Old Reefer Madness Fears Promoted

As barriers to the legalization of marijuana crumble almost daily opponents have retreated to their last redoubt: reefer madness.

Even in 1936, the movie makers were careful enough to say: “The incidents in this motion picture are purely fictional.”

The drug dealers wear suits, but just as in today’s horror stories the narrative ends with a young woman who got involved with weed jumps through a glass window on a high floor in police headquarters.

One of the strengths and at the same a weakness of the World Wide Web is that anyone with a cause can cherry pick studies to support his or her views.

Support can be found for claiming that heavy marijuana use reduces IQ and even that light to moderate use will increase it.

Since the time of Greece it has been said moderation in all things, avoid things in excess. That would apply to marijuana use and claims about what marijuana can and cannot do or will or will not do.

It likely is just as risky to say it is harmless as that it will cause you to grow crazy.

“…lying to teens about becoming schizophrenic hurts the credibility of anyone trying to prevent teen problems. There are data revealing that folks with psychotic disorders are more likely to have a psychotic break if they use cannabis excessively, but that's really about it.,” said Mitch Earlywine, professor of psychology at the University of Albany, in an interview.

Some studies that suggested a cause and effect relationship between marijuana use and psychosis have not stood up to peer review.

“Work in my lab shows that dopaminergic drugs like cocaine and amphetamine are much more likely to be the source of these symptoms. You'll note that assessments of use of these drugs is very poor in most of these studies. In addition, participants appear to be less likely to admit to using these stimulant drugs,” he said.

In February reports of reefer madness circulated widely in the U.S. and the U.K.

Paul Armentano, writing in Alternet, said the source of these inflammatory articles was an article in Lancet.

“Think you have heard these pot-drives-you-insane claims before? You have. In 2007, The Lancet published a meta-analysis similarly alleging, “People who have ever used cannabis, on average, have about a 40 percent increased risk of developing psychotic illness later in life compared with people who have never used cannabis." That the study’s authors cautioned that such an association "does not necessarily reflect a causal relation" between pot smoking and mental illness went largely unreported.

Yet, in the following years since, numerous (though far less publicized) studies have come to light downplaying the likelihood that cannabis use is a direct cause of psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia,” Armentano wrote. He is deputy director of the pro-marijuana legalization group NORML.

Perhaps nothing reveals the extent anti-marijuana forces will go to, and have for 79 years, than the movie “Reefer Madness.”

Viewers are warned that “more vicious more deadly even than these (heroin, morphine) soul-destroying drugs is the menace of marijuana.”

Adults wearing suits are shown selling marijuana to youngsters and then partying with them, and in one case killing one of them.

There is a warning on how to see it coming. “The first effect is sudden, violent uncontrollable laughter….”

Dr. Harrison Pope of McLean Hospital told the Harvard Gazette:

“As a scientist, I’m struck by how passionately people hold opinions in both directions no matter what the evidence says. The other striking thing is how little we actually know about the effects of a drug that has been smoked for thousands of years and been studied for decades.”
As for the vox pop, you an turn to KBUD FM in Denver, and listen to them tell jokes and talk about marijuana throughout the day as they play hit after hit.

Reefer madnes ssources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moderation

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hup.950/abstract

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/debunking-latest-pathetic-fear-smear-campaign-against-marijuana

NORML http://www.normal.org)

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2001/10.11/marijuana.html

Colorado reaches out to New York on marijuana

Once again Colorado, the first state to sell recreational marijuana legally, is benefitting from voters’ decisions to allow both medical and recreational sales.

The New York Times reports (times url) that as of Friday, the deadline for companies to apply for five licenses to become producers and distributors in the state, a Long Island-based health system applied in a partnership with Silverpeak Apothecary, a Colorado-based medical marijuana company.

The Long Island company also operates in New York City.

The new partnership, Silverpeak NY “recognizes the importance of our patients having access to every legal option to manage the symptoms of their illness, if there is clinical evidence to support marijuana’s use for the condition,” said chief executive Michael Dowling.

It is not quite at the level of the Colorado gold rush of 1859, which brought thousands of prospectors even before it had become the Centennial State. Silver and other ores also were produced.

State officials have been modest in their predictions, but most expect recreational and medical weed to generate more than $100 million next year. The has already had to write new legislation (url) to deal with $58 million it has already received (dj url).

Skyler McKinley of Gov. John Hickenlooper’s marijuana office concedes no one knows how much money is being brought in because there so many possible conduits. For example, news interviews found people who chose to ski in Colorado last winter at least partly because they could buy marijuana.

Nor is it possible to estimate how much impact legal recreational marijuana in four states, also including Washington, Oregon and Alaska, is having.

Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia allow some medical sales, and more states are in the process of legalizing it. 
Some veterans have been hired to guard the largely cash marijuana business in Colorado. A close look might even find ex-DEA people there as they see the writing on the wall.

