Marijauna: The Myths Are Killing US (Govt. propaganda)

[Jesus Saves]

"APR 26--When 14-year-old Irma Perez of Belmont, California, took a single ecstasy pill one evening last April, she had no idea she would become one of the 26,000 people who die every year from drugs.1 Irma took ecstasy with two of her 14-year-old friends in her home. Soon after taking the tiny blue pill, Irma complained of feeling awful and said she felt like she was "going to die." Instead of seeking medical care, her friends called the 17-year-old dealer who supplied the pills and asked for advice. The friends tried to get Irma to smoke marijuana, but when she couldn't because she was vomiting and lapsing into a coma, they stuffed marijuana leaves into her mouth because, according to news sources, "they knew that drug is sometimes used to treat cancer patients."2

Irma Perez died from taking ecstasy, but compounding that tragedy was the deadly decision to use marijuana to "treat" her instead of making what could have been a lifesaving call to 911. Irma was a victim of our society's stunning misinformation about marijuana-a society that has come to believe that marijuana use is not only an individual's free choice but also is good medicine, a cure-all for a variety of ills. A recent poll showed that nearly three-fourths of Americans over the age of 45 support legalizing marijuana for medical use.3

It's a belief that has filtered down to many of our teens, if what I'm hearing during my visits with middle school and high school students across the country is true. I'm amazed at how well versed in drug legalization these teens are. It is as if legalization advocates stood outside their schools handing out their leaflets of lies."

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr042605.html

In the interests of full disclosure I found this while checking out FR just now. Interestingly, a good number of freepers are making fun of it. Just when you think freepers are the pure scum of the earth they do something that surprises you. I guess there are just different kinds of freeps.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1391936/posts

[merwin]

1. Barf. How many people do you know who actually think that pot will

cure you from an overdose/bad dose of another drug?

[Jesus Saves]

2. none, absolutely none

just stuffing mj leaves in her mouth? give me a break.

[Demonaut]

37. remember the woman who used petrol on a childs head to remove lice

BAN GASOLINE! what idiots!

[libertypirate]

3. Only the morons!

[Ariana Celeste]

12. None that I know of.

However many users I know would reccomend smoking a little pot to calm someone down. New users do have a tendency to get a little freaked out.

People who die taking X usually die from dehydration. Any responsible user knows to drink water, drink some more water, and just keep themselves continuously hydrated.

[politicaholic]

4. Oh man, it's the same old crap....

Use one isolated incident to cast a bad light on a whole subject. Just like Ronald Reagan's fabricated Chicago welfare queen story that he used to try to derail welfare.

That's just bad journalism

[merwin]

9. It's not journalism. It's a govt press release.

[yella_dawg]

5. Reefer Madness is alive and well.

God, that is so insane.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. You would be amazed

at how many freepers and rednecks like to toke up.

[Ariana Celeste]

15. Users come from all backgrounds.

Political, religious, whatever affiliation means nothing to a person who likes to get high.

Shit the first meth addicts I ever met were Bush supporters. I've met an equal amount who are Dem supporters.

[slackmaster]

23. That's because a lot of people you think of as freeps are libertarians

Rather than Republicans. (I do not mean members of the Libertarian Party.)

I get accused of being a freeper often, simply because I value the right to keep and bear arms as a basic freedom. ONE issue!

I am very strongly pro-legalization for cannabis, for exactly the same reason I opposed the defunct federal "assault weapons" ban, and have always opposed restrictions on abortion.

[DoYouEverWonder]

27. I live in North Florida

and we have plenty of freepers and libertarians, and except for the born agains, most of the freepers smoke too. There's a lot of pot growing out in them there woods.

[Digit]

7. This story sounds like pure fabrication n/t

[merwin]

8. I HATE how they say that it is a gateway drug.

One could say that since most murderers have watched tv throughout their lives, TV is a gateway to murder. Rarely do you meet a murderer who has not watched TV.

