substances Act. You do not need to be a legal expert to understand that to abandon rationality is to abandon law.

    But for you ‘legal expertise desiring’ folks, here are the words in a dissent by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas:

    “Respondents Diane Monson and Angel Raich use marijuana that has never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and that has had no demonstrable effect on the national market for marijuana. If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything–and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers.”

    Note that “virtually anything” includes forcing you to buy health insurance.

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .
      So what’s your better idea for installing universal health care for Americans? It’s time that the United States joined the rest of the first world in providing access to health care for everyone. We’re already a laughing stock because Cannabinoidian-Americans are the only people in the US who understand the metric system. What? Those people can’t count by 10s? Ah-hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

      Don’t tell me we’re not already paying for everyone to have health care. Emergency rooms are a very, very expensive way to take care of the poor, and quite frequently a little bit of preventive medicine keeps a condition from turning into a very expensive, life threatening emergency.

      My health insurance plan is so gold plated that it pisses me off and embarrasses me that I’ve got it so good while people on the bottom branches suffer with substandard health care.

      Life is like a tree full of monkeys. When you’re on the top branch looking down all you see are smiling faces. But when you’re on the bottom branch all you see are assholes.

      • drwoo says:

        Basic health insurance should be single payer. Not mandated that we buy it. If my son cuts himself and should get stitches I should have have to worry weather or not we can afford it like my parents did. One time when I was a freshman in high school on my leg that obviously needed stitches I told my parents not to worry about it. Parents shouldn’t have to decide weather or not to fix an injured child based on affordability. We are taxed enough as it is to where it could happen as a nation, but our priorities are in the wrong place. Mandates are not the solution. By basic I mean something you would go see a general practitioner or emergency services. Save the health insurance for the big shit cancer/hiv/liver disease etc.

        • Duncan20903 says:

          .
          .
          Just FYI I haven’t got any position one way or the other beyond the general belief that it would be of significant benefit to our society that everyone have a basic level of health care. Do you really think it’s a good thing to have orphaned street urchins walking around spreading syphilis and tuberculosis?

          I grew up with single payer health care. Dad was a Commander in the Navy. What do they call the person who graduates last in his medical school class? A Navy doctor. One of them damn near killed me trying to take out my tonsils when I was 12.

          The only reform I’d make if someone gave me a magic wand is to tell doctors they can charge whatever price that they want, but it’s the same price to anyone who walks through his waiting room door. It makes me nauseous when I get an EOB, particularly lab tests.

          Date of service: 4/20/2011
          Service: standard blood panel
          Gouge EM Labs charged: $244.34
          We paid: $44.14
          You paid: $10.00

          Mr. cash customer gets charged the entire $244.34. Today’s system has the uninsured subsidizing the insured.

          He steals from the poor
          and gives it to the rich
          Stupid bitch.
          ~ Monty Python’s Dennis Moore.

        • Windy says:

          When I was first married the only “health insurance” was strictly for catastrophic illnesses and accidents, you paid your doctor yourself and costs were reasonable. ($150 to deliver a baby in 1964, and doctors still made housecalls).

          Then employers got involved with offering insurance as a benefit, because there were wage controls imposed by government. Prices began to climb because “someone else is paying the bill so why not get every test we can?” ($800 to deliver a baby in 1966, house calls only occasionally, under certain circumstances).

          Then government got more involved, bringing Medicare into the picture and regulating insurance companies; costs for medical care skyrocketed (from $10,000 to $100,000 to deliver a baby, no more housecalls).

          We need to go back to paying our doctors directly and having catastrophic insurance policies instead of full coverage; people will do cost/benefit analysis and won’t go for care they can take of themselves, at home, doctors will offer installment payments like they used to do for more expensive problems, and costs will go down for everyone.

          Some doctors around the country are already refusing insurance payments, treating people on a cash only basis and they are charging about a quarter as much as doctors who take insurance covered patients. I asked my doctor, on my last visit, how many employees he had that only deal with billing insurance companies, his answer was 6. If we returned to that pre-insurance for everyone era, that would be at least 6 employees he would not need to have, cutting his costs to run his office and allowing him to charge less for his services.

        • Francis says:

          Windy, yep, it seems to me that every time the government gets involved in an area with the stated goal of “making X affordable” (whether X is housing, higher education, or healthcare), they tend to produce the opposite result. I found the thesis of “Crisis of Abundance” to be pretty persuasive: third-party payer (driven by misguided government policies) + the rise of “premium” medicine = skyrocketing health care spending.

      • Ed Dunkle says:

        Let everybody have the option to buy single payer from the government. Medicare is only about a zillion times more efficient than those private providers. If it is elective and not forced it’s constitutional.

  6. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    Alaska. Alaska. Alaska.

    Today. Petty possession. Petty Cultivation. De facto legal. Private residence.

    1990. Ballot Initiative. Merrywanna. Recriminalized.

    2002.* Appeals Court. Law struck down. Ravin v. State. Back in force. Petty possession. Petty Cultivation. De facto legal. Private residence. Alaska.