There is a virtual torrent of legislation, and it includes actions being taken in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

High Times reports “Congress Votes to End War on Weed, Lawmakers Predict Its Demise Within 5 Years.” The story tells of several bills curtailing the Drug War now being offered in the House. Ht url

Two weeks ago the Senate approved a measure that would allow doctors to advise veterans on the medical uses of marijuana in states where it is legal.

The death knell could be if a major, or several major presidential candidates, should endorse legalization.

The media also is pushing for changes. NBC on Friday reported pressure for the legalization of a marijuana product that helps with epilepsy. It has been a great picture story for newscasts because families have been interviewed after moving all the way from the East Coast to Colorado so their kids can get treatment not available at home. 

Tax-free marijuana for one day

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a bill Thursday that means marijuana users will get a holiday from paying weed taxes, but it is only for one day.

The deal had to be made to pass legislation that would allow the state to ask voters to let it keep taxing marijuana.

This state, like some others, have laws pushed by voters to prevent it from raising new taxes or keeping more money than taxes were expected to raise.

Taxes from marijuana were slightly below the rate planners predicted, but because of the improving economy came in above projections.

Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights would make the state give some of it back. But legislators quickly passed a bill to allow the money to stay in government hands.

“This is only a first-year problem. We’ll never have this problem again,” said one of the bill’s authors, Sen. Pat Steadman, Denver. That is because the law regulating taxes only applies to new taxes,” the Denver Post reported.

Once government begins to rely on this money it will make it even less likely that opponents will be able to stop the runaway marijuana money chain, anymore than they could stop casino gambling. The state has worked hard to make sure marijuana pays for itself, finances schools, and even treatment programs, said Skyler McKinley of the governor’s marijuana office. It is not being used to pay for highways and the like.

The reason it is an unexpected problem is because it was created when voters decided to legalize marijuana two years. Colorado and Washington were the first and Alaska and Oregon have followed, and many more allow medical marijuana.

Across the nation, even in Washington, laws against marijuana remained under assault.

Last week, for the first time ever, a committee in the U.S. Senate approved a bill that allows doctors to recommend cannabis therapy to veterans in states where it is legal, High Times reported. The amendment was written into a military spending bill that was considered certain to pass.
http://www.mjinews.com/us-house-votes-protect-medical-marijuana/

Draconian, even anti-science laws, have made almost all research on marijuana illegal since the 1930s.

Despite being also illegal in most of Europe, the Associated Press reported it is the most commonly used drug. Nearly 79 million people are believed to have tried it, and 80 percent of drug seizures in Europe are of marijuana.

Also as in the U.S. reports of it being useful in various treatments also are growing.

The Denver Post predicted the one-day tax holiday, on Sept. 16, will cost the state $100,000.

But for the deal to be complete, voters will have to approve it in a referendum in November. So far no opposition has surfaced.

The state imposes two taxes on marijuana, 15 percent on sales from cultivators to retailers and 10 percent on recreational sales to consumers.

Anxious not to kill the goose that laid the golden egg, Hickenlooper wants the 10 percent tax lower to eight percent.

“We still have a black market and we want to moderate our taxes to make sure that the risk of someone selling illegally ... we want to eliminate that … And one way is to make sure there is not as large a price differential."

In the unlikely event voters tell the state to give this year’s money back there is a plan to return it, but consumers will not be the big recipients. Most of the money would be turned to the industry. McKinley said a general sales tax of $6 would make everyone reporting sales tax on a state tax return.

School claims right to notify parents that children are gay

The outing of a high school valedictorian near Boulder has gotten considerable attention around the world, but one issue that appears secondary is the charter school telling the teen’s parents that he is gay.

The school, Twin Peaks charter school, objected to valedictorian Evan Young talking about being gay and how he was treated. They told him to remove the material, and when he refused they denied him the right to speak at the graduation.

Later, he read his speech at another location, hosted by OutBoulder, a group that defends homosexuals.

But the question of whether Young’s parents should have learned that he was gay has not been a center of attention.

A spokeswoman for the district, Tracy Wiese, answered a question reporter this way:

“You suggest that Mr. Young’s privacy rights might have been violated because he is 18.  You are simply wrong. The Department of Education’s regulations are quite clear on this point.

“The parents of a dependent student – even one who is over 18 – have the right to access to his education records. The school’s attorney assures us that Mr. Buchmann (the lawyer) did not violate any of Mr. Young’s statutory or common law privacy rights. “
This response does not answer the question. The lawyer effectively informed the boy’s parent that he was gay. It was not a question of school records. And if it was, does that mean schools keep a list of who is gay?

Nor are parents entitled without exception to information about their children, especially one 18 are older.

Initially the Charter Peaks Academy said it would allow an investigation of the events, the Boulder Daily Camera reported.

Then the school changed its mind.

It told U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, to mind his own business, and made clear that since the school was not in his district it was not his business.

