The Mainstream Media's 5 Favorite Marijuana Myths
Writing in the journal Science nearly four decades ago, New York State University sociologist Erich Goode documented the media's complicity in maintaining cannabis prohibition.
He observed: "[T]ests and experiments purporting to demonstrate the ravages of marijuana consumption receive enormous attention from the media, and their findings become accepted as fact by the public. But when careful refutations of such research are published, or when later findings contradict the original pathological findings, they tend to be ignored or dismissed."
A glimpse of today's mainstream media landscape indicates that little has changed -- with news outlets continuing to, at best, underreport the publication of scientific studies that undermine the federal government's longstanding pot propaganda and, at worst, ignore them all together.
Here are five recent stories the mainstream media doesn't want you to know about pot:
1. Marijuana Use Is Not Associated With a Rise in Incidences of Schizophrenia
Over the past few years, the worldwide media, as well as federal officials in the United Kingdom, Canada and the U.S. have earnestly promoted the notion that smoking pot induces mental illness.
Perhaps most notably, in 2007 the MSM reported that cannabis "could boost the risk of developing a psychotic illness later in life by about 40 percent" -- a talking point that was also actively promoted by U.S. anti-drug officials. So, is there any truth to the claim that pot smoking is sparking a dramatic rise in mental illness? Not at all, according to the findings of a study published in July in the journal Schizophrenia Research.
Investigators at the Keele University Medical School in Britain compared trends in marijuana use and incidences of schizophrenia in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2005. Researchers reported that the "incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia and psychoses were either stable or declining" during this period, even the use of cannabis among the general population was rising.
"[T]he expected rise in diagnoses of schizophrenia and psychoses did not occur over a 10-year period," the authors concluded. "This study does not therefore support the specific causal link between cannabis use and incidence of psychotic disorders. ... This concurs with other reports indicating that increases in population cannabis use have not been followed by increases in psychotic incidence."
As of this writing, a handful of news wire reports in Australia, Canada, and the U.K. have reported on the Keele University study. Notably, no American media outlets covered the story.
2. Marijuana Smoke Doesn't Damage the Lungs Like Tobacco
Everyone knows that smoking pot is as damaging, if not more damaging, to the lungs than puffing cigarettes, right? Wrong, according to a team of New Zealand investigators writing in the European Respiratory Journal in August. Researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand compared the effects of cannabis and tobacco smoke on lung function in over 1,000 adults.
They reported: "Cumulative cannabis use was associated with higher forced vital capacity [the volume of air that can forcibly be blown out after full inspiration], total lung capacity, functional residual capacity [the volume of air present in the lungs at the end of passive expiration] and residual volume.
"Cannabis was also associated with higher airways resistance but not with forced expiratory volume in one second [the maximum volume of air that can be forcibly blown out in the first second during the FVC test], forced expiratory ratio, or transfer factor. These findings were similar amongst those who did not smoke tobacco... By contrast, tobacco use was associated with lower forced expiratory volume in one second, lower forced expiratory ratio, lower transfer factor and higher static lung volumes, but not with airways resistance."
They concluded, "Cannabis appears to have different effects on lung function to those of tobacco." Predictably, the scientists' "inconvenient truth" was not reported in a single media outlet.
3. Cannabis Use Potentially Protects, Rather Than Harms, the Brain
Does smoking pot kill brain cells? Drinking alcohol most certainly does, and many opponents of marijuana-law reform claim that marijuana's adverse effects on the brain are even worse. Are they correct? Not according to recent findings published this summer in the journal Neurotoxicology and Teratology.
Investigators at the University of California at San Diego examined white matter integrity in adolescents with histories of binge drinking and marijuana use. They reported that binge drinkers ( defined as boys who consumed five or more drinks in one sitting, or girls who consumed four or more drinks at one time ) showed signs of white matter damage in eight regions of the brain.
By contrast, the binge drinkers who also used marijuana experienced less damage in 7 out of the 8 brain regions. "Binge drinkers who also use marijuana did not show as consistent a divergence from non-users as did the binge drink-only group," authors concluded. "[It is] possible that marijuana may have some neuroprotective properties in mitigating alcohol-related oxidative stress or excitotoxic cell death."
To date, only a handful of U.S. media outlets -- almost exclusively college newspapers -- have reported the story.
4. Marijuana Is a Terminus, Not a 'Gateway,' to Hard Drug Use
Alarmist claims that experimenting with cannabis will inevitably lead to the use of other illicit drugs persist in the media despite statistical data indicating that the overwhelming majority of those who try pot never go on to use cocaine or heroin.
Moreover, recent research is emerging that indicates that pot may also suppress one's desire to use so-called hard drugs. In June, Paris researchers writing in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology concluded that the administration of oral THC in animals suppressed sensitivity to opiate dependence.
