The Prohibition Spin

So, I'm on Twitter and I read a Tweet.

19 yr old Teen found shot at Main station-TTC - Globe & Mail http://tr.im/nZwu #YYZNEWS

So, I click on the link to read the story on the Globe.

It began: Wednesday, Jun. 10, 2009 12:42AM EDT

"A 19-year-old boy was in hospital Tuesday night after he was found shot in the leg at the Main Street TTC station in the city's east end.....

..... The victim, who police say was under the influence of marijuana and wasn't able to fully co-operate with investigators, is thought to have come into the station on the bus before boarding the streetcar...."


First, lets get one thing straight. *Cannabis can remain in a persons system for approximately around 30 days. Just because he had Cannabis in his system doesn't mean he was high at the time of the shooting. Besides, I'd be eager to find out what Drug Testing Kit the police are using, because we all know how reliable they are, right? (Video at bottom)

Secondly, the police state he "was under the influence of marijuana and wasn't able to fully co-operate with investigators". Of Course he wasn't able to co-operate - he was at the hospital in serious condition as he was just SHOT in the LEG!!!


I actually looked to see if the article was authored by Harry Anslinger. I am very disappointed in the Globe for using these kind of fear tactics regarding Cannabis and wrote a Letter to the Editor telling them so.

I also suspect we're going to see a new onslaught of this fear-based reporting from all media before Bill C-15 goes to the Senate. Just another way the police and media spin it people. Always take a minute to read between the lines.

_________

*Cannabis - I have always always used this term to describe the Cannabis Sativa plant. Here is why:

"Marijuana" or "Marihuana" was the name Federal Beaureau of Narcotics Director Harry Anslinger introduced into the media to describe Cannabis Sativa or Hemp, as a scare tactic directed at white America. "As part of his propaganda campaign he deliberately eschewed the English word hemp, the botanical term cannabis (from which we get canvas) and the users' word: muggles. The word he chose was an obscure Mexican slang term (derived from Maria Juana "Mary Jane", originally a brand of cheap cigarettes) in order to exploit the xenophobia of the public.

Some samples from the San Francisco Examiner:

"Marihuana makes fiends of boys in thirty days -- Hashish goads users to bloodlust."

"By the tons it is coming into this country -- the deadly, dreadful poison that racks and tears not only the body, but the very heart and soul of every human being who once becomes a slave to it in any of its cruel and devastating forms.... Marihuana is a short cut to the insane asylum. Smoke marihuana cigarettes for a month and what was once your brain will be nothing but a storehouse of horrid specters. Hasheesh makes a murderer who kills for the love of killing out of the mildest mannered man who ever laughed at the idea that any habit could ever get him...."

And other nationwide columns...

"Users of marijuana become STIMULATED as they inhale the drug and are LIKELY TO DO ANYTHING. Most crimes of violence in this section, especially in country districts are laid to users of that drug."

"Was it marijuana, the new Mexican drug, that nerved the murderous arm of Clara Phillips when she hammered out her victim's life in Los Angeles?... THREE-FOURTHS OF THE CRIMES of violence in this country today are committed by DOPE SLAVES -- that is a matter of cold record."

Want to read more? Check out reefermadnessmuseum.org, which actually investigates - and debunks - Anslinger's "Gore File" stories.