    2010. December. Federal government. SAMHSA. NSDUH. “Drugged” driving study. 2002*-2009 study period. Alaska. De facto legal. Statistically significant reduction. “Drugged driving.”

    http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k10/205/DruggedDriving.htm

    Alaska. Alaska. Alaska.

    *2002. Same year. Petty possession. Petty Cultivation. De facto legalization restored. “Drugged driving.” “Statistically significant reduction.”

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .
      I tried to leave out as many words as possible because I’m speculating that too many words just leave the Know Nothing prohibitionists befuddled. It’s very frustrating trying to talk sense with the senseless. But there’s got to be a trick that will work. Doesn’t there?
      …………………………………………………..

      How many Know Nothing prohibitionists does it take to change a burned out light bulb?

      None. The light bulb isn’t burned out. The legalizers are just trying to scam America into believing that the light bulb is burned out. Don’t fall for it!

  7. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    What the heck? The CBS story was posted at 2:17 PM yesterday and only 4 comments with 1 from Pete and 2 from me. I’d have thought this would be a lightning rod subject.

    Hey Pete, did you notice their gallery with the 20 States that have the highest rates of “drugged” driving? They did use the NSDUH report I linked above and am so fond of using to beat the Know Nothing prohibitionists about the face and head. It’s the one where the government agent calls people and asks if they’re breaking the law.
    http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-204_162-10009740.html?tag=page
    ……………………………………………………

    If lightning never strike the same place twice, how the heck do the lightning rod companies stay in business?

  8. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    The first thing that strikes me is that States with much lower populations seem overrepresented. There isn’t a single State on the list over 10 million. The total population of these 20 States is roughly 64.1 million or ~20.81% of the US population but 20 is 39.22% of 50 States + DC. California alone has a population ~37.25 million or roughly 58.11% of the population of these 20 States combined. Is there something about small population States that makes people go out driving while impaired? I sure seem to be building a case that living in rural areas is associated with all manner of stupidity.

    Rhode Island*…1,052,567
    Vermont*……….625,741
    Massachusetts…6,547,629
    New Hampshire…1,316,470
    Montana*……….989,415
    Oregon*………3,831,074
    Colorado……..5,029,196
    Arkansas……..2,915,918
    Delaware†………897,934
    Oklahoma……..3,751,351
    Wyoming………..563,626
    Michigan†…….9,883,640
    Connecticut…..3,574,097
    DC†……………601,723
    Maine*……….1,328,361
    Minnesota…….5,303,925
    Nevada*………2,700,551
    Washington*…..6,724,540
    New Mexico*…..2,059,179
    Wisconsin…….5,686,986

    *Medicinal cannabis patient protection law in force.

    †Medicinal cannabis patient protection law not yet implemented or in place less than 1 year.

  9. allan says:

    me thinks some in Prohibitionland are getting nervous. They’re prodding their horses but their horses haven’t been raised and fed a healthy diet of truth like we have. When this race really starts they will find out a diet of sugar and bullshit can’t drive a flexi-flyer let alone an entrenched megolithic bureaucracy that keeps getting monkeywrenches shoved in the gears. Here’s more prohibitionists’ whining from the dark (especially for all you masochists dpr types):

    This one on HuffPo, Prohibition: Not Repeatable, But Not a Failure (Cliff Schaffer shoots down author Deni Carise in the first comment, then joined by Matt Elrod)

    and this is an interesting (because it is so oddly written) piece over at the Barnstable Patriot, The Americas get failing grade on lesson taught by Prohibition. They at least get it right in the end.

    I find it remarkable that in spite of all we face, all the crap the feds are laying down, that every day I get up the dogfaces of dpr are out and about still slogging thru the virtual mud. For some reason Bill Maudlin’s cartoons of Joe and Willie come to mind…

      • allan says:

        That’s a great choice… I have my dad’s copy of Mauldin’s “Up Front” and I spent many an hour pondering those cartoons as a sprout and occasionally still crack it open.

        For you younguns, Mauldin was a WWII vet, a cartoonist in uniform who drew cartoons of the grunts – the dog faces – and managed to poke the upper echelons of command. He won 2 Pulitzers for his work. Willie and Joe were his everymen… http://billmauldin.com/ and it’s no wonder my dad was a fan – he was a dog face his own self.

        The comparison of dpr grunts and Willie and Joe comes from my belief that this movement is where it is in spite of those “leading” us… that the progress has virtually all been made by the day-by-day sweat of our Willies and Joes (and Janes).

        Go take a peek at some of those cartoons, you’ll see what I mean.

      • allan says:

        That’s a great choice… I have my dad’s copy of Mauldin’s “Up Front” and I spent many an hour pondering those cartoons as a sprout and occasionally still crack it open.

        For you younguns, Mauldin was a WWII vet, a cartoonist in uniform who drew cartoons of the grunts – the dog faces – and managed to poke the upper echelons of command. He won 2 Pulitzers for his work. Willie and Joe were his everymen… http://billmauldin.com/ and it’s no wonder my dad was a fan – he was a dog face his own self.

        The comparison of dpr grunts to Willie and Joe comes from my belief that this movement is where it is in spite of those “leading” us… that the progress has virtually all been made by the day-by-day sweat of our Willies and Joes (and Janes).

