Drug WarRant

It’s remarkable how much truly bad science is related to marijuana research. The latest is this: Evaluation of the DNA damaging potential of cannabis cigarette smoke by the determination of acetaldehyde derived N2-ethyl-2′-deoxyguanosine adducts by Singh R, Sandhu J, Kaur B, Juren T, Steward WP, SegerbÉck D, Farmer PB
Now, some science monkey is likely to come along at this point and say “How dare you call it bad science? Do you know more than these researchers? Have you studied their work?” No. But it’s bad science. And I can tell by reading the final sentence of their abstract:

In conclusion, these results provide evidence for the DNA damaging potential of cannabis smoke, implying that the consumption of cannabis cigarettes may be detrimental to human health with the possibility to initiate cancer development.

The mere fact that they are implying negative possibilities about cannabis consumption in a scientific abstract makes it science by press release, which is, by definition, bad science.
They know, based on such a statement alone, that sensationalist media all over the world will give them publicity for their work without even looking at it.
They also know that they have absolutely no evidence that supports such conjectures — all they have is an interesting little datum of scientific trivia that says nothing, but may lead to further research. That, however, doesn’t get them in the papers.
Listen, I could conduct a study where I injected marijuana mixed with air into the bloodstream of rats causing all of them to die (from the injected air, of course), and end my abstract with a statement that this study implicates the possibility that THC in the bloodstream causes death. And Fox News would have a headline.
Just like they have today: Marijuana Not Only Gets You High, It Damages Your DNA

Researchers at the University of Leicester in England have found “convincing evidence” that pot smoke damages DNA in ways that could potentially increase the risk of cancer.

Paul Armentano does a nice job of taking down the Fox article.

Just for the record, in 2006, Tashkin led the largest population case-control study (yes, Dr. Tashkin actually performed research on humans, not ‘calf thymus DNA‰) ever to assess the use of marijuana and lung cancer risk. The study, which included more than 2,200 subjects (1,212 cases and 1,040 controls), reported that marijuana smoking was not positively associated with cancers of the lung or upper aerodigestive tract — even among individuals who reported smoking more than 22,000 joints during their lifetime.
Let the folks at Fox put that in their pipe and smoke it. [emphasis added]

It happens every time.
To be honest, it’s depressingly unrealistic to expect more of the media. They love this crap. But those who work in scientific fields must start holding their colleagues to some kind of standard of professionalism. This is intellectual dishonesty at its worst.

It really does get interesting to see who comes out of the woodwork to defend prohibition. And more and more, they’re the real nut cases.
John English: The Drug War

Marijuana is a life and death issue for your children. Drug use is not a game! Users are thoroughly out of control! Their myopic mindset sees only it‰s hedonistic desire. They have come to hate law enforcement, those who respect it and would bring about the end of civilized society if let be.

English also wrote yesterday: Medical marijuana

The societal ills, attributable to marijuana, warrant keeping it illegal! The term, ‹Medical marijuanaŠ is a misnomer. Plain and simple, legalization is a dangerous scam and needs to be exposed as such! It‰s no more a medicine than is the elixir a snake-oil salesman sold off the back of his covered wagon — the one that mixed opium with alcohol! Marijuana has been intentionally misrepresented to be medicinal, by those who want to get high, without incurring the consequences.

Of course, this is not anyone of real significance, but he is the caliber of most of those today who write in favor of continued (or increased) prohibition.
See Ted Nugent: Ted Nugent: We could be winning war on drugs

Legalizing drugs would be like pouring gasoline on a blazing fire in hopes of extinguishing it.
We have all the laws we need to fight drugs. What America needs is the willpower and a renewed warrior spirit to crush evil and evil-doers. […]
Every American who smokes dope, manufactures, buys or sells meth or uses any illegal drug is aiding and abetting the enemies of America. Case closed.
This spiritual inbreeding and cannibalism must be identified, admitted and stopped immediately. America can and must do this. Good over evil. Next.

This is pure crazy.
When you look at these, and then read the statements of the supposedly ‘sane’ prohibitionists out there, you start to realize that there’s not really that much difference…
Kevin Sabet: The price of legalizing pot is too high

What is rarely discussed, however, is that the likely increase in marijuana prevalence resulting from legalization would probably increase the already high costs of marijuana use in society. Accidents would increase, healthcare costs would rise and productivity would suffer.

In sections, he at least sounds more reasonable than Ted Nugent, John English, or Stephen Baldwin (and has a better sense of grammar), yet when you analyze the content, the disconnect from reality (and lack of interest in facts) is palpable, and has little difference from the crazies.
Interestingly, in the Sabet article, you get the impression that he’s trying to line up with Caulkins and Kleiman. Make of that what you will.

