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  Nothing Funny About Comic Strip Character's Life

Posted by FoM on January 27, 2002 at 21:48:42 PT
By Ed Gogek and Jim Gogek 
Source: Baltimore Sun 

You got pretty testy defending marijuana in a recent Doonesbury comic strip. Over the years, you've made jokes about your own pot-smoking in several panels, but we think your problem may be worse than you've let on. We'll put it to you straight, Zonk: You're in denial. First of all, you're not a convincing advocate for marijuana users - you've never held a real job since leaving Walden College 30 years ago. Baking marijuana brownies for cancer patients this Christmas doesn't count as a real job. 
But on Dec. 29, when you dropped your fuzzy, laid-back smile and angrily argued that marijuana is "a nonaddictive drug that kills nobody," it heightened our suspicion that you're a comic strip character hiding a dysfunction. Maybe you're right that the prohibition against the medical use of marijuana is ridiculous. But your suggestion that abusing marijuana is OK because it's not as dangerous as abusing tobacco and alcohol is equally ridiculous. Ask anyone who works in addiction treatment if they ever diagnose cannabis dependence, the psychiatric term for someone who can't quit smoking marijuana. It's fairly common. There are a lot of daily pot-smokers who start first thing in the morning and stay stoned 'round the clock, and many of them can't quit without the help of addiction treatment. They usually end up seeing psychiatrists because they suffer from problems that chronic marijuana use can cause - depression, panic attacks and, oddly enough, outbursts of uncontrollable rage. Cannabis addicts are often embarrassed to ask for help because everyone says marijuana is not addictive. When you repeat this misinformation in the funnies, you make it harder for marijuana addicts to get help and easier for occasional users to ignore the very real risk of addiction. You're right, Zonker, that alcohol and tobacco are legal, and in many ways more harmful than marijuana. But so what if marijuana is less bad? Do we really want another legal drug to abuse? Marijuana may not be as addictive or dangerous as cocaine or alcohol, and it kills fewer people, but that's hardly a selling point. Should we legalize petty theft because it's not as bad as grand larceny? You say marijuana never killed anybody? A study in The New England Journal of Medicine looked at people arrested for reckless driving who hadn't been drinking. One-third of them tested positive for marijuana only, clear evidence that it impairs driving. For the more than 50,000 people killed in car accidents each year, alcohol is the main culprit. But if marijuana can cause such a high rate of reckless driving, it must take its own share of lives. A study in the Journal of Addictive Diseases found that greater frequency of marijuana use among inner-city kids was associated with a greater likelihood to commit violent offenses. The more we learn about marijuana, the less benign it seems. Research shows that regular marijuana users have serious life problems. In school their grades are worse, at work their thinking is unclear, in relationships they can't communicate. They have low self-esteem and feel disconnected from friends and family. They tend to be under-employed in unchallenging jobs. It's not the violence seen with cocaine and alcohol addicts, but the loss of a productive life is equally tragic. Any of this sound familiar, Zonker? Somebody, maybe Mike himself, needs to tell Garry Trudeau to stop enabling you. No matter how hard he tries to hide it, snippets of the painful truth come out - you can't hold a job, you've never had a relationship, you completely lack ambition and you still live with your parents when you're not mooching off B.D. and Boopsie. We all laughed about it when you smoked a joint in the huddle at a Walden football game 30 years ago. Back then, most people thought marijuana was harmless. Today, we know it's not, so the jokes are wearing thin. Is it wearing thin with you, Zonk? For how many years have you actually been suffering, between panels, from panic, anxiety and social isolation? And now you're lapsing into denial, rationalizing your own drug abuse by trying to convince readers that a harmful, addictive drug is safe and innocuous. Really, Zonker, that makes you no better than Joe Camel or Mr. Butts. Ed Gogek is a psychiatrist in Arizona. Jim Gogek, an editorial writer for The San Diego Union-Tribune, is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation fellow in reducing substance abuse. Complete Title: Nothing Funny About Comic Strip Character's Wasted LifeSource: Baltimore Sun (MD)Author: Ed Gogek and Jim Gogek Published January 27, 2002Copyright: 2002 The Baltimore SunContact: letters baltsun.comWebsite: http://www.sunspot.net/Doonesbury Political Cartoons http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/db.htmCannabisNews Articles - Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=marijuana

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Comment #29 posted by AZcoyote on January 29, 2002 at 22:15:35 PT
sour grapes
Of course an addiction specialist has no vested interest in maintaining the status quo. I think like the pres says, it's about jobs. And since when is addressing your arguments to a comic strip character a sign of clear reasoning.BTW, I know a man who graduated at age 21 from Stanford Law School - with highest honors - who to this day smokes weed recreationally. He has smoked consistently for over twenty years and is now a partner in a top law firm. Seems he has been able to hold the same job for a long time. Go figure.
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Comment #28 posted by E_Johnson on January 29, 2002 at 02:41:37 PT
More return fire to be expected?
Are the Gogeks the only ones dumb enough to do a Dan Quayle in response to this and come out in public attacking the lifestyle of a fictional character?I would imagine that many prohibitionists are hunkering down in their bunkers now getting their next volley ready. This Doonesbury strip must have upset them enormously.So many of these people are really amazingly dumb. But they have the money and exposure. The news media lets them through the velvet rope every time it seems.Well, thanks to MAP, if anyone ever wanted to do an expose on marijuana censorship in the American press, it wouldn't be hard.
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Comment #27 posted by FoM on January 28, 2002 at 22:31:10 PT