        Go take a peek at some of those cartoons, you’ll see what I mean. It’s an attitude thing.

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .
      Wow, WTF is with Ken Burns? I thought we had decided that he wasn’t an idiot. Oh well, my bad.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5mlRBJyZDE

      Comparing alcohol to today’s illicit drugs is something of an apples-to-oranges analogy. “It’s such a stupid parallel to draw,” insists Ken Burns in an interview. “Drugs have always been parts of some very rare subcultures, but every culture drinks alcohol as fermented or distilled spirits.” Opium, for example, has a long history of use — and opiates certainly have a place today as a viable medical treatment — but it has never been integrated into the daily life of healthy humans in the way that alcohol has. Scientifically, too, alcohol and other intoxicants are just not the same. Unless you’re a recovering addict, a glass of wine per day is absolutely not going to hurt you, and we’ve even seen evidence of minor medical benefits from light drinking. The same cannot be said of illegal drugs — imagine having a little bit of heroin each night with your dinner.

      One thing that the people who use that lame “drinking alcohol is an embedded part of our culture are missing is that there is a smaller “culture” of people who have cannabis embedded in their culture. It might not have been true previous to the 1970s but today the Cannabinoidians have established and have a right to engage in our culture just as much as the people who like to drink to not get drunk. The 800 pound gorilla that supports my assertion is the fact that we’ve appropriated a day from the calendar for our national holiday. It’s all but officially recognized. Is there anyone in the US unaware that 4/20 is Jack Herer Day?

      Some not potheads who acknowledge that 4/20 is ours:

      On 4/20/2011:
      GW Pharmaceuticals announced getting a US patent on Sativex for cancer pain.

      Time Magazine’s Maia Szalavitz admitted: “There’s still a legal requirement that every news story on this subject contain bad pot-related jokes. No word from our editorial masters as to when this edict will be lifted“.

      The LAPD raided dispensaries and a pot doc in Venice Beach.

      Fox News Latino said: “Today is National Marijuana Day, so we are running a [propaganda] Q & A by the National Institute on Drug Abuse about the health effects of pot.”

      On 4/20/2010 The District Council officially passed into law DC’s sad excuse for medicinal cannabis patient protection. They claimed it wasn’t planned that way. Now isn’t that conveeenient?

      On 4/20/2006 the FDA attempted to hornswoggle people into believing that they had given cannabis a fair shot at being a medicine but that it failed.

      The California Senate purposefully used SB-420 for the Medical Marijuana Program Act which was passed into law in 2003.
      …………………………………………………..

      There are literally thousands and thousands of stories every 4/20. So when was the last time a subculture grabbed a day off the calendar? Off the cuff I want to say the christians grabbing christmas away from the pagans. Anyone recall one in the meantime? I’m not particularly impressed with an MLK day nomination but admit its arguable.

      • Matthew Meyer says:

        Wow, Ken Burns has presumably studied this history too much to be so vapid.

        Duncan, you wrote:

        “One thing that the people who use that lame “drinking alcohol is an embedded part of our culture are missing is that there is a smaller “culture” of people who have cannabis embedded in their culture. It might not have been true previous to the 1970s but today the Cannabinoidians have established and have a right to engage in our culture just as much as the people who like to drink to not get drunk.”

        But you, and certainly Ken Burns, can go farther back than that. I mean, didn’t he do a certain little documentary series on a certain American musical form that has been vastly influential to our entire culture, and which was played, if not primarily, at least commonly, by many “vipers?”

        You can’t tell me none of that “trickled down” into mainstream culture, even if many white jazz fans were drinking gin fizzes instead of lighting up the mighty mezz.

        In ways that are still not clear, young whites of the beat and hippie generations declared their blood brotherhood with the marginalized jazz culture through their use of cannabis. That’s part of what makes reefer so bad to those who hate it, and also part of the reason the big picture is moving toward greater acceptance of cannabis.

        “If he trades you dimes for nickels /
        And calls watermelons pickles /
        You know he’s been talking to that funny Reefer Man”

        • Bryan S. says:

          I’m pretty sure I saw a preview or a ‘making of’ (IDK for certain=?) for Ken Burn’s “Prohibition” series, and he mentioned something like (=not really a quote but just my recollection):

          “well, we didn’t talk about marijuana in this series, even though we could have and many of the arguments ‘you can’t legislate morality’ & whatnot are appropriate for both alcohol & marijuana…”

          “But we did previously ‘touch on marijuana’ in our series on Jazz… and we wanted to make this specifically about alcohol Prohibition…”

          Or something very much along those lines – I highly doubt 8^) – Ken would outright slam MJ like that — Granted, He’s said stuff about “drugs” in general in the past. He did say some things rather negative about ‘drugs/narcotics’ in general. And yet, in other interviews – made similar statements that seemed rather noncommittally to me.

          IMNSFHO, to avoid losing viewers = who might not watch his “Prohibition” series, IF they thought it was meant to be a ‘shill’ for MJ legalization, or anything directly connected to the MJ debate.

          He wanted to focus on history he could prove, socially inequality, and the similarity of modern Politicians using “wedge issues” – social & “values voters” issues like pro-life/pro-choice to pit Americans against each other.

