Boycott Bolivian! Make sure you get your cocaine elsewhere!

Ryan Grim, Author of This is Your Country on Drugs, a tome I recommend heartily, interviewed our founder, Keith Stroup, for a piece in Huffington Post about legendary 1980′s crack kingpin Rick Ross, who “would have rather sold pot”.

One [effect of President Carter's "Operation Condor" interdiction campaign in Mexico], a rise in the price of pot in the United States, was intended. Others weren’t. The growth of domestic marijuana farming might have eased pot shortages slightly during the ’70s, but the industry was hardly the high-tech, high-efficiency bud-producing machine it is today. The encouragement of a shift from pot to cocaine importation among drug smugglers was a much more significant development in the short term. Coke, more valuable by weight and with a less detectable odor, was more profitable and much easier to move.

“Without question, in the mid- to late-’70s, there were frequently months where even working at NORML we would have a drought,” Keith Stroup, the head of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, told HuffPost. “But there was never a shortage of cocaine, because it didn’t have anything to do with a growing season … Sometimes I’d go [to my dealer], and he didn’t have any marijuana, but he always had cocaine.”

It has long been my contention that the decline in what was rising support for marijuana legalization in the 1970s owes a lot to the rise of cocaine culture, circa 1977-1983.  HIGH TIMES had centerfolds of beautiful buds and lines of cocaine on mirrors.  Chevy Chase was starring in Modern Problems where the whole movie is a cocaine gag.  Kids were sneaking in (I was one of them) to see the cartoon movie Heavy Metal where the characters are snorting “plutonium nyborg”.  ”Drugs” went from Woodstock and the Grateful Dead to Scarface and Miami Vice, and since marijuana’s a drug, it got tarred with the excesses and tragedies of cocaine.

Sadly ironic, then, that the government’s efforts to eradicate pot led to higher prices, which led to cocaine culture, which led to anti-drug acts of the 1980′s that still lock up cannabis consumers… and we’re still stuck with the higher prices!

"Don't do something stupid, dude!"

We continue our 2011 Year-End Retrospective with a look at The Top Ten “Stupid Stoner Stories” of 2011.  (Yesterday we looked at The Top Ten Cannabis Science Stories of 2011 and we began on Tuesday with The Top Ten “Reefer Madness” Stories of 2011.  We end tomorrow with The Top Ten People in Marijuana of 2011.)  It’s a segment I’ve done for years now and it still bothers some people.  I always remind listeners that “smoking marijuana does not make one stupid; however, some stupid people do smoke marijuana”.  The point is to learn from the misfortune of others and to teach valuable lessons to the audience (like not wrapping your weed in aluminum foil to take through the airport, or speeding at 3am while smoking blunts in a car with expired tags and no insurance, and so on.)

Stupid exists in all sectors of society.  I want to make clear that the vast majority of cannabis consumers are not these people, any more than most everyone is not a Darwin Award winner.  In many of these stories, the stupid is someone simply wanting police help and wouldn’t even merit a ticket if pot weren’t illegal… so don’t forget that the biggest stupid is prohibiting adult use of marijuana in the first place.

The Top Ten “Stupid Stoner Stories” of 2011 (audio mp3)

10. Man’s dog throws out hash stash for cops

It’s almost unfair of me to classify poor Joel Dobrin as “stupid” for this story.  Except that I always counsel tokers to store their weed in the trunk when they’re on the road, which might have prevented this unfortunate traffic stop.

(The Dalles Chronicle) Joel Dobrin, 32, of San Diego, Calif., …was stopped at around 11 a.m. Feb. 9. Sherman County [Oregon] Sgt. John Terrel, while pulling Dobrin over on a routine traffic stop, reportedly spotted a sock being thrown from Dobrin’s 1998 GMC pickup. According to a sheriff’s office report, the traffic stop yielded some marijuana and hashish.

During the traffic stop Dobrin explained that when Terrel was stopping him, Dobrin attempted to stash his controlled substance. While doing this, Dobrin’s large dog grabbed the sock the controlled substance was stored in and began playing tug-a-war with the drug laden sock. Dobrin and the dog struggled for the sock, but the dog won and ultimately tossed the sock full of drugs out the window. Found in the sock was a user amount of marijuana and some hashish.

9. Note to marijuana smugglers: Make sure your trailer tags are current!

If I had an ounce for every time I’ve read a story about someone getting busted with weed because they were driving a car with expired tags (or a busted taillight, or were speeding), I could replace the weed that was seized in this traffic stop.  Is there not enough profit in smuggling to afford registration renewals?

(Brownsville Herald) An expired license plate caught the attention of a Cameron County sheriff’s deputy, who ended up making one of the largest drug busts so far this year for the sheriff’s department.

The deputy pulled over a tractor-trailer rig Saturday evening on Expressway 77 near Combes. During the routine traffic stop, authorities found 3,103 pounds of marijuana hidden under loads of papayas, Sheriff Omar Lucio said Monday.

The marijuana has an estimated street value of $2.5 million.

8. Locksmiths don’t check warrants or care about your marijuana… but cops do!

Trust me. My brother was a locksmith. They aren’t interested in your “failure to appear” bench warrants and your nickle bag of weed. When you lock your keys in the car, locksmiths are more worried you will freak out at the cost of your careless mistake.

A North Charleston woman called police for help but ended up in jail after being arrested for failure to appear in court and marijuana possession last week.

North Charleston police say 20-year-old Clarissa Johnson called them on Thursday afternoon at 5:20 p.m. after locking her keys in her car in the 3300 block of Goldenrod Road.

When police arrived to help, they discovered that the woman had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in court.  After arresting Johnson, police then discovered that she was carrying 1.5 grams of marijuana.

7. Man fails drug test for cocaine, offers pot bribe to test taker to ignore it

Perhaps this is better classified as a “Crazy Cokehead” story…

(Orlando Sentinel) A Deltona man who failed a drug test at a pain-management clinic Thursday tried to bribe a medical assistant with marijuana to keep his cocaine-positive test results under wraps, authorities said.

Jeffrey Hoydic, 40, was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell after the Central Florida Pain Management clinic in DeBary contacted the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office about his alleged pot bribe, reports show.

At the clinic, Hoydic was told he tested positive for cocaine and had failed his drug test. After he was told he wasn’t allowed to take any drugs other than what was prescribed to him by the clinic, he allegedly asked the female medical assistant if she smoked and he pulled out five bags, each with a small amount of marijuana.

6. Don’t call 911, trust NORML: Growing pot will get you busted

I am just stunned that this guy didn’t get the memo that growing pot is illegal.  Just so none of you feel the urge to call 911 for grow crime information…

Connecticut Marijuana Laws:  Growing one marijuana plant = Felony, 7 years prison, $25,000 fine.

