Edmonton News – Stoner waiting for sentence
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 8:28 pm | By: Radical Russ
edmontonsun.com – Edmonton News – Stoner waiting for sentence
I don’t really have anything to say about the story. It’s the headline I’ve got a problem with.
“Stoner”? I wonder if the DUI driver profiled in the story were drunk, if they would have said “Alcoholic waiting for sentence”. The other Canadian press led with headlines like…
…which are fine, because you’d say “drunk driver”, too.
I’m pretty free with the terms “stoner” (and “pothead” and “toker”), but that’s among the community. I can say it, you can say it, but they better not say it! It’s kind of like our “n-word” – we can say “stoner”, but they can’t.
I see this too often in the headlines. Another one that really bugs me is “medipot”. If you need a shorthand for “medical marijuana”, you can use “med-mj” and it’s even less letters!
The drug policy reform organizations ought to think about mounting a campaign to inform the media about the proper terminology for our issues. The gay community has been very successful in getting the AP, Washington Post, and New York Times to adapt their style guide to avoid using biased or pejorative terms such as “admitted homosexual” or “transsexual”. Is there any such equivalent to tell newspapers not to use “stoner”, “junkie”, “tweeker”, or “crackhead”?