[Ariana Celeste]

16. Propaganda opens the gateway,

not pot. SO yeah, I hate it too.

This is what has happened with most users I've met- they all took DARE in school. DARE preaches the evils of drugs, as we all know.
So they try pot and find out, hey, it's not bad at all. Then they wonder if maybe the other drugs aren't so bad.

It isn't pot- it's the lies and exaggerations taught in school and on TV.

[LdyGuique]

10. We have more people in prison than any other country in the

world. Nearly half of them are in there on "victimless" crimes, mainly drug use in some form. Because of overflowing prisons, many prisoners were being plea-bargained and/or released early -- many who had committed victim-based crimes. So, they passed laws with mandatory sentences, and the infamous "3 strikes and you're out."

Congress just passed a law of "5 years for one joint." -- It's possible to get a life sentence for three joints.

We stopped all rehabilitation and education programs in prisons long ago. So, we're releasing progressively more institutionalized and non-rehabbed prisoners every year. We have so many sex offenders that none of our states can keep track of them.

We are dropping housing, health care, and education benefits for the poor -- but we have plenty of money to build more and more prisons for people smoking dope.

It IS an insane world we live in.

[Occulus]

25. Beg pardon?

"Congress just passed a law of "5 years for one joint."

Link it. Please.

[LdyGuique]

28. here's the bill's link (with full language)

OK -- it's not passed yet -- just introduced:

H. R. 1528 To amend the Controlled Substances Act to protect vulnerable persons from drug trafficking, and for other purposes

[Ariana Celeste]

29. This is what I found on the subject-

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/010374.html



Plus, I got the following email from the Indiana Chapter of NORML:

Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) has a letter writing campaign going to oppose proposed mandatory minimum sentencing that would include a possible five year sentence for passing a joint to another person.

Please follow the link and send a message!

Skywolf.

> -----Original Message-----
>
> TO: Supporters of marijuana policy reform
>
> FROM: Steve Fox, MPP director of government relations
>
> DATE: Thursday, April 14, 2005
>
> SUBJECT: Urge your U.S. representative and two U.S. senators to oppose
> harsh new mandatory minimum sentences
>
> =============================================================
>
> Your immediate help is needed to defeat harsh new mandatory minimum
> sentences for nonviolent drug offenses.
>
> The U.S. House Judiciary Committee will soon consider a bill that
> would create draconian mandatory minimum sentences for a variety of
> nonviolent drug offenses, including marijuana. If this bill becomes
> law, anyone convicted in federal court of the crime of "enticing"
> someone "who has previously been enrolled in a drug treatment program"
> to "possess" marijuana will receive a five-year mandatory minimum
> sentence.
>
> That's right: Passing a joint to someone who used to be in drug
> treatment will land you in federal prison for a minimum of five years.
>
> Please visit http://www.mpp.org/MM to e-mail your U.S. representative
> and two U.S. senators today. It only takes a minute to send one of our
> pre-written e-mails urging them to stop this bill in its tracks.
>
> In addition to the shocking joint-passing provision described above,
> the bill would also create a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for a
> first-time conviction of distributing a small amount of marijuana to a
> person under 18 years of age ... and a 10-year sentence for a second
> offense of distributing marijuana to a person under 21. By comparison,
> the average time served by convicted rapists in this country is about
> seven years.
>
> MPP does not condone the distribution of marijuana to minors, nor do
> we advocate the use of marijuana by people recovering from substance
> abuse problems. But we do believe that judges should have the
> discretion to determine whether or not offenders in these
> circumstances deserve to be imprisoned for sentences as long as five
> or 10 years. If these mandatory minimum sentences are enacted, judges'
> hands will be tied.
>
> This bill has traction because it also contains a section that serves
> as the House Republican leadership's response to a recent U.S. Supreme
> Court ruling that made the Federal Sentencing Guidelines advisory,
> rather than mandatory.* The Republican leadership is highly motivated
> to pass this bill -- and with it, the harsh new penalties related to
> marijuana.
>
> The "Defending America's Most Vulnerable: Safe Access to Drug
> Treatment and Child Protection Act of 2005" (H.R. 1528) was introduced
> by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) on
> April 6, and it has already passed out of the House Judiciary
> Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.
>
> The bill will now be debated and voted on by the full House Judiciary
> Committee and -- if the committee passes the bill -- the full House
> will then vote on it.
>
> Please visit http://www.mpp.org/MM to e-mail to your members of
> Congress today. Thank you.
>
> * Visit http://www.mpp.org/booker for more information about the
> recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on mandatory minimums.