Federal Marijuana Laws: Growing one marijuana plant = Felony, 5 years prison, $250,000 fine.

(MSNBC) FARMINGTON, Conn. — Police say a Connecticut man called 911 to ask a dispatcher how much trouble he could get into by growing one marijuana plant, then was arrested.

Officers went to [Robert] Michelson’s house and seized a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Michelson has admitted he bought seeds and equipment for growing.

5. Dad Tells Cops 14-Year-Old Stole Weed From His Son

The “stupid stoners” that bother me the most are the parents who involve their kids with marijuana.  It is the worst possible portrayal of our community and “What About the Children?!?” is one of the few powerful propaganda messages that prohibitionists have left.  So remember, this only exists because marijuana is illegal (and therefore insanely profitable) and not bought and sold in regulated stores that check ID.

(The Arizona Republic) An Arizona man was arrested after he told police a 14-year-old neighbor took $400 worth of marijuana from his 16-year-old son and refused to pay for it.

Police in Surprise, Arizona (yes, that’s really the name of the place) found Sean Corwin, 35, beating on the front door of a residence, reports Taylor Hill at The Arizona Republic. He told the cops that an occupant of the home had taken marijuana from his son, according to Sgt. Mark Ortega.

Police said they suspected Corwin had used his son to sell marijuana to the 14-year-old at a nearby park. Cops believe the 14-year-old boy grabbed the cannabis and ran home without paying, leading Corwin to drive to the home to demand payment.

Police found marijuana at the 14-year-old’s home, as well as two more bags of pot at Corwin’s home on West Central Street, Ortega said.

4. Parents arrested for video of 2-year-old smoking marijuana

Remember that this time of year, parents all across North America will consume beer and wine and spirits, often leaving their bottles and glasses in easy reach of the children.  Many pictures will be taken and videos will be filmed – and you won’t read any headlines about those parents going to court.

(Digital Journal) Hesperia – A California couple were arrested after San Bernadino County Sheriff’s department received a tip from an individual who had a video of the parents allegedly allowing their 23-month-old child to smoke from a marijuana pipe.

“(The video) depicts the child placing the (pipe) up to his mouth and he sucks on it, pulls it away, sucks on it, pulls it way. And it’s done about three times,” said Deputy Lisa Guerra of the Hesperia station. “And the pipe does have some marijuana residue in it,” according to the Victorville Daily Press.

Sheriff’s Department Deputy Lisa Guerra, of the Hesperia division, received a tip Saturday that 20-year-old Melanie Soliz and 24-year-old Blake James Hightower were abusive to their child and had given the toddler marijuana. The police were able to confirm the allegations that the child was indeed smoking what appeared to be drug pipe after viewing the video and were then able to locate the pipe after a search of the residence, reports the Daily Press.

I’m having difficulty pinning the stupid in this story – do I mock the stupid that leads a young couple to get their 2-year-old a pipeful of pot to smoke or do I mock the stupid that leads them to video record it or do I mock the stupid that has them giving this video recording to a third party who narcs them out?  It’s like a triple scoop of stupid on this sundae.

3. Wandering toddler on road with bag of weed gets national coverage

LOCH SHELDRAKE, N.Y. — Authorities have charged a 30-year-old New York woman with endangering the welfare of a child after police say her toddler wandered into an upstate road clutching a bag of marijuana.

Police in the Sullivan County hamlet of Loch Sheldrake say Lakeisha Owens was sleeping in her apartment around 5 p.m. Saturday when her 3-year-old daughter was nearly struck by a motorist on Route 52.

Officials say the motorist pulled over, removed the child from the road and called police. Authorities say the child was holding a bag containing 15 grams of marijuana.

Now, if this were just a toddler-wanders-into-road story, it would just be local Hudson Valley news.  It’s the bag of weed that spreads the story across the country, the implication being that here’s a no-good slacker stoner mom who can’t take care of her kids.  Certainly, leaving the half-ounce bag within reach of the child while you’re napping isn’t the most responsible act.  But we are talking about a toddler; it’s not as if there’s any danger of the kid whipping out some Zig Zags and twisting up a spliff. The danger to the kid was in wandering unsupervised on the road.  The kid could have been carrying a bag of potato chips and it would have been just as germane to the story.

2. Rhode Island lawmaker who ripped pot smokers busted for marijuana possession

Rep. Robert Watson, the leader of the Rhode Island House Republicans, drew fire in February when in the General Assembly he said, “I suppose if you’re a gay man from Guatemala who gambles and smokes pot, you probably think that we’re onto some good ideas here.” Watson refused demands to apologize.  Karma’s a bitch, dude.

nydailynews Republican House Minority Leader Robert Watson was arrested in East Haven, Conn., on Friday at a police checkpoint and was also charged with driving under the influence.

“Trace evidence of marijuana was discovered and I was charged with operating under the influence, a charge I vehemently deny,” Watson told the Providence Journal.

The 50-year-old smelled like alcohol and pot, he slurred his words, and his eyes “were extremely glassy and bloodshot,” according to the police report. Authorities found a “small plastic sandwich bag containing a green leafy plantlike substance and a small wooden marijuana pipe.”

His blood-alcohol level was 0.05%, which is below the state’s 0.08 limit.

1. Hotel explosion exposes danger of solvent-based marijuana hashish extraction

Butane hash oil, or BHO, is made through a process of forcing liquid butane through a tube filled with cannabis.  The butane strips the cannabinoids and oils from the plant material, where it collects in a container.  The butane evaporates away and the remaining oil is a very potent, very profitable, easily smuggled preparation of hashish.

Unfortunately, it is not always trained professionals following common-sense safety procedures who are making this BHO.  Sometimes it is a “stupid stoner” who doesn’t understand evaporated butane is a heavier-than-air gas that pools on the floor near pilot lights, switches, and electric heaters.

NEWBERG, OR (KPTV) - Police said a man suffered severe burns early Thursday morning in an explosion involving drugs inside a Newberg hotel room.

Investigators said Newberg-Dundee police officers were called before 3 a.m. to the Best Western Newberg Inn at 2211 Portland Road.

Police said officers found 29-year-old Christopher Thomas Heidt, of McMinnville, inside the hotel with serious burns. Heidt told authorities he was cooking hashish in the room just before the explosion, officers say.

The force of the explosion blew out the windows of at least one hotel room.

Andrea Marie Goe, 26, of McMinnville, and a 2-year-old girl were sleeping inside the room at the time of the blast, investigators said.

This 2011 Reefer Madness propaganda is Anslinger Approved!

It’s end-of-year retrospective time!  While my colleagues on the NORML Blog (go check out the new look that matches the new site) are going to bring you the biggest marijuana news stories of 2011, here at The Daily Stash Blog we’re going to bring you stories that may have fallen through the cracks of other drug policy 2011 remembrances.