Who could be against this fun little stress-relieving ball? Well, apparently, according to WGN ‘reporter’ Judie Garcia, that would be Illinois Representative Mark Kirk.

It also sells for more on the street, and on the street, it’s commonly known as “koosh.”
“Koosh is a modified marijuana that delivers up to ten times the THC level of the marijuana we may have seen in the 1960s and 70s,” Congressman Mark Kirk said.

Except, of course, nobody calls it “koosh.” (not even the Congressman) And a search of Google shows “koosh” most commonly refers to the ball pictured.
Judie Garcia also claims:

A strain of highly-potent marijuana is hitting the Chicago suburbs and causing concern for local lawmakers. Now they’re calling for stricter laws against trafficking.

Yet she fails to mention a single lawmaker other than Mark Kirk.
Judie Garcia of WGN “News” also fails to actually report anything except what Mark Kirk says about “koosh” (such as, oh, any facts, or what someone else might say about Kirk’s stupid bill).
Mark Kirk is an idiot and a fool. His “kush” bill (calling for up to 25 years for even a first offense of certain marijuana dealing) is ridiculous and unlikely to go anywhere. Hopefully a bone-headed move like this will term-limit him.
But irresponsible reporting like that of Judie Garcia’s should also result in consequences.
For more coverage of Mark Kirk’s outrageous bill, see Congressman Proposes 25 Years In Prison For Pot by Paul Armentano at NORML.

This could be a great opportunity for some DrugWarRant readers with a little extra time. MAP is a great resource for the drug policy reform community, but can’t exist without the people who actually sort through all the incoming drug policy articles.
Here’s a note from MAP’s Senior Editor Richard Lake:

As many of you know last year we lost prolific volunteer editors Elizabeth Wehrman and Derek Rea. The passing of Beth was recognized here http://drugsense.org/url/8xJbSdlF and Derek here http://drugsense.org/awards/norml2008.htm
Another previously prolific volunteer editor has cut back on his volunteer work for medical reasons.
The result is that over 95% of the articles posted during the last 15 days have been edited by Jay Bergstrom and Richard – a total of 435 articles. Both are struggling to keep up the pace.
In the last year Jo-D Harrison has extensively updated our editor training system. We desperately need more volunteer editors. We are both ready to assist any volunteers.
The work of being a volunteer editor is rewarding. The amount of work each volunteer does is completely under their control.
Please, if you or anybody you know would like to explore being a volunteer editor contact Jo-D at jo-d@mapinc.org or Richard at rlake@mapinc.org
Thank You.

That’s the title of Nicholas Kristof’s new column in the New York Times

This year marks the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon‰s start of the war on drugs, and it now appears that drugs have won. […]
Here in the United States, four decades of drug war have had three consequences:
First, we have vastly increased the proportion of our population in prisons. […]
Second, we have empowered criminals at home and terrorists abroad. […]
Third, we have squandered resources. […]

The movement to reform is unmistakable and unstoppable. It’s just a matter of when and how much dishonest interference the entrenched drug warriors can lay down.

“bullet” Must read: Ethan Nadelmann Hey Progressives: Why Don’t you Care About the ‘Drug War’ Like You Care About Other Issues? [Thanks, Jackl]
“bullet” Charlie Lynch sentenced.

Charlie Lynch was sentenced to one year and one day in jail for operating a medical marijuana clinic that was legal under California state law. U.S. District Court Judge George Wu declined to impose the 5-year mandatory minimum that federal prosecutors deemed appropriate and I’ve been informed that the U.S. attorney was visibly upset with this outcome. In contrast, Reason reports that Lynch’s attorneys “seem extremely happy and relieved with the sentence and are convinced they will knock it down much lower and that Lynch will not be in prison anytime soon.”

He shouldn’t spend a day in prison, but this is great news, considering the possibilities.
“bullet” Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act Reintroduced In Congress

Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank, along with over a dozen cosponsors, reintroduced legislation in Congress today to strengthen legal protections for state-authorized medical marijuana patients.