[Bob3]

11. Has anybody checked the Urban legend sites

about this story - I mean for god's sakes nobody in real life acts like this - even when stoned.

And the tone reminds me of the stories that nuns used to tell little kids. Insane and fear filled.

[rebel_yell]

13. reminds me of a Bill Hicks rant

about pot.

Transcript of argument with guys on pot:

Guy 1: Hey buddy!!
guy 2: Hey what

.....End of argument

[sweetheart]

14. The myth of the hidden majority

In reality, there is no majority against marijuana legallization, and
were drugs legal, this young lady would not have died to start with.

So rather than blame the assholes who keep it illegal, they blame the
drug. This is sorta like blaming the bullet for a murder. The reality
is that the people behind the drugs war, the police, the congress and
the lobbiests, are accessories to negligent homicide, 1000's of them,
and they should be tried for murder.

The criminals are in congress, and dammit, i hope somebody stuffs some
cannabis stalks, big huge ones, up their collective behinds as murdering
the citizens of this great country is NOT what they are paid to do.

grrrrrrr...

[tridim]

17. Well that's the most BS I've read in a long time

I'm sure the kids had lots of MJ leaves just laying around to shove down her throat (and probably choke her). For the non-smokers here, you don't smoke the leaves, you smoke the buds. The only people who have MJ leaves laying around are growers. This "story" is BS from beginning to end.

[Nikia]

18. What if they had given her something else?

Like an over the counter drug or perhaps a non psychoactive prescription drug that one of them happened to have.
What if the drug that she had oversdosed on had been alcohol?
I am sure that there have been teenagers who died from ingesting too much alcohol and taken medicine to try to recover instead of going to the ER. No one is going to condemn asprin, tylenol, pepto bismol, or mylanta for their role in a drunk teens death. They might not even condemn Xanax.

[Ariana Celeste]

19. Of course not!

Those are *legal* so they *must* be safe, right? Right?

You make a good point, man.

[e75]

21. legalize all drugs

what is the purpose of posting state manufactured propaganda such as this? Is the argument that if a medicine is used incorrectly once, it should be banned? So if I give someone aspirin to cure cancer and it doesn't work we should ban aspirin?

I agree that DARE is the problem. When I found they lied to us about marijuana, my group of friends figured they were lying about all drugs and we tried them all. Some of us didn't make it through that ok though.

[Ezlivin]

20. Pssst. I've got a story for you...

Why not this story instead?

APR 26--When 14-year-old Irma Perez of Belmont, California, took a ride with some friends one evening last April, she had no idea she would become one of the 50,000+ people who die every year from automobile accidents.¹ Irma took a ride with two of her 14-year-old friends and a 16-year old driver who, like most teens, used gallons of gasoline each week. Soon after taking the back seat, Irma complained of having to wear a seatbelt and said she felt like she was "going to barf." Instead of encouraging her to buckle up, her friends kept driving. Going too fast into a sharp curve, the car slammed into a barrier, then flipped four times before coming to stop on the roof. The girls in the front seat were ejected through the windshield and crushed during the accident, killing both. In the back seat, Irma's friend had broken her neck and was slowly asphyxiating. Irma had been partially ejected, her body torn in two.

Gasoline kills over 50,000 people each year. Isn't it time we got our kids off of gas?

[arcos]

22. That was probably NOT ecstasy...

There have been very few cases of people dying because of ectasy... the dealer probably gave them something else, or a pill that contained other drugs too.