Today we bring you the Top Ten “Reefer Madness” Stories of 2011.  ”Reefer Madness”, of course, is the 1936 anti-pot propaganda film showing young people becoming crazed and violent on the effects of “reefer”.  Today, we use “Reefer Madness” as shorthand to describe the hysterical warnings by the anti-drug zealots as reported unchallenged by a complacent media.

Tomorrow we’ll look at the Top Ten Cannabis Science Stories of 2011.  Thursday we’ll cover the Top Ten “Stupid Stoner Stories” of 2011.  Friday we’ll cover the Top Ten People in Marijuana of 2011.

Top Ten “Reefer Madness” Stories of 2011 (audio mp3)

10. Oregonian editorial board hypes fears of medical marijuana and teen pot smoking

(The Oregonian – “Seeing through the smoke” editorial) It’s about time someone took action on the increasing number of medical marijuana dispensaries. … Right now, anyone, including teenagers, can apply [for a medical marijuana card]. A study done by Oregon Partnership found, for example, that 35 percent of students at Wilson High School and 46 percent at Marshall High School knew someone with a card.

Unlike the Oregonian editorial board, I check sources (I work for NORML: I have to.) The survey they refer to was addressed at a Marshall High community town hall meeting. The poll was conducted by students as part of a project called “SMASH” in a “confidential, random, peer-to-peer” survey – meaning one high school kid asking another high school kid. We have no control group, no control for confounding variables, not even a mention of the survey size or the randomness of those polled (maybe the SMASH kids are more likely to “randomly” speak to their friend, for instance, or stood in the hall and talked to anyone passing by who would answer.)

But besides all the methodological issues arising from trusting the polling data of high school kids talking to their friends, it’s important to note what their survey actually said:

PERCEPTION: Students surveyed believed that 8 out of 10 students smoke marijuana

REALITY: 7 out of 10 students DO NOT smoke marijuana

Kids surveyed thought 77.3% of others were smoking marijuana.  76.07% of kids never smoked marijuana, another 12.27% smoked it once or twice a month.  So, kids think 3 out of 4 other kids smoke pot when 3 out of 4 kids actually don’t.  Where, oh, where could the kids be getting the message that youth cannabis smoking is out of control, when, in fact, Oregon’s 12th grade monthly cannabis use rates have declined 14% (before | after) since 1999, when medical marijuana got underway in Oregon?

9. Papa John’s Pizza supports driver who reported medical marijuana patient to police

You would think that pizza delivery companies would understand who their customers are and that a great number of them smoke marijuana.  If you’re a pizza delivery company in Colorado, you’d understand that many of the marijuana smokers in your delivery area may be legally using cannabis for medicinal purposes.  But apparently Papa John’s pizza in Colorado doesn’t care too much about its drivers violating the privacy of its customers who are medical marijuana patients.

(9News) The man was smoking medical marijuana just before the pizza arrived on Friday evening. The delivery driver smelled the marijuana and called the cops. The Papa John’s employee, who was not identified, was concerned because the customer’s 9-year-old daughter was in the house.

8. The annual scaremongering about marijuana-laced Halloween treats begins now

L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Glen Walsh said parents should definitely inspect the candy their children bring home after trick-or-treating.

Walsh said a pungent smell or an odd taste can serve as indicators on whether the food contains marijuana. As for the potency of the marijuana-laced prodcuts, Walsh said the level of THC, the chemical found in marijuana, can vary from zero to over 90 percent.

OK, so watch closely, parents.  You don’t want your kid getting a candy with 0% THC in it.  But if you find any of that 90% THC stuff, you can send it my way for proper disposal.

How stupid is this?  First off, if there is a person out there who would intentionally hand THC-laden treats to children, they are a criminal.  They’d be just as likely to poison Halloween treats or put pins or razor blades in them.. which is an urban legend with no truth to it whatsoever.

Second, if you are a person who uses THC-laden treats for medical or recreational purposes, why are you handing out a $20 “Buddafinger” when you could pass out a 20-cent “Butterfinger”?  You want to be so sure some kid you don’t know and won’t see gets high that you’ll spend 10 times more on Halloween candy?

7. Portland Reporter Anna Canzano: A medical marijuana-hating sheriff’s best friend

[Oregon Sheriff's Association President] Tom Bergin said at the rate Oregon is going, he believes Oregon is three times sicker than California. Why? Well, more than 90 percent of cardholders say they’re using pot to treat pain — not glaucoma or cancer — as the bill was initially marketed.

Here are the facts from the state’s medical marijuana program registry:

• There are 49,220 medical marijuana patients
• There are 44,756 patients who indicate chronic pain as a qualifying condition

So Canzano, Bergin, and every prohibitionist who scoffs at people in serious pain treating it with a non-toxic herb pull out their calculators and exclaim “90% of cardholders are using it for pain, not glaucoma or cancer!”  (The number is actually 90.9%.)

What Canzano distorts lies in the word “not”.  Under Oregon law, a registry cardholder can qualify under more than one condition.  The state even puts “A patient may have more than one diagnosed qualifying medical condition” right there on the website where you got the numbers to crunch.  Are we to believe people with cancer and glaucoma don’t suffer chronic pain as well?

6. Florida Woman Sues Over Being Arrested for Sage

A woman in Florida who was arrested for felony marijuana possession is suing for wrongful arrest. She might just have a case, she was charged with marijuana possession even though the bag they caught her with turned out to be Sage. 49 year old, Robin Brown says a Broward County Sheriff’s deputy caught her while she was bird watching back in March of 2009. He used his field kit on the herb she had in a bag, and said that in the field it tested positive for marijuana. The deputy sent the 50 grams of substance to a state crime lab.

Her lawsuit says that she was arrested before the test was performed. Her arrest was ordered by the Assistant State Attorney, Mark Horn, in June of 2009. She was arrested at her place of business, Massage Envy in Weston. She said that she was arrested in front of co-workers and her customers and subjected to a full body cavity search during her overnight stay in jail. When her lawyer discovered the herbs had not been tested a second time, he used the courts to force the tests which determined what Ms. Brown was contending all along, her sage was completely marijuana free.

5. Teen dies after plastic fumes scar lungs, media blames synthetic pot

The boy smoked the fake marijuana out of a plastic PEZ candy dispenser. The chemicals in the drugs caused extensive damage to his lungs. Brandon was put on a respirator in June and had a double lung transplant in September.

So, we’re to assume here it was the K2 that scarred the boys lungs and not the freakin’ fumes from the melting plastic of a PEZ dispenser?!?

Tonya Rice told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review newspaper Brandon was put on a respirator in June after smoking Spice fake cannabis, which is said to be ten times more dangerous than cocaine.

