Driving home tonight, the radio was on a station I don’t normally listen to and the Dr. Drew show was on.  He got a call from a young man, age 23, about to graduate college and become a teacher.  The man admits to smoking marijuana daily since about age 16.  Man wants to know how long he needs to stop smoking pot in order to pass his drug test to become a teacher.  Dr. Drew tells him two months, tells him he is a marijuana “addict”, responds that there is no such thing as “psychological addiction”, says every marijuana “addict” he treats in California has their medical marijuana card (well, duh, who wants to be arrested?), tells the young man that the marijuana “addiction” has put him in denial and led to “drug motivational” thinking because the young man admitted he only wanted to know how long to stop smoking so he could pass and then start smoking again after he became a teacher.

The problem I have with the Dr. Drew show I heard is this reflexive labeling of someone who uses marijuana daily as an “addict”.  This young man sounds like he’s doing OK.  He’s graduating college at age 23, just about right on time.  He’s becoming a teacher.  If he was drinking a beer every day, would he be an alcoholic?  Would his promise to drink beer after he became a teacher be an example of “alcoholic motivational thinking?”  The only problem he has is the illegality of marijuana and the idiocy of collecting people’s urine to judge their fitness for teaching children.

Some people have an unhealthy relationship with cannabis.  According to NIDA, about 9% of users can develop marijuana dependence.  All I ask is that Dr. Drew make it clear that 91% of us are not dependent, we just like to use cannabis!  Like Hunter S. Thompson said, it’s like beer, ice, and grapefruit – you could live your life without it, but why?

To be fair, Dr. Drew also says that if you want to smoke pot, go ahead, he doesn’t want to stop anyone, but if you want to stop and want help he can help you.  (For a hefty fee, of course, though I think he failed to mention that.)    I think he’s probably not in favor of arresting and imprisoning pot smokers.  But when all you’ve got is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail – he’s a drug counselor who sees only the most desperately addicted day after day, so every pot smoker looks like a future client to him.

Read the rest of this entry by clicking here

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UPDATE:  Whoops!  Ran out too fast and messed up the links.  Player and download link fixed now. — “R”R

Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2008-09-17

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Today’s Stash features a Cannabis Science conversation with Dr. Mitch Earleywine regarding the latest claim about adolescent marijuana use and increased risk of schizophrenia.  Then you get Part 2 of Paul Armentano’s interview on the Dr. Drew Pinsky radio show.

I’ve gotta run – I’m hosting Oregon NORML’s first ever Cannabis Cinema Night for registered medical marijuana patients!

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Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2008-09-16

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You get to hear lots of voices on today’s Stash.  First you get audio from the Dr. Drew radio show, with our own Paul Armentano joining Dr. Drew and Bob Forrest to discuss the FBI’s announcement of the fifth straight all-time record number of marijuana arrests in America.

Then I’ve got audio from the Hemposium at Portland Hempstalk.  NORML Legal Committee attorney John Lucy IV, Oregon NORML Legal Counsel Paul Loney, and NORML Founder and Legal Counsel Keith Stroup took audience questions on marijuana and DUI laws.

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Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2008-08-05

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Today we get to visit with Darrel Rogers from Schools Not Prisons PAC, an organization dedicated to electorally slaying the biggest Drug War dragon in the House, Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN).

Then comedian Rob Cantrell (Last Comic Standing) visits with a preview of his show this Thursday in Washington DC with reggae artistrs Lionize.

Plus a couple of snippets from Paul Armentano’s interview on the Dr. Drew Pinsky radio show and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) on FOX News in support of HR5843.

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You can download and listen to the entire Dr. Drew show from yesterday by visiting this site. The Drug Czar, John Walters, appears in the second segment, Paul Armentano in the third segment, and my call is the second call in the fourth segment.

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I have the entire interview from the Dr. Drew show recorded, including John Walters, Paul Armentano, and my call-in segment. Unfortunately I can’t put it here on the Stash, that would be copyright violation.

But I am going to address most of the interview points that the Drug Czar tried to float today… Join me below… in The Rest of the Entry (said in Paul Harvey voice)…

Read the rest of this entry by clicking here

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Listen in at http://www.1260.am/programming/listen/ – Paul is discussing the ONDCP potency report right after John Walters, the Drug Czar.

[12:26] Drug Czar has spit out like five drug war lies in a row. Wow. Dr. Drew is so on his side, too. Sad.

[12:27] “This marijuana is different than the old weed.” Hardest problem is getting past people’s misperceptions – that is, they’ve used it, liked it, and not had problems.

[12:28] Dr. Drew – “I treat multi-drug users and the one they say they miss the most is marijuana – it creates a ‘love’ feeling – they love it.”

Commercial break – Paul’s on next…

Walters touted the “more emergency room visits for pot” line, the “pot dealers aren’t funny friendly guys like Cheech & Chong, drug war in Mexico, assassins…” line, the “more teens in treatment for pot” line… it’ll be like tee-ball for Paul… if Dr. Drew will let him speak.

C’mon, Dr. Drew, don’t be the type of pro-drug-war interviewer I am dreading you’re going to be…

Oh, and what is with Drew talking about marijuana acting more like an opiate?

[12:34] Local break… Paul’s up in a minute…

Paul will be nicer than I would be. I’d note the “kids in treatment” and say, “yeah, because courts sentence them there so guys like you can have a job.”

[12:36] Paul’s on – what about your organization, what’s your goal?

[12:36] Paul: Adults should be able to use small amounts of marijuana for personal use and not go to jail.

[12:37] Drew: Prohibition attempts in the past haven’t worked? Paul: Clear prohibition has led to adverse unintended consequences.

[12:38] Paul: Raise in potency is a prohibition problem.

[12:38] Drew: Why do we cling to idea of good drugs / bad drugs? Paul: We need to talk about relationship with drugs, not the substance per se.

[12:39] Paul: Define USE vs. ABUSE. ONDCP defines all use as ABUSE, not the case for the majority of Americans.

[12:40] Drew: I agree the relationship is unhealthy, not the drug. Morphine and Oxycontin are good in some situations. Paul – maybe we’re Puritanical.

[12:41] Paul: Drug ads all over TV, but other drugs like marijuana so dangerous we can’t even study the therapeutic effects of the drug. Based not on science, but on the stigmatizing of the user.

[12:42] Drew: Problem with research, CB2 receptors… seems like research logjam opened up, you doing anything? Paul: “Emerging Clinical Applications for Cannabinoids”

Paul didn’t get to hear Walters’ segment. I’m psychically screaming, “get to the potency!!!”

[12:43] Drew: the anti-obesity drug that blocks cannabinoid receptors… Paul: list of bad results and trials in England…

Argh, getting too far into the weeds… get to the potency!

Nope. Not going to get there. Drat.

I’m Drew’s first call-in guest! Stay tuned!

[12:56] OK, I was the second call… and THAT WAS FUN!

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Dr. Drew Pinsky, noted celebrity rehab guru, hosts a talk radio show on the Westwood One radio network. Today he’s going to be talking about the ONDCP’s report on record pot potency. His guests will be the drug czar, John Walters, and to rebut his reefer madness, our own NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano.

The show begins in one hour (Noon Pacific / 3pm Eastern) on Westwood One affiliate near you. Or to listen to the live internet stream, go to http://www.1260.am/programming/listen/

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