[Cross-posted at The Left Coaster.]
It’s a little strange, two times in a row covering cannabis the New York Times has regressed into a fussy old maid of tut-tutting authoritarian repression. The first was a classic jackboot quote from a Seattle lawyer insisting cannabis is a Schedule I drug on December 6th, then this morning some MD stating that recently “there has been a pretty dramatic increase in admission to emergency rooms…” from cannabis use.
It’s remarkable how such an alleged bastion of journalism professionalism and supposed objectivity leaves these laughable quotes just hanging there as if they’re facts of the universe. A huge talking point of the cannabis legalization community is precisely its relative non-toxicity, smoke or ingest too much and it’s the munchies and a nap for you, not a fight, drunk driving arrest or bad trip to the emergency room, Lord no. In half a century in perceiving life I’ve only heard of one emergency room visit from cannabis, a friend in the ‘80’s had a young brother who thought smoking cannabis seeds would work. Doh!
Journalist Rabin and Dr. Nora D. Volkow, show me. Pugnacity gets wearisome, but I do get irritated how y’all think your readers are mental children, teenagers easily possess the skepticism and intelligence not to accept this unprofessional work yet it’s foisted upon adults as if intelligence and education don’t exist in the United States. Please cite the research and institutions responsible for this cannabis emergency room fantasy or politely inform the reader Dr. Volkow obviously hasn’t put down the pipe herself. Heh.
Where’s your editor, journalist Rabin? Playing Angry Birds with the ombudsman, okay, you’re on your own. I know the feeling. Just be aware in the future to always back up your work, why should I take the rest of the research cited in the article seriously?
Making the huge assumption that cannabis is the sole variable in inhibiting cognitive ability (it obviously isn’t), by the way, research on alcohol would easily show far more damage. It’s also a little much to sternly warn adolescents to wait in trying cannabis when quite often the adults in their lives have created complete chaos and woeful lives by example. I’m not advocating alcohol or cannabis use by adolescents in the least, I simply know talking down to our young people rarely works.
Anyway, these continued journalist face splats from the New York Times are puzzling, it’s as if the whole idea of cannabis use is still for those ridiculous hippies who could never be taken seriously, I’ll have a martini while I sneer at the flower children who think they can bring change to our lives. I guess.
Just before the horror of Sandy Hook President Obama stated the administration had “other priorities” when it came to possible federal prosecution of cannabis, and of course other news has buried this tiny social development since then, but as far as I know Colorado and Washington have taken this as a green light to commence with administration of their legalized cannabis. There has been no further news of continued cannabis prosecution in California.
Not to get inflamed by it, okay, but the President’s words were finely parsed in the legalization community, the level of trust is low and technically the President can back out of his diction if he politically deems it necessary. It’s seems very unlikely he would, but the legalization community has been burned in the past.
Billmon recently stated that bitching Wellstone Democrats should focus their attention on changing the Party. It’s my fervent hope that the burgeoning cannabis legalization movement is only the beginning in dismantling our horrifying and disastrous war on drugs, that the sanity of legalizing cannabis will spread to a far less destructive authoritarian stance toward the little people.
I think Party players like Gavin Newsom totally get it, cannabis is here to stay, relatively harmless in the great swirl of things and totally on the wave of new political change, much like gay marriage. Endorse or accept it or get politically left behind.
Much more importantly I know that such a political realism stance inherently brings traits like empathy, compassion and caring to our public policy. That’s the kind of liberal I am and what I want our Party to be.