Not to be cruel or insensitive about the boy’s death, but he didn’t suddenly die from the acute effects of K2 use.  He used it in June, fell very ill, was given a double lung transplant, and died from an infection because of his lowered immune system in October.  So, to compare, we have cocaine, which can give you a heart attack by overdose and kill you the minute you snort / smoke / inject it, versus a synthetic cannabinoid smoked through plastic, requiring a double lung transplant, leading to a fatal infection four months later in the hospital that kills one boy.  We’re not trying to say K2 is safe – it isn’t – but it’s not “ten times more dangerous than cocaine”.

4. CASA’s Joe Califano blames marijuana for Arizona shooter

I haven’t seen press reports or talking heads discuss their concern about how easy it has been for this mentally ill young man to get marijuana. And there has been no mention of the potential of marijuana to spark latent psychosis and exacerbate schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.

So as we continue to think about this killer and his deranged mind, we should be asking this question: Is Jared Loughner an individual whose psychosis was prompted or exacerbated by the use of marijuana?

Gee, Joe, what do you think we ought to do?  Make marijuana illegal?  Lock up people who use it?  Break down their doors at night and shoot their dogs?  Use helicopters and infrared to eradicate the plant wherever it’s grown?  Throw billions at American and Mexican law enforcement for armor and weapons to fight its traffickers?  Train dogs to sniff it out?  Drug test employees, high schoolers, even middle schoolers to detect its use?

The facts are that 1% of the population exhibits schizophrenia, whether it is 1979 and 60% of high school seniors have tried marijuana or it is 1992 and 33% have tried it.  A study of 186 UK mental hospitals found no increase in schizophrenia or psychosis admissions, despite use rates of cannabis increasing greatly during that decade.

3. UK Daily Mail: Cannabis ‘kills 30,000 a year’

Cannabis ‘kills 30,000 a year’

Oh, dear.  From zero deaths* in 5,000 years of human use to ’30,000 a year’.  That sounds serious.  Let’s read on…

More than 30,000 cannabis smokers could die every year, doctors warn today.

Wait, “could die”?  We’ve gone from the active headline verb “kills” to the lede adverb “could”?  Usually you bury that wiggle room somewhere in paragraph umpteen.  Continue…

Professor John Henry, a leading authority on the drug, said the change – due to take place this summer – had undermined doctors’ efforts to highlight the risks.

He said: “Cannabis is as dangerous as cigarette smoking – in fact, it may be even worse – and downgrading its legal status has simply confused people.”

“May be” worse?  Where are the wards full of cannabis smokers?  Britain actually has some level of health care worthy of a civilized (civilised) people.  You’d think the National Health Service would bring these figures up.  It sounds like quite a cost to the government.

2. American Cancer Society says marijuana use can lead to amputation

Although it is rare, severe shutdown of blood circulation to the arms or legs has been reported in young people who smoked marijuana. In some cases, it was so severe that amputation was required.

In all my years beating back reefer madness, this is a first.  I have never heard a story of someone’s marijuana use leading to amputation.  I have covered stories of people who use marijuana for their already-existing amputation, since it is a superior medication for “phantom” pain, and I’ve covered one double-amputee diabetic’s eviction for her medical marijuana use, though.

1. Butt-chugging, vodka tampons, drinking bleach, and other parent-frightening urban legends

(KPHO) [School Resource Officer Chris] Thomas spends his days patrolling the halls of a Valley high school. He’s heard first hand how kids are getting tipsy.

“What we’re hearing about is teenagers utilizing tampons, soak them in vodka first before using them,” Thomas said.

“This is definitely not just girls,” Thomas said. “Guys will also use it and they’ll insert it into their rectums.”

Rather than the traditional beer bong you’d find at a college party, kids are sticking the tube elsewhere to get wasted.

They’re calling it “butt chugging.”

Rrrighttt… young teenage males, typically the most homophobic and self-conscious creatures on the planet, are dropping trou in front of their peers and inserting plastic tubes up their ass to chug beer.  And the vodka tampons?  Huffington Post reports that “the practice remains unverified despite multiple reports of incidents in the U.S. and elsewhere” and that a blogger “conducted her own informal trial to see whether the purported method worked“, where she notes the alcohol dissolves the glue and consistency of the tampon so much it couldn’t be inserted and that even if it were inserted, the burn you’d feel on your sensitive lady parts would not make this an enjoyable drunk.  Plus, the idea that it would help teens avoid detection with no alcohol on their breath is false, as alcohol metabolizes in your breath no matter how you ingest it.

Trying pain pills is three times more likely to lead to regular hard drug use than trying marijuana.

One of the most frustrating arguments presented by supporters of prohibition is the “Marijuana is a Gateway Drug” trope. The idea here is when you ask a heroin, cocaine, or meth addict “what was the first drug you ever tried?”, they inevitably answer “marijuana”. Therefore, the gateway theory goes, sparking up that first joint will begin the long slippery slide into crippling drug addiction.

It does not matter that government researchers have already declared in 1999 that “There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs“. The “gateway” theory is one of those urban legends that is proving very difficult to kill.

However, an analysis of the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) shows that your first aspirin is more likely to be your gateway to hard drugs than your first joint.

We cross-referenced the NSDUH numbers based on whether someone had ever tried marijuana. We found that only 1.5% of people who have toked became monthly cocaine users. For ecstasy, crack, meth, heroin, LSD, and PCP, less than 1% of the people who’ve tried pot are using those drugs regularly. Meanwhile, 2.9% of the people who’ve ever tried an legal analgesic (pain reliever) are regular cocaine users. For ecstasy, crack, and meth, more than 1% of who tried analgesics are regular users. People who tried analgesics are more than twice as likely as people who tried pot to use heroin regularly and three times more likely to use LSD regularly.

We also find that binge drinkers – defined as 5 or more drinks at a sitting at least once a month – are more likely to be regular hard drug users than people who have tried marijuana. To be fair, alcohol supporters might point out that comparing regular beer use to one-time pot use is unfair, and when compared to regular marijuana users, beer users have 1/2 to 1/3 the hard drug regular use rates. In response, we’d say that regular beer drinkers don’t have to pick up a six pack from an illegal dealer who also sells other drugs.

But if opponents want to cling to the idea that we should do everything in our power to stop someone from smoking that first marijuana joint, lest they become illegal drug addicts, then it is time to prohibit Vicodin, Lortab, Lorcet, and Oxycontin, those powerful legal opioid pain killers. The first Vicodin/Lortab/Lorcet leads to almost three times the risk of becoming a non-pot illegal drug user than the first joint amd almost the same risk as smoking a joint every month. That first Oxycontin is more than five times the risk for drug abuse than the first joint.

