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Cliff Kincaid's Reefer Madness
http://reason.com/blog/2011/01/13/cliff-kincaids-reefer-madness
Jacob Sullum
January 13, 2011
FrumForum contributor Ron Hill, a New Orleans psychologist, rebuts
David Frum's argument that pot should remain illegal because it may
adversely affect schizophrenics who may end up killing people:
To suggest that marijuana should remain illegal because its use is
contraindicated in some part of the population makes as much sense as
arguing that alcohol should be illegal because its use is sometimes
contraindicated as well. This is particularly true since deaths from
marijuana are almost unheard of, yet alcohol misuse is directly
blamed in the deaths of 79,646 Americans between 2001 and 2005,
according to the CDC. I have also known bipolar patients to misuse
caffeine and tobacco in an effort to bring on a manic state, at which
point they may become a danger to themselves or others. Should
tobacco and caffeine fall under tighter regulation also? Where does it end?
Keeping marijuana banned or toughening penalties for its use is not
the solution for isolated acts of violence by alleged schizophrenics....
I'm a conservative because I believe government should use its powers
only when necessary and only to the extent necessary to accomplish
the limited responsibilities of the Federal government. My belief is
the war on marijuana undermines one of the fundamental goals of
conservatism: reducing the size and scope of the federal government.
Frum is wise to be concerned about the effects of marijuana and other
mood altering drugs. I don't use or promote their use, but I'm also
concerned about the drug wars influence on government spending and
power. I just think there are other ways to deal with marijuana that
would better minimize the problems associated with it without giving
government more resources and greater powers to involve itself in the
lives of its citizens.
Meanwhile, the reliably over-the-top "journalist and media critic"
Cliff Kincaid, who suffers from a different sort of reefer madness,
latches onto Frum's argument to support his own fantasy about a
"Soros-funded marijuana lobby" that is "working overtime to try to
draw media attention away from [Jared Lee Loughner's] addiction to
the drug." His evidence: a single post on the subject by the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), which does not
receive any funding from George Soros. NORML's executive director,
Allen St. Pierre, says "the organization has not taken a single call
from the media re any connection [between] cannabis and the Arizona
shooting." Kincaid, director of the Center for Investigative
Journalism at Accuracy in Media (noreally), also claims NORML
"attacked" Loughner's main target, the gravely wounded Rep. Gabrielle
Giffords (D-Ariz.), two years ago. Judge for yourself.
Kincaid wants to talk about the connection between marijuana and
schizophreniathe incidence of which, as Maia Szalavitz notes in
Time, remained stubbornly static even "while marijuana went from
being a secret shared by a small community of hepcats and beatniks in
the 1940s and '50s to a rite of passage for some 70% of youth by the
turn of the century." But first he wants to make sure we know that
"Weather Underground terrorist Bernardine Dohrn...declared marijuana
and other mind-altering drugs to be weapons in the revolution" and
that "Playboy founder Hugh Hefner was the early funder of the
marijuana legalization movement."
Having noted the clear link between pot and revolutions both
political and sexual, Kincaid says he can tell just by looking at a
picture of Loughnera tittering, red-faced pinko who "hated religion,
listened to acid rock, and posted a link to an American flag-burning
video"that marijuana was at the root of his homicidal impulses: "A
photograph of a smirking Jared Loughner, after he was taken into
custody, seems to prove beyond doubt that he is seriously disturbed,
as a result of prolonged drug use." Still don't buy it? To clinch his
case, Kincaid cites an online comment from a pseudonymous reader of
the St. Paul Pioneer Press who says "everyone who promotes marijuana
as a good thing has blood on their hands." And you thought Kincaid
was just making shit up.
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Soros-funded Dope Lobby in Damage Control Over Shootings
http://www.rightsidenews.com/2011011112548/editorial/us-opinion-and-editorial/soros-funded-dope-lobby-in-damage-control-over-shootings.html
11 January 2011
Cliff Kincaid
In sorting through the political charges and counter-charges, two
facts remain clear: the Arizona shooter, Jared Loughner, was a drug
abuser, and drug use is linked to mental illness. In addition to
classmates who were quoted as saying that he was a regular user of
marijuana, The Washington Post confirmed that he "was rejected from
enlistment in the U.S. Army because of issues related to his history
of drug use…" Going into more detail, Time magazine reports that
Loughner admitted to the military that "he was a regular marijuana user."
(See Report on Marijuana Addiction and Mental
Health: marijuana_report1.pdf and the National Institute on Drug Abuse HERE)
In a provocative article, "Did Pot Trigger Giffords Shooting?,"
blogger David Frum wrote, "After the Tucson shooting, there may be
renewed pressure to control the weapons that committed the crime. But
what about the drugs that may have aggravated the killer's mental disease?"
This question, however, also has a political dimension. Illegal drugs
have been traditionally viewed by the radical left as a weapon of war
against the capitalist system, and the movement for drug legalization
is mostly a project of the liberal-left.
In her "Declaration of a State of War," Weather Underground terrorist
Bernardine Dohrn had declared marijuana and other mind-altering drugs
to be weapons in the revolution. She said, "We fight in many ways.