Polis, who is gay, had asked for an internal investigation but after the criticism, which included a remark that only 10 percent of Americans approved of Congress, he asked for an independent probe.

“I hereby withdraw my request for a purely internal Twin Peaks investigation and will notify Dr. Haddad (St. Vrain Valley School District Superintendent Don Haddad) that in my opinion as a founder of several charter schools, a former chair of the State Board of Education, and the representative of many families who attend Twin Peaks that the district (or mutually agreed third party) should lead the investigation. ... 

"You reference that your internal investigation will be complete in early July in your letter, and yet the content of your letter seems to definitively indicate that your minds are made up regarding this matter.”

Russian literature won’t save Putin

A narrative gaining wide currency is that Vladimir Putin will survive because he is a symbol of the nation’s beloved literature.

At first glance this view shorts Russian music, ballet, et al.

Try to top “Gogol,” who in “Dead Souls” in which a businessman moves through a rural area “buying up soulds” to make foreclosures easier.

Still, whether you see in Putin legends like Raskelnikov, Tolstoy or Rachmanioff, can their reverence for art make them invulnerable.

James Stravridis thinks so. He writes in Foreign Policy: “As Russia becomes increasingly isolated from Europe and the West over everything from the annexation of Crimea to the jailing of Pussy Riot and the treatment of gays and lesbians, their society will increasingly reject the “norms” of the West and become more “the other” — a place they have been before. What does all this tell us about the current flow of events?

“Russians correctly view themselves as inheritors of something bigger than just another a huge country — they see Mother Russia as the repository of deep and powerful life philosophies through a vibrant literature. They are unbelievably tough under pressure and take a perverse pleasure in demonstrating they can outlast anyone.”

This might be true if they lived in a vacuum. That wasn’t even true during the Cold War, and is futile in a cyberworld.

The Cold War wasn’t brought down just by Reagan’s “Star Wars,” Chernobyl, Afghanistan and an economic system that failed to reward the people for the great sacrifices they made. Although the Kremlin could clamp on art, it couldn’t stop music from wafting over the Berlin Wall. The Beach Boys and Beatles played the role now assume by Pussy Riot. Don’t forget the movies.

These days, no matter how draconian his rules, Putin cannot shut down the Internet entirely. What makes him think he is smarter than the Piratebay?

In fact, organizations that made the theft of copyright movies easy, rely on servers in Moscow and China, in many cases.

And then of course several movies can be put on a flashdrive smaller than a cigarette lighter. Russian customs is unlikely to have more luck than TSA in U.S. airports.

Russis’s top 20 is overloaded with Western music.

Another thing to consider is that if anti-government screeds make a country stronger that would be the opposite of what happened from the American Revolution to apartheid South Africa.

This week Russia said it was complaining down the Pirate Bay. Don't bet on it.

More inaccurate news floods minds

If you believe a news report, young people are getting their political news from an unlikely source: Facebook.
This is the same outlet given the green light by the Supreme Court this week to allow users to post threatening messages.
It would have made more sense to say the young go to the Internet for news.
Keep in mind there is bad reporting, just as there is bad science.
“The scientific community is in shock after one of the largest scientific publishers, Science, was forced to retract a study on gay marriage; the reason? The data on which it was based was almost certainly fake,”reports ZME Science. Others also reported the inaccurate report.
The report had said that if those people who go door-to-door to promote change, Craigslist is full of such jobs, identify themselves as gay instead of cloaking themselves in anonymity they will be more successful. People will remember them longer and what they said.
Turns out scientific rules used to do studies were ignored, or outright faked.
This canard this week is being promoted on Facebook, of course. It says “millennials” say they get most of their political news from Facebook.
The study that disses TV news and heavyweights like the New York Times and Washington Post was done by usually reliable Pew Research.
“We are only beginning to understand the complex interactions of personal choice, friend networks and algorithms in the social media space,” Amy Mitchell, Pew’s director of journalism research said in a statement. “As the research continues, these data suggest there are fundamental differences in the ways younger and older generations stay informed about political news.”
What does that mean. Young people get their political news from Facebook.
Most likely it means they are seeing URLs, unique resource locators, that take them to a media site. Facebook isn’t providing the news at all. It is easy to be fooled, like the FIFA executive who quoted the Onion on the organization to hold a pop World Cup this year in the U.S.
Not that this isn’t scary. It means these people are regurgitating the same “content” to their friends. So whatever they are reading, it is the same thing their friends are reading.
Perhaps they should have been asked which source do they post on their Facebook pages? Is it whichever one says what they want to hear or perhaps even something they think is stupid?
The study is right when it says: “No matter the generational differences, it’s obvious that social media, especially Facebook, has become a key way for people to consume politics news, a trend that will become more relevant as younger users become more interested interested in politics.”
This is just another way of saying “the medium is the message,” as Canadian Marshall McLuhan said in the 1950s.