Uh oh, his lips are moving...

Trying to keep a campaign promise to make drug sentencing more fair, the Obama administration issued a statement through US Attorney General Eric Holder to the US Sentencing Commission this week to amend its guidelines to reduce sentences for crack offenses. The harsh prison sentences that are levied against crack defendants in comparison to other cocaine users has long been a source of contempt among defense lawyers and civil rights activists because the sentences disproportionately impact minorities.

See the original post here:
Federal Crack Cocaine Offenders May Be Released Early

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Hemp Headlines

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

1. Attorney General Holder says federal government will work with governors in medical marijuana states to clarify dispensary operations
2. Gov. Shumlin signs dispensary legislation in Vermont, home grow still allowed
3. Scottish pub assists police by testing patrons hands for “drug residue” before entering

Daily Toker Tunes

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• Rockin’ Friday: The Clintons – “Free Ride in a Cop Car”

CelebStoner.com Entertainment Report with Steve Bloom, co-author of Reefer Movie Madness: The Ultimate Stoner Film Guide

• “Mr. Nice”, the movie about famed British smuggler, Howard Marks, premieres
• “Hangover 2″ features cocaine use as major part of storyline
• Sir Richard Branson among luminaries at press conference announcing report on failure of war on drugs
• Kid Cudi declares his “Marijuana” video is the last time you’ll ever see him smoking pot, claims he’s quit… Steve and Ganja Jon say, “not so much…”

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2. Could change in crack:powder cocaine disparity lead to retroactive clemency for cocaine prisoners?
3. Florida Gov. Rick Scott, former drug test industry stockholder, signs law requiring drug tests to qualify for welfare

Daily Toker Tunes

• Irie Wednesda: Rebelution – “Educated Fools”

This Month in NORML with Executive Director Allen St.

Cannabis Science with

• Mr. Obama: These Raids Must Stop NOW!

]]> http://stash.norml.org/stash-for-wed-jun-1-2011/feed 0 http://stash.norml.org/marijuana-consumption-by-pregnant-women-may-reduce-infant-mortality-more-study-needed http://stash.norml.org/marijuana-consumption-by-pregnant-women-may-reduce-infant-mortality-more-study-needed#comments Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:02:41 +0000 Jen Alexander http://stash.norml.org/?p=18653

No, no, we said marijuana consumption by pregnant women! You need to chill for about 21 years, mini-Cheech!

A recent article by Storm Crow sheds light on a study that demonstrates a dramatic decrease in infant mortality rates for babies born testing positive for cannabinoids:

A total of 2,964 babies were drug-tested at birth to see if they were positive for drugs – cocaine, opioids or cannabis were studied. 44% of the infants tested positive for all varieties of drugs, including the 3 being studied. During the first two years of their lives, 44 babies from the original group died. Since statistics are a drag to slog through, I’ll cut right to the chase – the deaths per thousand live births – the numbers tell the story.

“No drugs at birth” deaths……. 15.7 deaths per 1000 live births

“Cocaine positive” deaths…….17.7 deaths per 1000 live births

“Opiate positive” deaths…….18.4 deaths per 1000 live births

“Cannabis positive” deaths…. 8.9 deaths per 1000 live births [5]

The cocaine and opiate babies have a higher death rate than the “No drugs” babies – that was to be expected. But look at the “cannabis” babies! Having extra cannabinoids in their bodies at birth (and likely later, from 2nd-hand exposure, or breast milk) seems to have some sort of a protective effect. The “cannabis” infants have a mortality rate almost half of what the “No drugs” infants have!

The study raises many interesting questions.  As I read, these are some of the first questions that came to mind, along with my current research on the topics.  I would have waited to post this until I could find more concrete information, but unfortunately, prohibition interferes with sound science on these issues, so I am just going to share my own thoughts and research with the hopes that it encourages more public outcry for further scientific study.  Much of this is conjecture and guesses, but it is worth asking these questions and evaluating the information currently available and pursuing further research:

1.  What further verification of this study can I find?  Much as I like the info, I know I need to find a credible source for verification and so that others will believe the information.

A credible source was found to document the truth of the data presented by Storm Crow:

Pediatrics:  Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, published July 1, 1997;

The above source only contained the summary of the study, and I wanted to see more of the data.  I have learned that statistics and percentages can be very misleading.  Before long, I found the complete study using student access to PSU , and found even more surprising numbers than the above quote by Storm Crow reveals.  The following table itemizes each category of test result; for instance, a positive test for cannabis could also include a positive test for opiates and/or cocaine, so this table further breaks out the categories into cannabis only, morphine (opiate) only, cocaine only and the “total” of all positive cannabis, morphine and cocaine tests (click links to view table and chart):

TABLE 3. Mortality Within 1 to 2 Years Among Infants (n = 2964) Who Were Screened for Gestational Exposure to Drugs by Meconium Analysis
Meconium Drug Screen	N	Total Deaths	Deaths per 1000 Live  Births	% of Total Deaths
Drug-negative	1658	26	15.7	59%
Drug-positive	1306	18	13.7	41%
Cocaine-positive[a]	903	16	17.7	36%
Cocaine only	457	6	13.2	14%
Morphine-positive[a]	599	11	18.4	25%
Morphine only	213	1	4.6	2%
Cannabinoid-positive[a]	338	3	8.9	7%
Cannabinoid only	157	0	0.0	0%
[a] Includes in combination with the other illicit drugs (cocaine, opiate, and/or cannabinoid).

Infant Mortality Chart

The most interesting thing that stands out to me is that the drug-negative babies were technically MORE likely to die in the first two years of life.  This illustration helps shed light on why the study concludes that there is no significant difference between babies that test positive and those that test negative for maternal drug use, as there isn’t much of a difference between the 13.7 and 15.7 deaths per 1000 live births.

However, in this view of the information, the stark difference between the two cannabis categories and “morphine only” category as compared to the remaining categories is notable.  As a mother who is familiar with at least some of the drugs given at birth, I suspect that the “morphine only” category are those mothers that received some sort of drug during childbirth and/or pregnancy.  The presence of this drug only would most likely indicate proper drug use and not illicit drug use, since this drug is administered by a licensed physician – which could be why the mortality rate of these children is much lower than the other categories.

And the cannabis positive children are definitely in that same range with the morphine only infants.  However, when the two categories of cannabis-positive infants are divided into “cannabis only” and “cannabis positive” (indicating either opiates or cocaine were also present with the cannabis), the information is astonishing.  Of 338 infants born with cannabis in their systems at birth, only 3 total died in the first two years.  All three of those infants had either opiates or cocaine in their system as well, and not a single death was found in the two years after birth in the 157 infants that tested positive for ONLY cannabis!  These deaths include homicide, SIDS, illness, etc.  Not ONE death!