          For example, much like what’s happening currently with all the “Class Warfare” talk around the economy & taxes, ‘Job creators’, 21st century ‘trickle down economics’, etc.

          And since his show aired – people have used the basic arguments surrounding Alcohol Prohibition to compare/contrast/argue about their relevance to MJ Prohibition.

          My favorite bit was a Pete Hamill clip, where he was talking about – ‘you want to ensure/guarantee that young people/teenagers brush their teeth, outlaw toothpaste & before you know it – they’ll be up on the roof or wherever brushing away’…

          (Again I’m paraphrasing, but it was funny and he [=Pete Hamill among others] made a very good arguments against Prohibition of any sort), although to me it seemed like half the freakin show – they we’re purposely walking around the “Elephant in the room”!
          Now, If I had to guess, that’s because they (some of them) know most folks that are going to be won-over with logic – have largely already be won-over…

          BUT, There are many folks that love to ‘come to conclusions of their own’ = Say, after viewing an informative, PBS Historical Documentary a long settled issue. And “Learning” about what was high-lighted in the show = i.e. The often horrible unintended consequences aka ‘blowback’ that rend to come along with all the well-intentioned, morally-rooted, “social crusades to make the world a better place”…

          If you can convince people they had an ‘epiphany’ of some sort – they seem to feel MUCH better about changing a long-held stance/belief on an issue (any issue) – Personally, I think it’s a matter of them letting down the ‘closed-minded wall’ in their heads, and rational thought slips in unopposed by the stubborn collection of vigilant dogmas they have engrained in there…

          It’s a form of logic that ninja’s its way in – like a thief in the night!

          And saying HA, Take that all yah social righties!

  10. claygooding says:

    by claygooding October 14, 2011 3:44 PM EDT

    Drug czar Kerli(Droopy Dog)mentions drugged driving every time he gets a microphone,,and we have categorically refuted his warnings with the very studies he uses to justify his warning America about illicit drugs and driving.

    Why does he do it,,because of a push to get the states to enact per se drugged driving laws to enable the continued harassment and criminal enforcement against marijuana users,,continue the war on some drugs his office was created to keep alive.

    Wake up America,,you are being played!

    and more people are weighing in.

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
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      Currently the only thing standing between us and acquiescence by a substantial number of uninvolved prohibitionists is the driving thing, IMO. I’m not sure why these people believe that arresting and punishing people who have not and may never drive while impaired will increase highway safety by even an iota. I ask, well what about a guy who suffers congenital blindness, who owns no car, who doesn’t and will never have a driver’s license, but who does enjoy cannabis? How does arresting him improve highway safety? What, this guy is going to get high, wire up one of his red tipped canes to a car’s front bumper and go joy riding if he can get high legally?

      These people just don’t give a shit about right or wrong, fact or fantasy, or deluded hysterical rhetoric. Unfortunately, it’s these same people Mr. Kerlikowske is speaking to and attempting to inflame. The target audience being bereft of reasoning skills Mr. K is shooting fish in the proverbial barrel.

      Now somebody tell my why in the world would anyone shoot at a fish anywhere, much less one that’s in a barrel?

  11. vickyvampire says:

    Look this month driving around I was a passenger we almost got side swiped three times every time it was folks on cells phone texting or talking I swear and yeah my hubby was swearing at them to.Yeah one car so close scary. on Freeway.

    Like I said thousands of folks are medicated on road with legal and illegal drugs but manage to drive well its the distracted drivers look back or away momentarily that on occasion can cause problem. True some maybe so inebriated that you cannot even walk well duh that’s just common sense a friend needs to take their keys away, if possible.

  12. strayan says:

    We need a permanent ‘facts about drugged driving’ page we can refer people to.

    • allan says:

      outstanding suggestion… there may be one already in existence that Pete could provide a front page sidebar link to, but yes, one page with the six or so studies done by Australiar, UK, Canada, US all linked… a stat sheet or two or three along with comparative/relative values of vehicular incident causes. I’ll wager our Mr bennett (as opposed to their mr Bennett) may have some relevant gummint data in his datum apothecarium… the updated DrugWarFacts maybe has it covered…

      And Pete I love the “fact-free enabler” line, highly usable, thanks!

      • Pete says:

        This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for some time (if I can find the time). I need a good drugged driving facts page. Feel free to feed me the best links and data — I’ve already got some good stuff. Need to design it so it comes up well in a google search.

      • of course i do allan — but i’m tired of doing boatloads of work that nobody does anything with. i have all of the data about exactly what drugs are involved in which drivers for all fatal accidents (and non-fatal accidents as well when drug tests were administered). all i need to do to finish it all up is to write a couple thousand lines of code and build out the graphs, tables and pages. of course, since it amounts to around 200+ hours of effort, i’m just not all that excited about doing it at the moment.

        plus, i’ve already done massive amounts of the same sort of work with “drug-induced” fatalities — but nobody really gives a shit. i’m old and getting more and more tired all the time. i’ve sacrificed an incredible career, tens of thousands of hours of effort and literally millions of dollars of my own money on the circus — so, i’m sorry, but enough is enough.

        the bottom line is that i just don’t have anything left to give unless enough people wake up to what has to be done — starting with shit-canning the idiots proclaiming themselves to be “leading” drug policy reform.

        four decades of this shit is really taking a toll on me old buddy. if i hit the lottery, i’ll get back to it with a vengeance, but in the near term i need to focus on regaining my financial stability. i’ll never get back what i’ve lost, but that’s the nature of sacrifice — so i regret nothing,

    • Duncan20903 says:

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      .
      We’re not going to fool these people with facts. They have immunity you know. I think they have a 3 way vaccination, immunity to facts, logic, and horse sense.
      …………………………………………………….