Also this summer, investigators at the New York State Psychiatric Institute reported in the American Journal on Addictions that drug-treatment subjects who use cannabis intermittently were more likely to adhere to treatment for opioid dependence.
Although a press release for the former study appeared on the Web site physorg.com on July 7, neither study ever gained any traction in the mainstream media.
5. Government's Anti-Pot Ads Encourage, Rather Than Discourage, Marijuana Use
Sure, many of us already knew that the federal government's $2 billion ad campaign targeting pot was failing to dissuade viewers from toking up, but who knew it was this bad?
According to a new study posted online in the journal Health Communication, survey data published by investigators at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania found that many of the government's public-service announcements actually encouraged pot use.
Researchers assessed the attitudes of over 600 adolescents, age 12 to 18, after viewing 60 government-funded anti-marijuana television spots. Specifically, researchers evaluated whether the presence of marijuana-related imagery in the ads ( e.g., the handling of marijuana cigarettes or the depiction of marijuana-smoking behavior ) were more likely or less likely to discourage viewers' use of cannabis.
Messages that depict teens associating with cannabis are "significantly less effective than others," the researchers found. "This negative impact of marijuana scenes is not reversed in the presence of strong anti-marijuana arguments in the ads and is mainly present for the group of adolescents who are often targets of such anti-marijuana ads ( i.e., high-risk adolescents )," the authors determined. "For this segment of adolescents, including marijuana scenes in anti-marijuana ( public-service announcements ) may not be a good strategy."
Needless to say, no outlets in the mainstream media -- many of which donated air time to several of the beleaguered ads in question -- have yet to report on the story.
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Hey i am a 16 year old studen attending highschool. I've been smoking pot for just about a year now. Before i started smoking i look down upon people at my school that smoked. I saw them as bad people, that would steal, be aggressive, stupid, and i thought they were all crazy in the head. When i started smoking it was an amazing experience and i enjoyed it a lot. The warm feeling, the hunger , my brain felt like it was working over time but in a constructive way. Since i was just starting it felt a little bit wacky yes i will admit to that. But that's like saying getting drunk for the first time isn't wacky too. I was mostly introduced to pot because a larger majority of my friends did it as well. It seems so common. Easier to get weed then it is to get one beer . In my academic math class i would say more than half the students have tried pot and more than 10 use it in moderation. Key word i would like to talk about is moderation. For people that don't have a medical reason to smoke pot, i would like to say that you should smoke it in moderation. A glass of wine is good for people... in moderation! In my opinion everything is good in moderation. (opinion! opinion! i would like to hear other peoples ideas about everything I'm writing and not to call me a loser, or drugy, or anything stupid like that. I want to know more opinions to help my own so don't be a douche. :P) Back on track. I go to a very smart school, and the other schools in my area have the same issue. Pot is more around than any other drug. And it seems to be the least destructive/most productive. For those that do it all the time, every minute they can, please don't. I know for a fact you can do something better with your time (this doesn't include medical reasons. Smoke all you want, because i want those people to get better :D) In my case this is what i like to do. I like getting home from a long day of learning at school (which i know find more enjoyable because one time i was high and realized that learning is an incredible thing to be able to do and if your not learning your wasting your time) and then go to soccer practice (try and get on a team of some sort. Leadership, socializing, and training my body while increasing my heart rate to keep my healthier is defiantly a benefit. So go play some sports ya lazy bum :D) and after all that is said and done, go meet up with my budies. Smoke a doobie with them and go make a nice meal for dinner. After my craving for food is sorta met, grab an apple or some other amazing fruit that catches my eye (love sugar from fruits, dunno why). Either go outside and play catch or something, go to the movies , watch a movie at home, go on the internet , do some homework, read a book , newspaper, just find something somewhat constructive. During the winter there is a skating rink beside my house . Best thing i've ever tried to learn. I am now joining a hockey league eventually rather than a soccer team. Or just switch between them both, depending on the season. BLAH BLAH BLAH. On the hole, pot isn't really this big deal. It's not messing up anything for me that is. It has made things better. To me alot better. 420 is coming up (look up 420 if you have no idea what that is) and i expect in OTTAWA near the parliments, there will be a ton of people smoking trying to legalize this wonderful plant. I may be young, and sound stupid as I write some of these thoughts down, but I'm just tyring to say this in a nut shell. POT IS GREAT. I have an 80% average. Play on sport teams. Love my family . Have a wonderful girlfriend (treat her with the most utmost respect). Never wanted life to stop giving. I have dreams that i'm looking forward to completing in the near future. I know what i want to be and i'm gonna do anything i can to be it. For those that say pot is bad, you gotta read more and learn for yourself. Again i thought it was terrible, but i realized how great it is. I may sound crazy or manipulated by it, but that's your opinion. Anything natural made by earth can't be all that bad. OH one last thing. Its not a gate way drug. I have an addictive personality. I know if i took any other drug, i would be hooked. SO i don't take any other drug. Weed isn't addictive, i just like it so i will do it in moderation. If i took any other drug such as cocaine or herion, oxycotton? anything. i know it would destroy me. Those are the ones were some guy in there basement is trying to figure out how much detergent to put in their chemical BOMB thingy blah blah. Just don't do harder drugs , that's when its not natural, and it chemically alters your brain. Again this is my opinion and how i see daily things. I could be completely miss led on all this, but i think its a good way to look at it and it keeps me on track on what i want and need. And that's to have fun while being cautious. Pot has never killed anyone. And that's a relief cause i don't plan on dieing anytime soon.