2.  Are infants born to cannabis-consuming mothers less likely to die in the first two years of life, or are the results of this study an anomaly?

I wish I could answer this question conclusively, but this information definitely indicates the need for further study!  I sought out more research on this subject, and could not find much.  I did find an article on the importance of endocannabinoids on pediatric development and disease, the critical role of the endogenous cannabinoids system on mouse pup suckling and growth, and a study on cannabis and breastfeeding that seems to use some good data to make some bad points.

3. Are pregnant mothers less likely to continue their use of marijuana when becoming pregnant, compared to other drugs?

I also noticed that a substantial difference is noted in the positive test results, compared to the usage rates suggested in a study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  According to their data for 2002-2009, marijuana has much higher usage rates than all other drugs (ie in 2008, 41% of the study used marijuana in their lifetime, and 10.3% had used it in the past year; contrast that with the total for all drug use (including marijuana) of 47% in their lifetime, and 14.2% in the past year.  Cocaine use was 14.7% in their lifetime and 2.1% in the last year and all other drugs, excluding marijuana, was 30.3% in their lifetime and 8.0% in the last year).  For comparison’s sake, I merged that data into the earlier table side by side with the comparable number (although it is worth noting that the SAMHSA data is both male and female, whereas the Meconium Drug Screen data is only pregnant females, so any gender variances would not be taken into account, as well as other confounding factors).  However, this data is still rather enlightening:

Meconium Drug Screen	N	N as %	SAMHSA Data	Past-year Use
Drug-negative	1658	55.9%	53.00%	85.8%
Drug-positive	1306	44.1%	47.0%	14.2%
Cocaine-positive[a]	903	30.5%	14.7%	2.1%
Cannabinoid-positive[a]	338	11.4%	41.0%	10.3%

It is complete conjecture, but it appears that pregnant mothers are more likely to give up marijuana than cocaine.  The total positive and negative percentages of drug use, however, were quite comparable.  But cocaine was far more dominant in pregnant mothers than marijuana – unlike the overall usage statistics which seem to show the inverse (a much higher usage rate for marijuana than cocaine).

While this is just conjecture based on these data, it could be concluded that marijuana was not as addictive and mothers were likely to significantly reduce their use and/or quit smoking marijuana all together, as compared to cocaine.  I presume the higher percentage of cocaine positive tests in the pregnant mothers’ results as compared to the general population is probably linked to more risky behaviors resulting in pregnancy among cocaine-addicted women – resulting in a larger percentage of pregnant cocaine users than the general population of cocaine users – but again this is pure conjecture.

4. What is the overlap in concurrent drug use, ie how many cocaine-using mothers were also using opiates and/or cannabinoids?

The first table above gives two categories for each drug, ie cannabis positive and cannabis only.  The cannabis only number is included into the cannabis positive category.  For an easier interpretation of the data, I created another chart using the same mortality rate data, but with more information from the student access of the study.  Some of these numbers are calculated based on the percentages noted in the study, so the “exact” numbers given here may not be as precise as it appears (for instance, the total participants in the study was 2964, but these numbers add to 2961 – these are just rounding errors):

Test results:	Total Number	Percentage
Positive for all three	55	1.9%
Positive for cocaine and opiate	299	10.1%
Positive for cannabis and other	122	4.1%
Drug negative	1658	55.9%
Cocaine only	457	15.4%
Morphine only	213	7.2%
Cannabinoid only	157	5.3%
Total	2961	99.9%

5.  For babies born to cannabis-using mothers, who did not use any other drugs, what is the mortality rate?

I was amazed that I was finally able to access this data, and even more astonished that my initial conjecture that there would be zero deaths among the cannabis only infants is correct.  Not a single death in the first two years of life for the babies that tested positive for cannabis.  Using the data for the drug-negative babies, it would be reasonable to see 3 deaths among this group.  It is possible that this is just coincidence, but it could also indicate a protective effect of cannabis, particularly when considering some of the other studies mentioned above.

6. Should cannabis be included in such a study to evaluate mortality rate in the first two years of life of “drug exposure?”  Or does cannabis skew the results?

Cannabis appears to seriously skew the results of the above study.  Clearly cannabis is starkly different than the other drug categories tested for, and while I wouldn’t throw cannabis out of the studies, I would certainly be looking at cannabis from a different perspective, inquiring about the potential BENEFITS for mothers.  Indeed, cannabis was used for centuries for morning sickness, cramping, and birthing pain – and with the above study in mind – it is definitely worth considering the potential benefits of cannabis in light of scientific advances and understanding.

]]> http://stash.norml.org/marijuana-consumption-by-pregnant-women-may-reduce-infant-mortality-more-study-needed/feed 3 http://stash.norml.org/democrats-make-crack-cocaine-sentencing-slightly-less-racist http://stash.norml.org/democrats-make-crack-cocaine-sentencing-slightly-less-racist#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:23:44 +0000 "Radical" Russ Belville http://stash.norml.org/?p=17912

Cocaine isn’t our bailiwick here at NORML and personally I have a no-white-powders rule. But one of the biggest glaring examples of the racism of the War on (Certain American Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugs is the Crack-Powder Cocaine Sentencing Disparity.

It works like this: if you’re caught with 5 grams of crack cocaine, you get the same mandatory minimum as someone caught with 500 grams of powder cocaine. Crack cocaine and powder cocaine, chemically speaking, are identical with respect to addictive potential and psychoactive effect.

The difference, of course, is that crack cocaine is used by urban poor black people and powder cocaine is used by suburban affluent white people. Generally speaking.

So Congress, controlled by huge Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate, is sending a bill to the Democratic president who campaigned on eliminating the crack/powder disparity. This bill will increased the trigger of a mandatory minimum for crack from 5 grams to 28 grams (an ounce).

Meaning that instead of a 500:5 disparity for white vs. black people’s cocaine, the disparity will now only be 500:28. For the math-impaired, that means that our cocaine sentencing laws will go from being 100 times more racist to blacks to being 18 times more racist to blacks.

I suppose I should be thrilled with any adjustment to mandatory minimums, but I have suffered one too many “compromises” by a huge Democratic majority and president I voted for who promised a whole lot of things I really believe in*, only to start negotiations in the middle, compromise to the right, and call it a victory for the left. (Funny, I don’t remember George W. Bush, with a barely-GOP majority, ever being stymied in pushing through Congress anything he wanted, except privatizing Social Security. And it was a Democratic Congress under Republican President Reagan who gave us this 500:5 mandatory minimum disparity in the first place!)

