CNN Rehashes the THC Potency Debate
May 19th, 2009 by RickIn an ongoing attempt to cover the explosive marijuana issue and the seemingly demise of the war on drugs, CNN’s Anderson Cooper talks about the supposed new THC potency, showing interview clips of Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project and John Walters, dinosaur former drug czar.
John Walters starts it off:
You have more people getting in trouble because there is a wolf in sheep’s clothing here.
This is probably the first honest answer that’s come out of this man’s mouth in a long time — although some people will keep it in the context of him referring to the higher potency of weed and others will know exactly what I am talking about when it comes to drug crusaders that need to take a long walk off a short pier.
The study that all this new information is originating from is through a Mississippi University that tested thousands of strains and have claimed that the THC level has risen to an all time 30 percent within marijuana. Just last year the THC level was supposedly 10.1 percent.
Bruce Mirken sees the new THC potency issue as more rhetoric from the government and opposition:
They’ve used these sorts statistics every year going back twenty or thirty years as an attempt to scare people. Oh my God, it’s a whole new marijuana, it’s way more potent, be afraid. It’s nonsense then and it’s nonsense now.
Mirken believes that if the claims were true, then a more potent marijuana would be a good thing:
THC is essentially non-toxic, so in some ways a higher potency marijuana is actually healthier because the main heath risk associated with marijuana is the respiratory harms of smoking and when it’s more potent people smoke less.
Walters, disagrees:
There’s no evidence of that, if anything the higher potency creates a greater risk of dependency.
Walters goes as far as saying that more and more people are winding up in the emergency rooms and that users may lose control, have trouble concentrating and sleeping — teenagers especially may feel suicidal. This, of course, is all bullshit, as the next day at the MPP website, Mirken commented on his interview at CNN and showed that Walters is a liar.
In a study entitled Vaporization as a Smokeless Cannabis Delivery System: A Pilot Study, published in the Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, researchers at University of California, used marijuana with THC levels of 1.7%, 3.4% and 6.8%. The study was to compare smoking and vaporization so the participants were taken through a “standardized puff procedure.”
Mirken writes:
Although the high-strength marijuana was four times as potent as the weakest, it produced a peak plasma THC level only about 20% higher, smoked or vaporized. This, the researchers wrote, suggests that either less is absorbed at the higher potency levels or there is “self-titration of THC intake,” meaning that “smokers adapt their smoking behavior to obtain desired levels of THC.”
Final note, Mirken brings another example to light of the mainstream news not telling the whole story:
I was disappointed that perhaps the most important thing I said to the interviewer didn’t get on the air. If potency is a concern, there is an obvious solution: Regulate marijuana as we do alcoholic beverages, and require the cannabinoid levels to be listed on the label. If consumers know what they’re getting — as they do now with beer, wine, or Bacardi 151 — they can adjust their behavior to avoid unpleasant surprises.
CNN Legalization Debate Redux
May 13th, 2009 by RussThough somewhat discouraged by its recent aborted attempt to have an intelligent discussion about weed, CNN put its ‘A’ team together to see if it could vault to the cable news network lead by presenting a single coherent thought. Led by the glamorous grey-maned Anderson Cooper, the tete-a-tete featured a mismatch for the ages:
Harvard Econ Professor Jeffrey Miron versus Bush-appointed drug czar, John Walters. The exchange resembled something like a debate between Martin Luther King’s unblemished soul, and a moldy sack of russet potatoes. To paraphrase a few of the highlights:
Miron:
Though drinkers have access to very potent types of alcohol, the vast majority drink mild forms and do so responsibly, and that is exactly what we should expect of marijuana users.
Walters:
You just ran a study about students who were killed in an elementary school in Chicago… Marijuana!
Cooper:
Are you implying that marijuana was the cause of these killings that we reported in a completely unrelated and unlinked segment?
Walters:
Listen, it’s very simple. I’ll free associate for a moment: Rape, murder, marijuana. Did you see that? The word marijuana just came out of my mouth right after murder.
Miron:
There’s not a shred of evidence that says that legalizing marijuana would increase violence. It’s prohibition, not marijuana creating the violence. It’s preposterous to say otherwise.
Walters: (drools on self)
Why I Won’t Miss John Walters
November 11th, 2008 by Perry
Only weeks left in office, and John Walters, Bush’s Director of National Drug Policy, is working harder than ever on the propaganda machine.
Days after a former pothead was elected president, Walters began a campaign with a new slogan about how there’s not that many jobs out there for potheads. Nevermind that the premise is so dumb it actually seems like its satire.
Drug Czar Backs Decriminalization… in Mexico
October 28th, 2008 by Perry
The Marijuana Policy Project surprised itself today, when the group found themselves in the unusual position of congratulating John Walters on drug policy initiative. The director of the National Drug Policy recently backed efforts in Mexico to pass legislation which removed criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana.
MPP executive director Rob Kampia said:
I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but John Walters is right. [...] We heartily second his support for eliminating criminal penalties for marijuana users in Mexico, and look forward to working with him to end such penalties in the U.S. as well.
Well I wouldn’t think the MPP is holding its collective breath on that last one. After all, hypocrisy is what our national drug policy is founded on, so Walters’ move should surprise no one.
Drug Czar Oversteps Bounds
October 17th, 2008 by Perry
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform recently criticized Office of National Drug Policy and its director, John Walters, for his involvement in partisan activities.
His recent lobbying efforts against Proposition 1 in Michigan, which would legalize medical marijuana in the state, was cited by the committee as a perfect example of someone going way above and beyond their scope of responsibility and intervening in violation of the Hatch Act.
This act clearly states federal and D.C. employees may not:
Walters’ participation in the election violates most of the above. We’re providing a link here to file a complaint about a Hatch Act violation, if you are so inclined.
Drug Czar is Latin for Douchebag
September 24th, 2008 by Perry
Most of you can’t name the director of National Drug Policy, a title commonly referred to in the media as “drug czar,” but his decisions affect millions of Americans and all medical marijuana users. Which is too bad, because as it turns out, John P. Walters is a fucking liar.
Days before the FBI released its annual crime statistics report he went on record on CSPAN and said,
We didn’t arrest 800,000 marijuana users. That’s [a] lie.
No Walters, you douche incarnate. FBI stats showed that the government arrested more than 872,000. That figure represents the highest number ever and at the projected rate, the government is supposed to hit 1,000,000 per year by 2010.