I'm writing a letter to my Missouri senator and I'm using this article to my persausive benefit. I beleive that pot should be lagalized and many people are already in the loop.
The current drug policy of prohibition is ineffective because it does not work. More importantly, it flies in the face of years of evidence - some of which comes directly from government research. http://3healthymonkeys.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/drug-prohibition-is-a-failure /
It took 13 years of prohibition, to find out it was never going to work. They didn't repeal prohibition because booze was determined to now be healthy for people. They repealed it to get rid of all the crime & corruption associated with it.
And all the cost in policing, prosecuting, and imprisoning people.
Would you send a buddy that offered you a beer from his six pack to prison for as many years as some get for drugs ?
Basically that’s what you are doing with drug laws . And might have done during prohibition when it was illegal. The morality of the situation never changed, ONLY THE LAWS.
And since when is having the punishment worse than the offense done any good?
You can NOT regulate something that is illegal. The only way to regulate something is to legalize it.
Somehow, we haven't learned that lesson on the "War on Drugs" yet.
Around 80% of people in prisons are there for drug related crimes. States are going broke trying to imprison them all.
We have the highest rate of people imprisoned in the world. One out of every 100 people are in prison.
Police trying to battle drugs have abused citizens rights to the point of battering ram front doors down to enforce unenforceable laws. And this leads to mistakes & corruption in our police forces. And no knock warrants leads to deaths of sometimes innocent people.
And do I even need to mention strip searching thousands of people, including women & children , sometimes in public? (Whether they needed it or not.)
Police even had to go to multiple agency busts, to keep from having cops rip off dealers for their money , when they had just a couple cops investigating drug cases.
Addicts will commit whatever crimes they have to, in order to get money for drugs.
Disease is spread with dirty needles.
The negatives just go on and on.
All drugs should be legalized.
The knee jerk reaction from people is that everyone would then become an addict. And they think you mean legalized, with no controls.
Everyone didn't become drunks after the repeal of prohibition. And I'm sure that the same is probably true about drugs.
Even as employers don't like you coming to work drunk, they wouldn't be tolerating drug use at work either.
The government has ALL drugs lumped together, like they are all the same, but we all know there is a big difference between some of them. This lie is one reason kids do try other drugs after marijuana .
If they were legalized we could at least get the freaks off the worst of them, when they are out killing people under the influence of some of the worst drugs. Medicate them with something else.
LEGALIZING DRUGS WON’T GET RID OF THE DRUG USERS.
That’s not the point of legalizing them.
But it would get the drug money out of the hands of gangs, foreign mobsters, and the rest.
And with taxes it would bring in revenue to pay for programs to control it. And with a new industry we would get much needed jobs created.
And this would get rid of all the other problems associated with them, and it would give us a chance to try to 'control' the problem more, like we have done with alcohol and cigarettes .
We have fought this “War on Drugs” for decades, to continue to do the same thing and expect a different result would be insanity.
Marijuana in various forms, not necessarily smoked, has been used as medicine , relaxation, and introspection for centuries in many parts of the world. Marijuana appears to provide relief from pain, nausea, and other symptoms, with fewer ill effects and a greater margin of safety than many other classes of drugs . In particular, marijuana is safer than the narcotic drugs commonly administered for pain, and safer even than the non-narcotic drugs such as aspirin, ibuprofen and related compounds that are responsible for a few hundred fatal poisonings each year ( http://www.acponline.org/journals/annals/15sep97/nsaid.htm ).
From the American College of Physicians, 2008: “Evidence not only supports the use of medical marijuana in certain conditions but also suggests numerous indications for cannabinoids. Additional research is needed to further clarify the therapeutic value of cannabinoids and determine optimal routes of administration. The science on medical marijuana should not be obscured or hindered by the debate surrounding the legalization of marijuana for general use.”
Link to the American College of Physicians paper on medical marijuana at http://www.acponline.org/advocacy/where_we_stand/other_issues/medmarijuana.pdf
As Americans , we would be wise to adopt an approach allowing individuals to grow a little marijuana for personal use. It would put the illegal drug dealers out of business if users could legally grow a small amount for themselves and/or share it with others. Limit the size of the growing area or the number of plants, and put a small user-fee on it to cover administrative costs, something like a fishing license.