This may have a better chance now.
“bullet” Plea for help… Between an extremely crazy traveling schedule, and the meltdown of my computer, it’s been very hard for me to keep track of everything that’s going on (my newsreader is showing over 5,000 unread articles, which is just depressing). So… I ask my regulars (and anyone else) to pass on any top items that I’m missing (or post them in comments). Thanks. You guys are the best!
“bullet” DrugSense Weekly
“bullet” “drcnet”

Transform has the story:

The largest ever study of cocaine use around the globe was carried out in the early 90’s by the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) and funded by the UN Inter-regional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), but under pressure from the US its publication was suppressed when it became clear the report’s findings were in direct conflict with the myths, stereotypes and propaganda that prop up the war on drugs (read the complete leaked report here).

Some of the conclusions from the report that the U.S. didn’t like:

• “Health problem; from the use of legal substances, particularly alcohol and tobacco, are greater than health problems from cocaine use.
• Few experts describe cocaine as invariably harmful to health. Cocaine-related problems are widely perceived to be more common and more severe for intensive, high-dosage users and very rare and much less severe for occasional, low-dosage users.”

There’s lots more, and the U.S. threatened to withhold funding from the WHO unless they disassociated themselves with the report. Go read Transform’s entire post.

I apologize for the lack of posts this past two weeks. In addition to my being extremely busy in New York last week, and in Aspen, Colorado this week, my computer suffered a nervous breakdown. I thought I was going to be able to solve it by re-installing the system software, but the problem was more severe. I had to wipe the drive and do a fresh install, and then restore from a backup (my most recent one was prior to leaving for New York.
This was all made much more difficult by being on the road.
Now, the blogging software I use operates off one local computer to upload, so the restored backup doesn’t think I had any posts since I left for New York, and is likely to eliminate those.
I have archived those posts and all the comments at this separate page so we don’t lose anything.
This should take care of things so I can go back to semi-regular blogging.
In the meantime, I am still in Aspen, and tomorrow I start the drive back to Illinois with 16 college students (the Improv Mafia) who did a remarkable job here performing in the Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival.
Here they are, really high…

… 12,096 feet high, to be exact, above Independence Pass outside Aspen.

I just got back a few hours ago from Chicago, where I am rehearsing a new show – The Living Canvas: Nocturne – which opens July 3 at National Pastime Theater. We’ve got an incredible cast and production team and the show is going to be amazing.
Early tomorrow morning, I leave for New York, hosting 43 local community folk for 7 days of shows and walking tours of the city (We’re seeing God of Carnage, Waiting for Godot, Billy Elliott, Exit the King, Our Town, and Hair, finishing up with the Tony Awards in Times Square on June 7).
I return on the evening of June 8th and on the morning of June 9th, I drive 15 incredibly talented college students to Aspen, CO to perform in the Aspen Comedy Festival (they’re the Illinois State University Improv Mafia, national winners of the college improv comedy competition).
As soon as I get back, I’ll have 3 days to finish designing and editing the Illinois Shakespeare Festival Program guide for print and then go back to my regular work schedule with rehearsals in Chicago on weekends.
I’m going to blog when I can throughout all that, but I can’t guarantee lots of output or regularity.
This must be what they talk about when they refer to drug policy reformers as lazy, unmotivated stoners.
Consider this an open thread.

“bullet” Jacob Sullum dismantles the Birth of a Cocaine Factoid — the supposed 5,000 cocaine deaths in 1912 — a figure often used to show how much better off we are with prohibition.
“bullet” Ryan Grim at Huffington Post: Drug Czar’s Pot-Potency Claims Go Up In Smoke. Turns out the media didn’t examine that report very closely before reporting on it. Gee, what a surprise.
“bullet” Scott Morgan rips into the “Marinol doesn’t get you high” lie: If Pure THC Pills are FDA-Approved, What’s the Big Deal About Marijuana Potency?

We’re actually supposed to be intrigued and perhaps alarmed by the fact that domestic marijuana potency now averages 10% THC, meanwhile the FDA has long approved a 100% THC pill that’s proven to be completely safe in every way, except that some people think it’s a little too strong and want weed instead.
It’s amazing the lengths some people will take to rationalize the mindless paradox of arresting medical marijuana patients while simultaneously trying to sell them potent THC pills.

Also read Scott’s excellent article at AlterNet: Don’t Blame Pot — There’s No Such Thing as a “Gateway Drug”
“bullet” NYCLU stands up for students

The New York Civil Liberties Union has called on the Red Creek Central School District in upstate New York to publicly apologize to high school students subjected to illegal, humiliating and invasive searches by state police and school officials.

“bullet” Canada’s ‘Prince of Pot’ at war with US drug war.

Emery smiled, unrepentant.
“I had a very good reason for selling those seeds,” he said. “I wanted to defeat the U.S. war on drugs.”

“bullet” DrugSense Weekly
“bullet” “drcnet”