Chris Weigant at HuffPo nails how me and many others are feeling about this latest victory for bi-partisanship:

In true incrementalist fashion, Democrats have now made things slightly less unfair, but fell far short of actual fairness. It’s as if, right after the Civil War, Congress announced that black people would now count as four-fifths of a person, instead of the previous three-fifths — in other words, a step towards equality, but not exactly the giant leap of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. Which makes it rather hard to praise such an effort, even though it does represent (some) progress.

This is landmark legislation, I realize. Moving away from the “lock them all up” mentality, for politicians, is remarkable simply because it does not happen often (read: “ever”). Backing down on Draconian drug laws is not exactly atop the priorities list of many politicians, because the ads attacking them for doing so just about write themselves. So I do applaud Congress for addressing the issue (both houses have now passed the bill).

While Congress did not have the courage of their convictions to do so this time around, they did take a baby step in the right direction. This is momentous, because it is the first such step in this direction in three or four decades. But I still can’t help but wish that Congress had tackled the problem not in such an incrementalist political fashion, but rather as an issue of rank inequality to be rectified by removingall of the legally-codified unfairness at once — to restore the concept of equal treatment under the law, rather than perpetuating (if slightly lessening) the inherent injustice which still exists.

* For example…

Holding accountable the companies that spied on us without warrants.

Ending extraordinary rendition of prisoners for torture.

Closing Guantanamo Bay

Ending “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”

Allowing Medicare to negotiate in bulk for lower drug prices.

“I won’t sign any health care reform bill without a public option.”

Ending DEA raids on legal medical marijuana states

Supporting Main Street over Wall Street.

I was just hoping for a change more meaningful than “He’s better than Bush”. Shee-it, I’M better than Bush!

]]> http://stash.norml.org/democrats-make-crack-cocaine-sentencing-slightly-less-racist/feed 3 http://stash.norml.org/dr-drew-controversy-over-lindsay-lohan-comments-with-his-tweets-to-radical-russ http://stash.norml.org/dr-drew-controversy-over-lindsay-lohan-comments-with-his-tweets-to-radical-russ#comments Thu, 22 Apr 2010 04:57:10 +0000 "Radical" Russ Belville http://stash.norml.org/?p=16759

Dr. Drew Pinsky, the Celebrity Rehab / Loveline guy, is getting a lot of flack for his recent comments about Lindsay Lohan.  (If you’re reading this, doctor, you are welcome any time on our show to defend yourself live.)  You can imagine with my hectic 4/20-week travel schedule (2,000 miles in 6 days with LA this weekend) when I’m scanning headlines on the BlackBerry, my brain’s spam filters drop anything with “Lindsay Lohan” in the summary.

"Would you guys legalize hemp already? They're cutting down my cousins to make juice boxes, for Ent's sake!"

But as I’m riding shotgun with my wife driving us through the incredible Redwood National Park, I find the time to catch up on Twitter.  Scanning through the people I follow I find this plea:

@DannyDanko: RT @SSDP Tell @drdrew that Planting Drugs to Frame People is NOT Acceptable! Sign the petition on facebook:http://bit.ly/9xkF3x

What’s this?  Planting drugs to frame people?  What has Dr. Drew done now?  Alas, the coverage on wireless was too spotty for me to do real web surfing, but coming from Danny and SSDP, I figured I would re-tweet it.

I put my phone down to enjoy the scenery.  Soon it buzzed on my leg, which it does only when I’m getting a text message.  But when I pick it up, I find it’s not a text, but a direct message (DM for the g33ks) on Twitter… from Dr. Drew!

Dr. Drew: Please read before you pass judgment:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-drew-pinsky/if-i-were-lindsay-lohans_b_541648.html
7:20 PM Apr 17th

Now remember, at this point I hadn’t read the actual quote that has gotten him into trouble.  I’ve since found that it was an interview piece in RadarOnline (emphasis mine):

The board certified addiction specialist tells RadarOnline.com, “If she were my daughter, I would pack her car full with illegal substances, send her on her way, call the police, and make sure she was arrested. I would  make sure she was not allowed to get out of jail. I would then go to the judge and make sure she was ordered to a minimum of a three year sobriety program.”

Dr. Drew says it’s highly unlikely that Lindsay will recognize she has a problem and go to rehab of her own accord, “I would say it’s less than a 1% chance of her making the decision to go to rehab. I have said this many times before, I believe that Lindsay will make a wonderful sober person, someday, if she survives this. I absolutely wish no harm to her, but I just have a feeling that something awful is going to happen to her, like she is going to lose a limb. I hope Lindsay gets help before something terrible happens.”

I always knew that kid on the left would end up being a bad influence on that kid on the right.

I have a feeling something awful is going to happen to Lindsay, too, like somebody might pack her car full of illegal drugs in an effort to frame her for enough felonies to force her into rehab.  (Lose a limb?  Really?  Like all the now-one-armed coke-addled starlets of the past?)  First off, I like knowing that at any time, Dr. Drew can get his hands on felony amounts of illegal drugs.  Even better that he has the power to “go to the judge and make sure” he gives her the appropriate sentence of three years of rehab.

One of those times and places when slow download speeds are welcome

But I hadn’t read this yet; I was just getting a direct message from Dr. Drew.  I figured he was just watching his “mentions” on Twitter and auto-sending this to anyone who was propagating the Facebook petition.  I clicked the link anyway and waited the very long time Huffington Post took to download as we cruised down US 101.

If I Were Lindsay Lohan’s Father I Would Go to Any Lengths to Get Her Into Treatment

Addiction is a deadly disease. It is a brain disease that alters the brain’s fundamental motivational drives such that thoughts, judgment and volition become severely distorted and actually serve the abnormal motivational priority of getting and using more drugs. Untreated severe addiction is more likely to kill a patient suffering with the condition than most cancers. Treated Breast Cancers, Prostate Cancer, most Lymphomas, and the vast majority of skin cancers, have a better prognosis than a treated addict. And yet addiction is the only disease I have to convince a patient that they have and more importantly convince the patient that without treatment his or her life is in danger.

Do not let this man anywhere near the trunk of your car!

…I spend my days trying to resurrect lives that have been devastated by this disease, devastation that might have been avoided had someone been sufficiently clear to have gone to the mat for this patient when they were younger and earlier in their disease. Family members have to be willing to go to any lengths and unfortunately this often means bringing about circumstances that restrict that individual’s freedom.

…[W]hen I was asked as a father, if I were in Michael Lohan’s position, what would I do to help my daughter, I am clear that I would go to any lengths to get her to and retain her in treatment. Bringing legal consequences to bear is often the only alternative. It would kill me but I would do it. Perhaps I surrendered my equanimity to a flight of journalistic excess by even suggesting that he plant drugs. But if I was in his position and I knew she was addicted (which I personally do not) and all else had failed, I suspect I would contemplate even this as a last resort.