      Hey DC, what are the odds of a supply shortage in a few months? The dickheads have been managing to “eradicate” an awful lot of pot plants this year.

      • darkcycle says:

        Odds of a supply shortage. Depends.
        Depends on whether I can make what I’ve stashed last for a while. (That’s a joke)
        Actually the odds are that there will be no noticeable shortage for most folks whose dispensary hasn’t been hit. And as for me? No way I’ll be hurt in any significant way. The folks I work with are smaller than small potato(e)s. The post below is me grumbling about shutting down, but the impetus for that was root aphids. If you ever get the opportunity- AVOID THEM- they are worse than spider mites. I eradicated a few plants today, myself.
        Damn…now I’m gonna start muttering again.

        • Windy says:

          I was thinking about your root aphid problem, have you ever tried using diatomaceous earth? It’s used for flea control and bed bug control for pets, livestock and homes, and it even comes in a food grade. A lot of gardeners swear by it, too.

    • DdC says:

      I’ve sent your info to many people Brian, including the city council… Remember folk’s. Czar Gilligan lives in a prohibitionists opposite universe. When they claim they want safe drivers, it means they want less. More wrecks, = more Pharmaceuticals and fossil fools plastic sold to treat the victims. Cannabis makes drivers safer. Where is the profit in that? It’s like giving the people affordable health care of their own or continue with free health care for everyone using Emergency Rooms at 10 times more expense. The drug war makes big bucks and removes competition without expensive commercials. These are the status weird Neocons who engineer traffic jams because it burns more fuel. Spend a trillion dollars busting stoners and another trillion rooting out a 2 bit dictator in Iraq. All stemming from lies. No brainer. Just don’t sip their kool aid.

      Cannabis use and Driving

      “Simulated driving scores for subjects experiencing a normal social “high”
      and the same subjects under control conditions are not significantly different. However, there are significantly more errors for alcohol intoxicated than for control subjects”
      ~ Crancer Study, Washington Department of Motor Vehicles

      “THC’s adverse effects on driving performance appear relatively small”
      ~ U.S. Department of Transportation,
      National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
      (DOT HS 808 078), Final Report, November 1993

      “:Compared to alcohol, which makers people take more risks on the road,
      marijuana made drivers slow down and drive more carefully….
      Cannabis is good for driving skills,
      as people tend to overcompensate for a perceived impairment.”:
      ~ Professor Olaf Drummer,
      a forensic scientist the Royal College of Surgeons in Melbourne in 1996

      Ken Burns is an ass. The History channel is by Napoleon’s definition. Lies agreed upon. It’s really not that difficult if you realize some American elite actually believe they are better than others.

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

  13. darkcycle says:

    Bad day. Mumble…mumble…shutdown..mumble mumble…bad$#$%%@bugs…mumble mumble…problems at dispensary..mumble. Goddamnit..mumble mumble.

  14. claygooding says:

    It is an all out seize and run with the money attack on mmj sellers and producers,with very few arrests reported so far,just seizing money,weed and pooters.

    I knew Washington was broke,but I didn’t realize they had us banking money for them too seize.

    • darkcycle says:

      Clay, I’m thinking you’re right. They can pull the “smash and grab” as much as they want, but nobody’s gonna say much if these thefts aren’t followed by charges. The people involved aren’t going to say much, with the charges hovering over their heads, Sword of Damocles-like… And critics of the actions will be unable to make their complaints heard. The statement “No charges were ever filed” makes everything alright in the minds of the sheep. ….because THEY weren’t assaulted and held at gunpoint, had their homes and businesses ransacked, their dogs shot, their children traumatized, and their livelihoods destroyed. See? That makes it alright…because no charges were filed.

      • Duncan20903 says:

        .
        .
        They raped a number of dispensaries in Montana a few months back. I recall posting the same sentiments including that they wouldn’t charge those guys because they had a great case for an affirmative defense of entrapment by estoppel based on the Ogden memo. Well they did charge them after a few months and evidently their lawyers didn’t go to the same law school as I did (Armchair Attorneys Law University) because I heard nary a peep about using such a defense. One by one they’re going off to Club Fed.

        Well I certainly feel pretty good about deciding not to try running a dispensary back in ’07. While I admire their guts and feel they’re fulfilling a very necessary niche in progressing towards our ultimate goal, it doesn’t mean that I think that they’re the brightest bulbs in the grow room.

        • claygooding says:

          My whole gig has always been,,”buy no marijuana,sell no marijuana,,remove all crime from marijuana by removing the market. Grow your own.

