Marijuana Misinformation: It Started With Reefer Madness

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - I first wrote about this subject a year ago about Dr. Andrea Barthwell, the attack Pit Bull for former Drug Czar John Walters who didn’t have one good word for medical marijuana, but she was working for the Sativex Company which makes medicine from, guess what, marijuana!

For anyone with a lick of sense, the movie Reefer Madness was the funniest, most grotesque movie ever produced by bad actors pimping a very bad script but it has probably been seen by millions of extremely gullible viewers who believed it.

It also sold the Hearst newspaper syndicate a lot of papers and made Hearst a multi-millionaire. Get a look at his California castle (San Simeon).

I think all the lies and misinformation started with him big time! But I did write a story about that 2 years ago in Salem-News.com. The big lie was that it was only used by Blacks and Hispanics so they could play music, rape and murder.

This crap is continuing today. In the past two weeks three stories have appeared. Sanjay Gupta had a TV show about drug addiction. His first addicting drug was marijuana. He is an M.D. Neurologist and his parents come from India where 3000 years ago cannabis first started as a medicine.

People keep using it because it works not because they are addicts. Actually it is less addicting than Starbucks lattes, aspirin or Tylenol and a lot safer.

The next example was medical writer Dr. Dean Edell with the title, Is Marijuana Shifting His Sex Life Into Low Gear written in Feb 2000.

He is correct that useful research has be “forced underground”. He says it depresses libido (sex drive). He tells the inquirer to have her boyfriend stop using it for his ADHD for 2 or 3 days and “see what happens”.

Dr. Dean, THC stays in the body for up to 4 weeks. This couple does have a problem. I don’t think she would like him on full bore ADHD. Maybe affection and understanding would help.

Many PTSD Vets are given heavy doses of anti-depressant drugs which really cause impotence. Many have shifted to cannabis which they have found is at least a passive aphrodisiac.

The last story is by Amy Dickinson who took over for Ann Landers who if I remember was neutral or sympathetic to medical marijuana users? Amy quotes a “boyfriend” who says he is a (MJ) addict and has been for 5 years. He is 19 now. Amy says his life depends on his quitting. He is not an addict.

He must have some underlying medical problem which is stabilized by using MJ. Marijuana is according to DEA Administrative Judge Francis Young “the safest drug ever found by man”. Millions of patients use it legally OR illegally for medical purposes.

IF Amy were writing about aspirin, Tylenol or expresso coffee, I would agree with her but the movie Reefer Madness was pure fiction and her comments are a disservice to the about 400 thousand legal medical marijuana users in this country.

The U.S. Gov’t says that about 10 million are using it on a daily basis with no adverse effects.

To the above writers Gupta, Edell and Dickinson I say get yourself educated, cannabis medicines are the drugs of the past and future.

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Salem-News.com Marijuana Coverage

Where and How to Smoke Legal Marijuana without Fear of Arrest in the U.S.

Eulogy of a Great Warrior: Hoss Plourde

The Ripple Effect How Marijuana Laws Are Impacting Society

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Dr. Dean Edell May 3, 2009 9:34 am (Pacific time)

Barry Cooper, an ex top-cop from the frontlines of the Drug War in Texas, talks about his previous DVD 'Never Get Busted Again!" and the next DVD coming out this fall. He explains why prohibition is a major failure and answers a question about Marc Emery facing extradition.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-WPhkkPkEM

Mark Montgomery April 28, 2009 3:04 am (Pacific time)

Pot should be legal. Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001 and their experience has been positive. Now if you are caught with a 10 day supply of your drug or less you face an administrative court, not a criminal court. We can do that here in the USA. A group of 20,000 very serious policemen, prosecutors and attorneys have formed a group to legalize ALL drugs, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (http://leap.cc ) They see what happened when we legalized alcohol in 1932 as a good example of how drug legalization would work. We can't stop drugs. They're sick of chasing drug users and sending innocent people to prison for decades just because they like to get high. This foolish war on drugs has lasted 37 years and cost us over a TRILLION dollars and we are not an inch closer to stopping drugs. How many millions of Americans are we going to lock up in prison for decades? Legalize ALL drugs now. Mark Montgomery boboberg@nyc.rr.com

MusicSlave April 27, 2009 3:46 pm (Pacific time)

I agree that coffee is way worse than marijuna. I worked at Cracker Barrel when I was 17. People would be really ill until they got there coffee. Crazy is the word for it not ill.lol I am not a coffee drinker so i would not understand. Check out this new song I found about smoking marijuna Travis and Warren G www.zshare.net/audio/58900122c68c4174/

Henry Ruark April 27, 2009 9:17 am (Pacific time)

To all: Here you have one more solid proof of what we've been pointing out on S-N for a long time...misinformation, facts distorted/perverted for malign purpose ($$$$-power !) re what Dr. L. knows to be powerful, safe medicine --made to seem like maddening, mischievous, and somehow damaging wild drug demanding police power for close control. With such proof of reality re this benign medical plant, most rational, reasonable persons reading will also now accept fact of misinformation and distorted/perverted facts pushed off on many other major topics, as pointed out here in Op Eds, for the same reasons: $$$$$$ and power.

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Marijuana Misinformation: It Started With Reefer Madness

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