Let me be clear I am not suggesting this as a routine intervention but we frequently enlist law enforcement when we have exhausted other measures. To those of you who reacted in outrage when I made this suggestion, I will remind you that millions of you watched the first season of Sober House when as difficult as it was for her, the house manager, Jennifer Gimenez, summoned police to contain Steven Adler. We then advocated for long-term treatment as an alternative to imprisonment; an enlightened judge granted this, and today as a result Steven is sober and thriving. Were it not for this intervention, as miserable as it was for Steven, I believe he would have soon succumbed to his addiction.

"Lindsay, dear, I think you still have a little bit of powder on your boob..."

The first of many thoughts to come to mind when reading this is if the prognosis for treated addicts is so poor, what’s the motivation to frame them to force them to choose prison or rehab?  The second was that if you have to convince someone they have a problem with drugs, what you’re really saying is you think they have a problem with drugs and they don’t.  The third was that people die from preventable and treatable diseases all the time; we can’t convince them all to get help.  What’s next, chasing around fat people with pitchforks to force them to jog for their own good?  Many more people die from gluttony and sloth than die from addiction and overdose.

Of course, that’s way more than 140 characters for Twitter.  I tried DMing back to Dr. Drew, but he doesn’t follow me so I can’t.  So my only option was to blast my tweet out to the entire Twitterverse as an “@reply” to @DrDrew:

RadicalRuss: OK @drdrew I read it. Judgment: using jail threat to bring you more clients is still wrong. Even if disease, it’s no crime. I’m ACoA, BTW.
7:35 PM Apr 17th via UberTwitter

Much to my surprise, I get a response, again by DM, from Dr. Drew.  Maybe that first one wasn’t an automated reply.  He really is reading my tweets!

Dr. Drew: That’s cool and I have no issue with NORML’s position but as you see using the law helps me for those in dire straights
7:38 PM Apr 17th

Dr. Drew: Or straits that is
7:44 PM Apr 17th

Jeff & Marci Beagley were for convicted of criminally negligent homicide for not getting medical treatment for their 16-year-old son's urinary tract blockage. (Click for source)

So, we’re framing people for their own good?  We’re forcing people to get treatment for their diseases?  Diseased or not, the addict is still a person who is an adult citizen free to make hiser own choices.  For example, suppose Lindsay Lohan decides to leave Hollywood for Oregon City and becomes a Follower of Christ, a fundamentalist Christian sect that believes only in faith healing, no medicines and no doctors.  (There was a high-profile conviction of such a couple in Oregon City for allowing their child to die from an easily treatable condition.  My wife comes from that religion and knew those people personally.)  Suppose she contracts pneumonia and would certainly survive with the most routine medical care, but she steadfastly refuses to go and instead kneels and prays.  Does Dr. Drew then go to any extreme means necessary to force antibiotics into her system against her wishes?  If not, then why does he allow her to choose a religion that will likely kill her, but not a lifestyle that will likely kill her?

But again, too much for Twitter, so I sent this:

RadicalRuss: Also @drdrew you can’t guarantee “enlightened judge” 4 the non-Steven Adlers. Most you’d plant drugs on would get prison (aka “lousy rehab”)
7:48 PM Apr 17th via UberTwitter

Surprisingly, Dr. Drew kept responding:

Dr. Drew: You’d be surprised we get mandated treatment all the time.BTW be clear I am not interested in bumming anyone’s high.
7:50 PM Apr 17th

"The way pot is horticulturally cultivated these days, it clearly has a very powerful opioid effect and very hard to treat." (Click for source)

Where’d that come from?  ”Bumming anyone’s high”?  It’s nice to know Dr. Drew is compassionate about harshing my mellow.  And no, I’m not surprised at all that you get mandated treatment all the time, when the latest Treatment Episode Data Set shows 37.5% of all admissions to rehab for drugs are criminal justice referrals (and 56.9% of all marijuana users in rehab were forced there by a court.)

In response to Dr. Drew’s “using the law helps me” tweet, I sent:

@drdrew Sure it helps, and so would a gun to their head. “Go to rehab, now!” Framing people for their own good is still wrong.
8:25 PM Apr 17th via UberTwitter

I must have touched a nerve, because then Dr. Drew had to pull the “What About the Children!?!” card, the last refuge of the prohibitionist:

Dr. Drew: Are you a father?
8:26 PM Apr 17th

"You heard me, Lindsay. Get yourself into Celebrity Rehab now!"

Ah, yes, I couldn’t possibly understand because I haven’t reproduced.  I can appreciate how a father’s love for his daughter might compel him to do some pretty radical shit, like maybe killing her rapist, or maybe kidnapping and roughing up her pimp, or even maybe planting drugs in her car and narcing her off to the po-po.  How he feels about the harms done to her by herself or others does not legitimize the commission of other crimes in response.

RadicalRuss: @drdrew No I am not a father but my dad was an addict. Him in prison would’ve ruined my life. He CHOSE rehab!
8:44 PM Apr 17th via UberTwitter

Actual story from my hometown paper, The Idaho Statesman, about my dad graduating from college (click for full size)

I’m not ignorant of the whole Twelve Step drug rehab addiction disease modes of thought.  I’m an Adult Child of Alcoholic/Addict (ACoA, they call us) and read many textbooks and attended many groups as my father went through medical detox, 30-day inpatient rehab, and then returned to college at age 40, became president of the Student Social Workers, and got his degree and became a drug and alcohol counselor himself.

Dr. Drew: what if his disease was such that he could not choose and he died and someone could have gotten him in but didn’t
8:51 PM Apr 17th

Exchange the word “gotten” with “forced” and it’s closer to what you mean.  I know that an addict becomes crazy as drugs take over their life.  But if someone has become so insane that they are likely to be self-injurious, we have laws that cover declaring them mentally unstable and mandating forced in-patient treatment in a secure facility (I used to work in one such psychiatric hospital processing that very type of paperwork.)  That doesn’t entail framing them for felonies that will remain on their record and affect their entire life, sober or high.

RadicalRuss: @drdrew It was. He was speed/booze addict on bridge about to suicide when I was 12. Sad if he’d died, but prison wouldn’t have helped.
9:05 PM Apr 17th via UberTwitter

And that was the end of our Twitter conversation, as Dr. Drew hasn’t replied since.  To this day, I would have preferred my dad to jump off that bridge rather than be forced into rehab.  He’d actually been forced, a couple of times, in response to DUIs he’d racked up and cars he had rolled, and those coerced treatment sessions did nothing.

The old joke goes: “How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?  One, but the light bulb has to want to change.”  I actually believe in drug treatment – it saved my dad’s life – but I believe even more that taking drugs or being a drug addict is not a crime.  People have a right to make their own decisions, even bad ones.

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