          I do not begrudge anyone earning a fair living from their labors,but when green entrepreneurs were giving out interviews about millions of dollars profits,,they loaded the gun and the feds just pulled the trigger.

        • Duncan20903 says:

          .
          .
          To date the only person I recall talking about his future profit in the press was Chris Bartkowicz on TV a day or two before he got busted by the Feds for aggravated stupidity. Gosh, it was so obvious to me that someone who was in on producing that piece of “news” dropped the dime but nobody else seemed to notice or care. They just don’t put together raids like that at the drop of a hat.

          Perhaps something slipped out of my mind, could you refresh my memory? I know that I’ve read stuff from third parties about people making profits in the biz. But to the best of my recollection Mr. Bartkowicz stands alone bragging about his expected payday.

  15. Peter says:

    New recruit to the Jesus Army?
    Spotted in a hotel in rural Wisconsin:
    young girl wearing t-shirt, slogan reads on back:
    “Now is the time to find the lord” Joshua 5:13-15
    on the front “S.W.A.T. (Seeking Wisdom And Truth)”

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .
      Religionists are generally very violent people when you get down to brass tacks.
      …………………………………………………….

      Hey, what the heck is up with the alligators? This is the 4th one this year (3 grows, one had 2 gators):
      http://www.nwherald.com/2011/10/14/alligator-grabbed-in-marijuana-bust/ay5ih5z/

      Perhaps it wouldn’t be so surprising in Florida, but Illinois??

      • darkcycle says:

        Duncan, there they go again, fooling us with animals. Just like that “Pony” the Obama people gave you and me. That ‘gator was a Caiman. Drug dealers feed their victims to the Caimans…see, says so rite here:
        http://www.susanscott.net/OceanWatch2008/oct-24-08.html

        • Duncan20903 says:

          .
          .
          Darn it, you’re right. I missed the crocodile tears the first time I looked at the picture.

          But that’s the main stream media for you…close but no cigar.

        • Duncan20903 says:

          .
          .
          California Medical Assn. calls for legalization of marijuana

          The doctor group questions the medical value of pot and acknowledges some health risk from its use but urges it be regulated like alcohol. A law enforcement official harshly criticizes the new stance.

          http://www.latimes.com/la-me-doctors-marijuana-20111016,0,179189.story

        • Windy says:

          Duncan, it really is too bad that doctors are so ill informed about cannabis that they would either question its medical use or make the claim there is “some health risk” from using it.

          And prohibitionist law enforcement officials can take a flying fuck to hell.

        • Duncan20903 says:

          .
          .
          One of the stranger things about the CMA’s newly coined position is that I swear that I recall that they had previously endorsed medicinal cannabis as valid. I know for a fact that I’ve included that assertion in past posts.

          I will admit that I wish people would quit saying it’s harmless. Filling the gas tank of your car isn’t without health risk, neither is simply breathing. It certainly doesn’t carry the (health) risk asserted by the Know Nothings but neither is risk absent at the opposite end of the risk spectrum. But it doesn’t have to be risk free. We’d barely be able to move were everything that carried any health risk criminalized.

  16. allan says:

    sad news… our little 3 year old buddy, Cash Hyde, has had his cancer return:

    http://www.kaj18.com/news/cancer-returns-for-missoula-s-cash-hyde/

    • claygooding says:

      it is so sad that our government considers cannabis as such a dangerous drug that even if it could prolong a cancer patients life,it is too dangerous to even be tested.

  17. claygooding says:

    Thought for the day,per chance,,,if all of the dangerous illicit drugs are out of your system in 3 days and you are capable of passing a urine analysis,but it takes 35>40 days for cannabis to pass from your body,,is it because cannabis belongs in your body and the other drugs don’t,,so your body passes them right on through?

    Come on science heads,,inquisitive minds want to know.

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .
      So just a few days ago I read that they’ve extended the detection window for cocaine to as much as 3 weeks. Don’t ask me where I read it beyond the fact that it was presented as a counter to somebody talking about cannabinoid metabolites in the urine. Don’t ask me how, for all I know it requires a very expensive laboratory and a very high paid elite expert with an advanced degree in the urine sciences. I read it, I didn’t really care, I moved on.

      • EdddyBacon'sBrother says:

        Cocaine itself stays in your bloodstream during 72 hours after last use , metabolites of cocaine which labs looking for, are detectible in your urine in average 3-20 days , but in chronic heavy users cases up to 12 weeks, and in your hair cocaine stays during 3 month.

        http://tinyurl.com/3ph86m6

    • DdC says:

      Yes, thc resides in fat cells so it stays for weeks. That is also why cops choose urine test over impairment tests. I believe it naturally amplifies the cannabinoid system that regulates everything. That also means it is non toxic or the organs would have removed it through the bladder as it does all man made intoxicants. I also believe forced abstinence has caused cannabinoid deficiency by prohibition for 75 or so years. This obviously leads to a herd mentality and even republicanism. We’re eat up with blind obedience! That’s why this Occupy Wall St and Beyond is so refreshing. Probably scary to the lapdogs. That;s my story and I’m sticking to it…

