Fox News Relays “Weed Causes DNA Damage”
June 18th, 2009 by Russ
Fox News is about the last organization on the planet to willingly affiliate itself with genuine scientific inquiry. Except when it serves Fox’s agenda, that is. That’s why, this week, Fox News gleefully announced a study cleverly entitled, Marijuana Not Only Gets You High, It Damages Your DNA.
NORML’s blog was quick to offer a counterattack, though. They point out that not only are the claims made by the Fox article far stronger than those that the scientists made themselves, there is a huge body of countervailing evidence that has shown that weed not only is far less harmful than tobacco, it actually contains several cancer-preventing and regenerative compounds.
The study itself (cited by Fox News) is almost impossible to penetrate — it’s written entirely in lab-work jargon, obviously never intended for an average audience to interpret. Fortunately, we here at tFS specialize in sniffing-out bunkum and hooey from jargon-based sources.
The entire study that Fox News is so proud of, studies not the effects of cannibis per se, but of a compound called Acetaldehyde. In fact, the first sentence of their study says that:
Acetaldehyde is an ubiquitous genotoxic compound that has been classified as a possible carcinogen to humans.
Did you notice the word “ubiquitous” in there? Yeah, in plain human speak, the study is granting that this Acetaldehyde element is literally everywhere. It’s in ripe fruit, coffee, bread, and virtually all plant matter. So, you’re just as likely to consume Acetaldehyde from car exhaust, or sitting by a campfire, than from smoking marijuana.
And yet, Fox News didn’t title their story, Campfires Can Damage Your DNA. This is because Fox News has no particular agenda against campfires. But it does have an agenda against pot. It’s a good thing that the Fox folks don’t seem to be particularly literate when it comes to science, or they could be a lot more effective at spreading around their propaganda-fueled bullshit.
Legalization Debate — Faux News Style
May 18th, 2009 by RussPerhaps in an effort to outdo CNN’s botchery of the recent California legalization debate, Fox News ‘anchor’ Bill O’Reilly made a run at convoluting the marijuana question this week. In typical Fox fashion, O’Reilly invited ancient drug crusader, Joseph Califano, to provide the ‘fair and balanced’ view on the issue.
Califano doesn’t disappoint, as he unleashes several whoppers in the interview. He emptily maintains that it’s a “dangerous” drug, and even tries to conflate the physiological effects of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana as having “similar” effects on the brain. He stopped just short of warning that marijuana imbues local immigrant farm workers with an insatiable desire to rape squirrels.
To cap it all off, Califano responds to an O’Reilly question about its relative addictiveness versus alcohol:
I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t think anyone knows the answer to that.
This answer is plausible, given that Califano seems to be not at all acquainted with any real scientific findings on marijuana. This paper, for instance, cites three separate studies conducted by medical doctors that rate the addictiveness of marijuana as about one-fifth that of alcohol. It also rates as less addictive than cocaine, nicotine, and even caffeine.
Known primarily for his role as a self-aggrandizing politician in the Carter administration, Califano has always been more interested in over-moralizing the drug issue than understanding it. His front organization, The National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse, is nominally at Columbia University, even though not a single Columbia faculty member actually works there or participates in his program. CASA also refuses to allow any peer review on its papers, and is therefore not considered part of the serious scientific community.
Califano, therefore, makes perfect fodder for Faux News which is interested neither in science nor sanity.
Severe Vomiting Syndrome Linked to Chronic Pot Use
March 25th, 2009 by Rick
Leave it to Fox News to report on a seemingly negative aspect of the marijuana plant. Of all the stories to drudge up and rekindle, this ”fair and balanced” organization chooses to report on a vomiting syndrome linked to chronic pot use. Cannabinoid Hyperemesis was originally first recognized in Australia in 2004 but apparently now according to a study published in the March issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology (Warning: PDF), US researchers have come across a new case of a 22-year old man from Omaha, Nebraska that exhibited the same symptoms.
Symptoms include “nausea, stomach pain, and severe vomiting.” Sufferers report the only way to get some relief is from taking a “hot bath or shower.” These are also symptoms of alcohol abuse as well as side affects from certain prescribed pills that are taken to alleviate other problems. Anything taken chronically can affect the human body. Does this make the plant unusable? The curious thing is there are studies that claim that marijuana has helped with nausea and have even helped cancer patients gain appetites to eat. The plant itself, minus the medicinal properties, holds a variety of uses.
I’m sure there are chronic smokers out there that do not have these symptoms. While the plant can be used for medicinal purposes there are people out there that use it as a recreational drug, who are otherwise healthy. My question is just how far did this study research? If it originated in Australia, were all the people connected by a certain strain of marijuana? It’s not unfeasible to think that a strain of marijuana came from Australia and made it’s way into Nebraska. Did the 22-year old ever visit Australia?
Sometimes these studies and research have tunnel vision, let’s just hope they ruled out all possible factors before they decided to say that chronic marijuana use can cause sickness in some smokers. The truth is, marijuana seems to affect everyone differently whether it leads to sickness, euphoria, paranoia, agoraphobia or whatever — most that know will say, that despite all the controversy, it’s an amazing plant.
[img via Tinm@n on flickr]