Unless you have a heart condition or take several pills, it is unlikely you will die by taking ecstasy. Sure, there is not much information about long term effects so you are gambling... but dying by taking a pill is unlikely.

[goodboy]

26. very few indeed. I've yet to find a case where it's been found that

MDMA, and only MDMA caused death in anyone.

Maybe it was mixed with something else, maybe it wasn't MDMA at all, in which case, pill testing kits should be made available.


<>
http://dancesafe.org/

[BBradley]

33. Most of the MDMA deaths are a result of dehydration or an H20 overdose.

In the first case it's usually people dancing for hours without any water intake, and the in the second it's the bad advice(drink lots and lots of water)that stemmed from the dehydration deaths.

MDMA is pretty safe in moderation.

[goodboy]

24. well, they're using E to treat soldiers for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

American soldiers traumatised by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be offered the drug ecstasy to help free them of flashbacks and recurring nightmares.

The US food and drug administration has given the go-ahead for the soldiers to be included in an experiment to see if MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, can treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

Scientists behind the trial in South Carolina think the feelings of emotional closeness reported by those taking the drug could help the soldiers talk about their experiences to therapists. Several victims of rape and sexual abuse with post-traumatic stress disorder, for whom existing treatments are ineffective, have been given MDMA since the research began last year.

http://mdma.net/therapy/military.html

[mcscajun]

30. And when we finally come to our collective senses and Legalize MJ

The kids might actually believe us when we talk about other drugs, we can get some straight talk out there about the other drugs, and we'll remove the dealers from the equation.

[BBradley]

34. We can just legalize all drugs and get the dealers off the street faster.

n/t

[walldude]

38. And therin lies the problem

They talk so much shit about pot, that when you finally do try it, it makes you wonder what else they have been lying about. Not only can we eliminate the street dealer but I bet alot of farms could be saved with a cash crop like pot...

[firefox]

31. 2919 words and no "prohibition"

Tandy is a professional liar and it is the taxpayers money that steers the ship in the wrong direction. Tandy can go on and on with her twisted logic, half-truths, outright lies, and meaningless sidetracks.

There is a belief by government that if cannabis can be demonized as being harmful (even the smallest harm justifies a horrid prohibition in the fascist police state whores)it justifies robbing people of their dignity, mass forcing whiz quizzes that can result in a loss of job and career, seizing property without a trial for something that should be legal, cutting scholarships, revoking drivers licenses with any conviction, denying travel to foreign countries, and inflicting a criminal conviction that has far-reaching consequences.

Tandy acts like laughing grass killed somebody when it was the criminal consequences of prohibition that halted the call for help. It is prohibition that demands silence only to be interrupted by some demonization that is not even honest and stops the flow of useful information so people can make decisions based on facts. It is prohibition and its drug test that pushes people from a benign cannabis to hard stuff that kills and maims like paint and huffing materials and alcohol which is the poor decision in relation to cannabis.

But Tandy did not use the word "prohibition" where the harm is or tell the "children" the truth of MiraclePlant. Cannabis use is primarily an activity. It enhances music, eating, conversation, gaming on the computer, and sex. When brain cell A talks to brain cell B, brain cell B will tell Brain cell A to tone it down. It calls on the brain to chill and there is nothing like cannabis to end rage or settle emotions to allow a good nights sleep. Stress kills and cannabis kills stress.

Tandy is a whoring liar and the criminals are in government with her. The CIA is the biggest drug dealer on the planet and it seems that should fit into what the head of the DEA should be addressing.

[hootinholler]

32. Faster! Mary, Faster! Play Faster!

BWAAHAHAHAH!

-Hoot

[OneBlueSky]

35. the whole premise of this story is just absurd . . .

and this is what our government is putting out? . . . no wonder everyone thinks they're full of shit . . . they are! . . .

[K-W]

36. What a completely rediculous anecdote. EOM