      THC’s effects after doses up to 300 g/kg never exceeded alcohol’s at BACs of 0.08 g% and were in no way unusual compared to many medicinal drugs (Robbe 1994). Yet THC’s effects differ qualitatively from many other drugs, especially alcohol. Evidence from the present and previous studies strongly suggests that alcohol encourages risky driving whereas THC encourage greater caution, at least in experiments. Another way THC seems to differ qualitatively from many other drugs is that the former’s users seem better able to compensate for its adverse effects while driving under the influence.
      ~ Hindrik W.J. Robbe
      Institute for Human Psychopharmacology,
      University of Limburg,
      P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands

      Field Impairment Testing (FIT)
      FIT 2000 Series
      Fitness-for-Duty
      Impairment Screeners
      30-second test. PMI has developed a unique technology to measure human impairment. It’s proprietary technology can assess whether a person is significantly impaired by fatigue, legal medications, illegal drugs, alcohol, sleep deprivation; alone or in combination.

      PMI has developed a mobile and fixed location device that permits an individual to self-administer a quick, non-invasive assessment test. The technology measures a person’s involuntary eye-reflex reactions to light, and compares key eye measurements to the person’s own baseline. These measurements can be used to track changes in the person’s alertness levels and levels of impairment.

      Critics Sound Alarm Over Secret Drug Tests of Injured Drivers
      The B.C. Civil Liberties Association has raised serious concerns on behalf of 3,000 injured B.C. drivers whose blood will be tested for marijuana without their knowledge for a $1-million study on drugs and driving. full story

      12 Days in Jail Over a Faulty Drug Test
      Warroad woman was held in Canada after a motor oil bottle tested positive for heroin. full story

      Systematic Discrimination Boycott List

      • DdC says:

        This is a prohib/rehab site so ???

        “Drug-Use Is Life Abuse…Drug-Use Is Self-Abuse…Drugs Destroy Dreams!”

        Alcohol (Beer, Booze, Hooch, Liquor, Wine), 1 hour to perhaps 10 or 12 hours (Yes, alcohol IS a drug! Drinking more than “in moderation” can lead to alcohol (drug) abuse…and perhaps alcoholism. During 2002, more than 18,000 people in the U.S. were killed by too-boozed-up DRUNK drivers! DON’T BE ONE OF THEM THIS YEAR!) CLICK HERE for more information about alcohol abuse and alcoholism.

        How long do drugs (including alcohol) stay in your system?
        Well…it depends on you!

        The length of time any drug (illicit or prescribed) stays in your system will vary. In large part, it depends on your physiological makeup (e.g., your physical height, weight, your amount of body fat, your age, current state of health, whether or not you exercise mildly-aggressively-or at all). Whether or not you are undergoing any degree of stress (i.e., your “state of mind”) at the time you ingest drugs can play a part as well.

        Still other considerations include your “frequency” of use (1x per day? 3-5x per day?), the “quantity” of drug you used each time, and the “length of time” (days? weeks? months?) of your consistent drug-use prior to your drug test. Even the quality (“potency”) of the drug you ingest determines “how long” the drug is detectable in your system when your urine is analyzed (tested) at the lab.

        However, for most people, detectable levels (i.e., shows up as a “positive” in a laboratory drug test) of the following drugs stay in the body for these approximate periods of time.

        Amphetamines (Biphetamine, Black Beauties, Crosses, Dexedrine, Hearts), 1-2 days

        Anabolic steroids (Stanzolol, Stanazolol, Nandrolene; Steroids, Roids, Juice), oral- up to 3 weeks; injected- up to 3-6 months and more

        Barbiturates (Amytal, Nembutal, Seconal, Phenobarbital; Barbs), 2-3 days

        Benzodiazepines (e.g., Ativan, Halcion, Librium, Rohypnol, Valium; Roofies, Tranks, Xanax), most, 2-3 days; a few, 4-8 days

        Cocaine (Candy, Coke, Crack, Flake, Rocks, Snow, Whitecoat), (Candy, Coke, Crack, Flake, Rocks, Snow, Whitecoat), 1-2 days

        Codeine (e.g., Fiorinal w/codeine, Robitussin A-C, Empirin w/codeine, Tylenol w/codeine, 1-2 days

        GHB (G, Grievous Bodily Harm, Goob, Liquid Ecstasy, Liquid X), 1-2 days

        Heroin (Horse, Smack), 1-2 days

        Inhalants, just a few hours

        Ketamine (K, Kit Kat, Special K, Vitamin K), 2-4 days

        LSD (Acid, Blotter, Microdot, Yellow sunshine), a few hours or up to 5 days

        Marijuana (Bud, Blunt, Grass, Herb, Pot, Reefer, Sinsemilla, Smoke, Weed), 2-5 days (the daily, heavy user can sometimes be detected up to 30+ days)

        MDMA (Ecstasy), 1-5 days

        Methadone, 1-7 days

        Methamphetamines (Crank, Crystal, Desoxyn, Glass, Ice, Speed), 2-4 days

        Methaqualone (Ludes, Quaaludes), 10-15 days

        Nicotine (Cigarettes, Cigars, Habitrol patch, Nicorette gum, Nicotrol spray, Prostep patch; Smokeless tobacco, Snuff, Spit tobacco), 1-2 days

        Opiates (i.e., Opium: China, Dreams, Laudanum, Paregoric; Dover’s Powder), 1-2 days

        Oxycodone (OxyContin, Percolone, Roxicodone), 1-2 days

        PCP (Angel Dust, Boat, Hog, Love Boat), 1-8 days

  18. DdC says:

    “Give me control of a Nation’s money
    and I care not who makes the laws.”
    – Mayer Amschel Bauer (Rothschild

    Rally for Global Change — Santa Cruz
    Saturday Oct 15th, 2011 (20 pics)
    Community members took to the streets as Occupy Santa Cruz joined in the Rally for Global Change.

