The media are circling like sharks over the marijuana issue. They know it is a hot topic and the people are ready for legalization. Be sure to tune in every day next week at 10pm to CNN so we can keep Anderson Cooper honest.
UPDATE 2: NORML Board Member and Oregon NORML Executive Director Madeline Martinez just confirmed she will be interviewed by the AC 360 show this Sunday for broadcast during the weeklong special. Also, CNN may be sending a camera crew to our patient cardholder meeting being held tomorrow.
UPDATE: I just got this friendly email from a producer assisting in this special:
My name is ___ _____, and I work at Attention – which assists CNN. I saw you wrote about Anderson Cooper’s special next week – wanted to just give you more information in case you wanted to update your post or post again closer to the show.
Anderson Cooper 360 special America’s High: The Case For and Against Pot, will air throughout the week of June 15th on CNN.
As part of the series, Cooper will talk exclusively with rock star Melissa Etheridge, who, as a breast cancer survivor, advocates for medical use of marijuana. CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will examine the science of marijuana and THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol).
CNN correspondents Randi Kaye and Joe Johns will profile people who are for and against legalizing marijuana and will also offer a surprising look at pot openly grown here in the United States.
Anderson Cooper 360 airs weeknights at 10pm ET on CNN.
For and against pot? Is this that “fair and balanced” type of reporting that gives equal credence to truth and lies? ”Person A says the sky is blue, Person B says the sky is green, so as you can see, there is quite a bit of controversy about the sky.” I’ve got no issue with interviewing people who are for and against, so long as CNN points out the lies of the people who are against (gateway drug, pot 20x more potent, pot causes schizophrenia, etc.)
And who do we get examining the science of marijuana? Do we get Dr. Mitch Earleywine or Dr. Ethan Russo or Dr. Lester Grinspoon or Dr. Donald Tashkin or anybody who has spent years and published dozens of peer-reviewed studies on cannabinoids? No, we get Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who has already authored the following examinations of the science of marijuana in 2002 (check the link for the real facts):
- “…marijuana use earlier in life actually may lead to an increased — 30 percent increase — in schizophrenia later in life.”
- “…girls were more vulnerable to the symptoms of depression later on in life again if they were frequent or even daily marijuana users.”
- “There are some benefits to marijuana use. It can make cancer chemotherapy patients hungrier — also in HIV and AIDS patients… And marijuana can offer some of those things, especially when it comes to reducing nausea and vomiting, not advocating that necessarily myself. I think there are other ways to do that besides marijuana.”
And in 2006 penned an article for TIME entitled “Why I Would Vote No on Pot” (check the story link for my thorough debunking):
- “Frequent marijuana use can seriously affect your short-term memory.”
- “It can impair your cognitive ability (why do you think people call it dope?)”
- “[It can] lead to long-lasting depression or anxiety.”
- “…smoking anything, whether it’s tobacco or marijuana, can seriously damage your lung tissue.”
So the guy who’s already voting “no” on pot is going to examine the science of marijuana? The guy who thinks smoking marijuana makes you an anxious depressed forgetful schizophrenic? Hey, just “keeping them honest”, right, Anderson?
I am sooooo disappointed at how you portrayed the THCF foundation which is by the way a NON PROFIT Organization, which you claimed made 3 million dollars a year. The patients would and do disagree completely. Misrepresentation at its best.. Also you called Mr Stanford A PUSHER !! the patients enter the building to attempt to get their medical marijuana cards on their own accord. You almost saw Anderson hesitate when reading his cue that called Mr Stanford a “pusher” as if he did not agree with what he was being forced to say!! I have seen, by being in the medical fields, the countless number of patients that this medicine helps on a daily basis. People who could not function, now hold full time jobs. People who could not eat, gaining weight to stay healthy. My dying grandmother with cancer can still crack a smile because of this medicine. This is a natural herb intended for wonderful things..Shame on you!!
I think you’re way off. First of all, when NORML was founded in 1970, a person in any of the fifty states caught in public with a joint would have a lifetime criminal record. Now, in thirteen states, that person only gets a ticket, a fine, and no criminal record.
When NORML was founded, police would haul away sick people if they caught them with a pot plant in the back yard. Now, in thirteen states, that person is free to grow his pot plant without harrassment.
Yes, we cannot have sex in the grocery store… but we can buy beer, wine, cigarettes, NSAIDs, and pseudoephedrine there, can’t we?
Your attitude (“It’ll never change and I never get busted, so why bother?”) is EXACTLY why cannabis is still illegal.
As for your Johnny Appleweed idea of planting seeds randomly throughout the community: what you’ll get are tiny marijuana seedlings that are ripped out of the ground as soon as they are recognized. Nebraska has ditches full of feral hemp left over from Hemp for Victory. CAMP spreads marijuana seeds all over the California forest every time their helicopter flies out with a load of eradicated marijuana. None of those seeds have led to marijuana being re-legalized.
Finally, “just keep it low” is exactly what most pot smokers do, and yet still, 872,721 get arrested each year and 40,000 are languishing in prison. Ever hear of an “anonymous tip”? No matter how “low” you keep it, you are just one snitch away from a jail cell. Sorry, Supercash, I am a free man and I will fight for my freedom.
look you guys we all want to be able to sit on our porch and enjoy our cannabis like anyone else that enjoys their beer or whatever after a hard days work….however you might as well keep your little hide away smoking spot comfortable,because thats where pot is going to stay. Instead of trying to fight the prohibition why doesn,t every smoker out there just plant 5 seeds randomley throughout your community and the whole place will suddenly be over grown with pot. now thats how you get results. the pot laws are going nowhere. face it people just stick to private use and shut the fuck up already with failed promises of the so called pot reform. i have been a pro hemp individual since i was 12… and nothing has been effective in marijuane reform.. but ive been lighting up for over 25 yrs.. and only been busted once. that was to take the wrap for a freind that was in too much trouble for another charge oh well that was a long time ago.. so instead of spending money on all this hoopla about legalizing pot just go buy some get high and go on with your norml lives …. hope you understand but facts are facts and reality is reality . you can’t have sex ion the grocery store,but you can in private … so treat your smoke the same way.. use your fuckin head man.. just keep it on the low and out of the streets …unless you want to go to jail of course.. sorry but legal pot is a hoop dream just like taxes aint goin nowhere either and don,t see anyone putting effort into that reform… just another realistically thinking smoker.. so keep on tokin but dont take it to the white house lawn thanks for your time