One possibility:$100 per year for a permit to cultivate a dozen plants.
It's a win-win.
I was very offended by the allegations these other comments have made about the pot smokers of America! I would like to start off saying I have been smoking Marijuana for a couple years due to my anxiety and depression. This is the only "drug" that can help me with my certain issues with out causing other problems in my life. Yes it is very expensive with no health care providing it so I use it illegally. I do not use any other drugs nor will I. I do not drink. I am currently maintaining a waitressing job and in college . So for those giving us “POT HEADS” a bad name you should research before you go accusing people of being careless individuals. Even though there are ones who do abuse the drug!! But I assure you they are abusing more than just Pot and Pot should be the least of their worries. I also know a woman that takes Xanax for her anxiety and is completely depended on this drug has really bad memory loss and barely functions on this drug. I introduced her to my method of self medicating she no longer needs to use her Xanax as much and have been very happy with the way her life has changed.
Thing is about human nature is that we like to change our reality.
You cannot stop this; we buy new cars ; we change hair styles; we buy new clothes; we change homes and jobs and relationships.
Perhaps it is our struggle to except existence on this planet. Whatever the reason; it is in our nature to change our reality.
And as long as that is true; then people will use drugs ; from alcohol to marijuana to opiates to tobacco and on and on.
Thing is about marijuana is that it has so many appropriate uses. I have glaucoma. Either I use it; or I go blind. No in-between. My mother used all kinds of prescription drugs for her glaucoma and had almost completely lost her sight before her death.
I think it is my right to use marijuana - although legally I can't.
This war on drugs - which singles out the least likely drug as a the demonic one (marijuana) - is failing.
Its just plain time to legalize marijuana.
And the media telling the truth about it: would certainly seem appropriate.
First of all, the author of this article is a marijuana advocacy organization, hardly objective. Second, the media has no anti-marijuana conspiracy agenda. I've seen plenty of neutral and even positive spin on marijuana in the media lately. Actually, when you consider that 77% of rap music has pro-pot messages and that teens going to rock concerts hear pro pot messages, not to mention movies and TV shows like the recent Family Guy episode about legalization of marijuana that Venezuela wanted to ban, it is hardly surprising that teens aren't affected by a few anti-pot ads . My teen doesn't even watch TV--he listens to music and surfs the net where the pro-pot sites abound. And Family guy is one of the shows he would watch.
So if anti-pot ads don't help, what would help? Does NORML think pot is okay for teens? From the other sections, it would seem so. If the media and organizations like NORML stopped producing misleading articles like this, and came out with a straight story on marijuana, they might be part of the solution.
Next, this article using single studies which are cherry picked to support its agenda, when I'm sure the authors know there are tons of conflicting studies that report to the contrary on damage of marijuana to lungs, brain, etc. This organization should present all studies if it wants to model objective reporting.
The binge drinking study is so ridiculous--the article I read from the Marijuana Policy Project reporting on this study even says: of course it is better not to drink or smoke marijuana--the point is no one would suggest that teenagers engage in binge drinking in the first place, and adding pot smoking to the mix is not an option--whatever the study says. It didn't keep Diane Schuler from crashing into an SUV and killing 8 people while drunk and stoned.
The point about tobacco is also misleading. Marijuana smoke contains more carcinogens than cigarettes and causes lung damage and that is a fact. Smoking anything is not good for the lungs.
NORML--You might fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time--but you can't fool all of the people with your lame arguments--
By prohibiting drugs ,you put drugs on the green market,and then dealers are the contacts that any teen can go to and purchase drugs,of all kinds. I know dealers that would refuse sells to any minor,
but there are not many.
When you legalize drugs,and regulate drugs,as with alcohol and tobacco ,you take the dealer out of the game by pricing so low that it no longer remains profitable enough to take the risk. When it is regulated,it is sold by stores,where clerks must verify age,therefore
reducing marijuana 's availability that is now happening,and will continue too happen as long as we continue the prohibition. Your ideals and policy support actually increases the number of teens using drugs,and the people being killed in Mexico,and the innocent
being killed in drug raids at the wrong house,by gestapo drug cops,
over 800,000 people arrested yearly for drugs,our courts backed up
with drug cases,imprisoning millions of non-violent people for victimless crimes,,,,,and the list is endless,for all the harm that this War on Drugs has brought to the American people,paid for by us,against us,,,,,for us?
And alcohol destroys the liver. Criminalize it? I am an adult and I am tired of these self righteous groups telling me what is good for me and what is bad. You mention objective repoerting , yet I have never seen a government report that has been objective. Again, the government gets money from pharmacueticls and since marijuana could be home grown and we would not need the pharmacueticals, the government, while wanting their pockets filled, can not be objective as their source of money will dry up!