    Protesters march from Santa Cruz County Courthouse to Pacific Avenue
    santacruzsentinel: Dozens of demonstrators?

    * dozens of protesters? try 500+
    Jake Student

    * I’ve heard two reports–one of 300, another of 1000. The “dozens” figure sounds like terminal myopia or deliberate lying by the Sentinel staff,
    Robert Norse

    * Photos don’t lie, Sentinel. It’s clear that your “dozens” = “hundreds.” Pathetic.
    Neil Mick

    * I demand an actual and realistic count. There were a minimum of 400 people there.
    Andrew Blum

    * The Sentinel’s just regurgitating information supplied by police.
    Dave Ninety-Nine Percent Moseley

    * The headline should be “hundreds of self-entitled and lazy left-wing social degenerates want to use mob rule to steal money from strangers to pay for their drugs, their tattoos, their piercings, their $5 lattes, their marijuana, their I Pads, and their wardrobes from the Goodwill.” Liberals are a joke. Look at the economy of Santa Cruz.
    Richard Saunders 5 hours ago Top Commenter

    Partisan fools are the joke. You still whine over the favorite team against the rival. Trolls dividing, denying and diverting. Not a mumbling thought about the League or the Owners with no concern over the party affiliation of the fans. Cheap labor = Profits on Top. Outsourcing trickle down tax breaks, prison slave labor or scab labor. Nothing about allegiance to the Constitution. Root for the home team, the 99% of which you are a part of, or an idiot in the 1% with so much money wasting time on a message board. ~ DdC

    (this one has lasted 57 minutes so far.)

    (this one is still there after 39 min and 2 previous tries…)


    Those opposing the 99% fall into two categories. Either a blind obedient lapdog fool or an idiot. You are part of the 99% getting shafted the same as the rest of us. Or you’re an idiot having so much money, and still posting on message boards. Protesters didn’t stop the war in Vietnam either. But we did get noticed and that message reached the parents who’s kids were being sent. The media is a corporate owned propaganda mill. 95% is controlled by 5 corporations. Programmed News is why they claim “dozens”. It is why we waste a trillion dollars rooting out a 2 bit dictator in Iraq, based on lies. Or waste a trillion dollars busting stoners. Or two trillion bailing out Banksters. 8 years of Bush tax breaks and we end up with unemployment? All the trickle down going to disposable labor in overseas sweatshops. Cayman island shelters not fixing the infrastructure. While Hemp remains a schedule#1 narcotic. With a potential 25,000 products predicted in 1938. Millions of potential jobs Brown just vetoed due to the bogus CSA Nixon classification. This is not democratic anymore than deregulating pollution and workers safety laws. It harms us 99% and profits the top, and you complain about protesting? What kind of barbaric animal protests clean air and water or a living wage? Health care is such a threat? Obama has gotten nothing but fraudulent opposition since the git go by Neocon idiots robbing the Treasury for 8 years, and not a peep. Two tax paid wars for profit, no bid contracts. Not a peep. A trillion on the drug war and nothin… Two more trillion bailing out Banksters that special need, many Vets, and seniors are supposed to pay for. Every attempt to stop Corporate welfare blocked. Every attempt to create jobs maintaining the infrastructure blocked. Service jobs cut. Everything leaving local communities heading out to international corporations and washintomb dc. Their top priority is abortion? Not a word from the hypocrites aborting more babies on the US chemical cotton crop throughout the bible belt. Not used on organic Hemp. Or the imported OPEC crude we protect with our own out of work kids. Plastic and Fuel veggie oil can make. These Neocons in republican and deemocrat clothing protest and legislate against condoms and safe sex, causing more abortions. They drop bombs on pregnant women. Then they de-fund Planned Parenthood that has prevented more abortions than all the religionist dung worrier OpResQ murdering wingnuts combined. Stop supporting international corporations with no allegiance to America or Americans. Greed Kills!
    DdC

    Pro Life? Not even anti abortion…

    “The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction
    is the first and only legitimate object of good government.”
    –Thomas Jefferson to Maryland Republicans, 1809.

    The Occupy movement comes to Toronto

  19. Ben says:

    CA doctors’ group endorses legalization. Many outraged prohibitionists are quoted:

    http://www.latimes.com/la-me-doctors-marijuana-20111016,0,179189.story

  20. Magnificent web site. Lots of helpful info here. I am sending it to a few friends ans also sharing in delicious. And naturally, thank you for your sweat!

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