Dope is one of our weapons. The laws against marijuana mean that
millions of us are outlaws long before we actually split. Guns and
grass are united in the youth underground."
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner was the early funder of the marijuana
legalization movement, but funding over the last couple of decades
has come from billionaires George Soros, University of Phoenix
founder John Sperling, and Progressive Insurance executive Peter Lewis.
President Barack Obama is an acknowledged former user of marijuana,
as well as cocaine, and promised the drug lobby that he would ease up
on prosecutions of marijuana users.
It appears that Loughner's arrest for possessing drug paraphernalia
in 2007 was dropped from his record after he completed a court
diversion program. Otherwise, this could have prevented him from
buying a gun and carrying out the rampage.
One of Loughner's friends is quoted by Mother Jones magazine as
saying that he thought that Loughner had given up alcohol and
marijuana during the fall of 2008, but that was before he was
rejected for Army service on grounds of drug use. Reports of Loughner
using drugs continued into his college days and, as late as last
June, he was making outbursts and laughing out loud in class.
Loughner's former college instructor, Ben McGahee, recalled that he
showed up to class with his face deeply red. "It was as if he was
high on drugs," he said. "He would sit there with a very red face
just listening to his iPod and would make these strange mutterings
every so often."
A photograph of a smirking Jared Loughner, after he was taken into
custody, seems to prove beyond doubt that he is seriously disturbed,
as a result of prolonged drug use. He exhibited symptoms of paranoid
schizophrenia.
Dr. Howard Osofsky, head of the Department of Psychiatry at the
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, says, "People who
use marijuana, and use it frequently and in high amounts, are more
likely to develop mental illness." The link between marijuana and
mental illness is documented in the scholarly and academic work,
"Marijuana and Madness."
Loughner's use of marijuana apparently began in high school. Caitie
Parker, who attended Mountain View High School and Pima Community
College along with Loughner, called him a pothead who was "quite
liberal" and "left-wing." He hated religion, listened to acid rock,
and posted a link to an American flag-burning video.
Because of the evidence that Loughner was a pothead, and the evidence
that marijuana abuse is linked to mental illness, the Soros-funded
marijuana lobby is working overtime to try to draw media attention
away from his addiction to the drug.
Interestingly, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws (NORML) had attacked Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was seriously
wounded in the shootings, for opposing decriminalization of marijuana.
Giffords had said, "There are serious public health costs associated
with drug misuse, as well as larger economic and societal costs. For
example, marijuana is often cited as a gateway drug that leads to the
use of more dangerous narcotics. For these reasons, I do not support
decriminalizing marijuana."
Now she is fighting for her life because of bullets fired from the
gun of a certified marijuana addict.
NORML admits that "…Loughner does sound like the kind of person who
should not be smoking pot. It's never a good idea for people with
mental illness like schizophrenia to use cannabis."
NORML took offense to comments posted on the liberal Huffington Post
website from people commenting on one of the bizarre photographs of
Loughner: "Looks like my neighbor's kid. He wears long black rain
coats, I've seen him strung out on the grass, carries a 357 magnum in
hand outside of his house….walks with an attitude, rumors have it
that he has been in court for drug possession.….don't you love this
world. Sad, sad and sad…another endorsement for the medical marijuana
lobby I am sure."
Alluding to increasing acceptance of the drug, under the guise of
providing "medicine," David Frum wrote, "The trend these days seems
toward a more casual attitude and easier access to those drugs. Among
the things we should be discussing in the aftermath of this horror is
the accumulating evidence of those drugs' potential contribution to
making some dangerous people even more dangerous than they might
otherwise have been."
Looking at the evidence, he noted that while the connection between
marijuana and schizophrenia is controversial and complicated, the
"raw association is strong" because of evidence showing that:
Schizophrenics are twice as likely to smoke marijuana as non-schizophrenics.
People who smoke marijuana are twice as likely to develop
schizophrenia as those who do not smoke.
He quoted some of the experts as saying that the evidence does
suggest a direct link between pot and mental illness.
One website featured the comment: "Everyone who promotes marijuana as
a good thing has blood on their hands. Jared Loughner displays
symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia, which is a common health side
effect of someone who abuses marijuana."
Ironically, Arizona voters in November narrowly passed Proposition
203, making Arizona the 15th state to allow for the scam known as
"medical marijuana." This will have the effect of increasing
distribution of the drug.
Remember that the Pentagon shooter from California was a "medical
marijuana" patient but was obviously not helped by the drug being
prescribed by a physician.
Governor Jan Brewer and her Democratic opponent in the November
election, Terry Goddard, both opposed Proposition 203.
Mark A. de Bernardo wrote on The Daily Caller that funding for
Proposition 203 "came largely from ubër-liberal billionaire George
Soros and his pro-legalization pet organizations long-time,
broad-based marijuana legalization supporters."
But he said that "medical marijuana" was a cover: "The real issue is
not providing for terminally ill cancer patients, it is accommodating
those who grow, sell, and use marijuana for 'recreational' purposes."
One of those people was Arizona shooter Jared Loughner. The passage
of Proposition 203 guarantees there will be more like him.
.
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