Thanks Richard!
You work so hard and pull it all together. You are very much appreciated and needed. Thanks for all you do!PS I put it on a little page too! It's all over the place!Doonesbury Political Cartoons 
http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/db.htm
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Comment #26 posted by Richard Lake on January 28, 2002 at 21:55:33 PT:

Doonesbury ALERT 

I was flooded with email telling me what newspapers printed the DOONESBURY strip Sunday.Without your help, the long list of newspapers in the just distributed Alert: Doonesbury Comic Strip Carries Message Newspapers Avoid which is now also on line athttp://www.mapinc.org/alert/0229.htmlwould not have been possible. To those who respondedThanks much!!!Richard P.S. The alert does call attention to this article. Check it out.
Doonesbury Comic Strip Carries Message Newspapers Avoid
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Comment #25 posted by E_Johnson on January 28, 2002 at 17:26:09 PT

We can expect them to get meaner and more hateful 
I think we can expect the prohibitionists to get even meaner and more hateful and more abusive and less honest as they try to protect their empire.Which I guess is good because it shows the world what they are really made of. I have an icky feeling that we're going to see an awful lot of what they're really made of in 2002.I think that every stay-at-home mom and dad has a right to be insulted by this editorial.It's not a REAL job, right? Marijuana prohibition rests on a lot of nasty things like class hatred (people in jobs that don't pay well are being judged morally wanting), racism (the shadow projections of dangerous inner city youth) and sexism (child care isn't a real job -- because women do it???).
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Comment #24 posted by E_Johnson on January 28, 2002 at 17:01:58 PT

They're just plain mean, and cowardly to boot
These prohibitionists are so spiteful and so mean, but at the same time so cowardly.If the Gogeks ever attacked a real non-fictional person the way they are attacking Zonker Harris, they would get sued, because you can't write an editorial in the newspaper attacking a real person in this manner.How convenient for them that this is a fictional character, because they can score their hate points without being accountable for harming the reputation of a real person.If they tried to do this with a real person -- well they wouldn't, the Baltimore Sun lawyers would have pulled the editorial.Imagine if Dan Quayle had held up to public ridicule some real single mother in Anytown USA or even -- haha just try it -- a real newswoman.He chose Murphy brown because he was a mean little coward trying to evade the libel laws that protect real people from being lied about and bullied in the press.
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Comment #23 posted by DdC on January 28, 2002 at 15:14:42 PT

Renamed The war on drugs they don't sell!
I think this sums it up...
Ed Gogek is a psychiatrist in Arizona. American Academy of Pediatrics Guidelines for Treating Behavioral Disorders in Children with Ritalin Ignores Evidence of Cancer Risks
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=295.topicPrescription for Addiction by Robert W. Lee
http://thenewamerican.com/tna/2001/02-12-2001/vo17no04_ritalin_print.htmChild Spies
by Robert W. Lee
http://thenewamerican.com/tna/2000/05-22-2000/vo16no11_drugs.htmRitalin --- Pharmaceutical Blackmail (Thread) 
http://www.cannabinoid.com/boards/thread.shtml?1x36222Partnership for a Drug-Free America? 
http://www.angelfire.com/boybands/mindfuk/war.htmlDARE to keep your kids off Ritalin
http://www.cannabinoid.com/boards/politics/media/36/36228.gifAmerica’s New Drug Pushers 
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=270.topicBayer (IG Farben) begins trading on NYSE
If you'd like to know about the history of Bayer as IG Farben - the German company half owned by the Rockefeller family that built and operated 40 slave labor concentration camps including Auschwitz - check out this list of links there are thousands of sites related to Bayer-IG Farben."Farben was Hitler and Hitler was Farben."
(Senator Homer T. Bone to Senate Committee on Military Affairs, June 4, 1943.)http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/newsletter/issue6/nl6_bayer_hazzard.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~x288files/I.G.intro.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/~alto/nazi.html
http://reformed-theology.org/html/books/wall_street/chapter_02.htm
http://www.healthwatcher.net/Bayer/bayercrimes.html
http://www.mega.nu:8080/ampp/igfintro.html
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Comment #22 posted by DdC on January 28, 2002 at 14:48:30 PT

Remember Their Names for the WoD Junkie Tarring!
D.E.A.th spin on reality. The bottom line sticks, the #1 cause of death amoung 18 to 24 year olds is booze and the cops aren't concerned cause their in the fields poisoning ditchweed with Monsanto. The big picture has been released from custody for all to see the truth of WoD just follow the money and remember their names for the tar and feathers when we run them out of town on a rail!
Peace, not a doormat, Love, not kissing ass and Liberty for all not just those who can afford it!
DdCdoonsbury
http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/politics/media/39/39487.gif
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Comment #21 posted by FoM on January 28, 2002 at 13:37:52 PT

Hope
I checked it out and he took a hit on a joint and it went to springtime! You're right and that really is cool! Thanks!
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Comment #20 posted by Hope on January 28, 2002 at 13:26:38 PT

excerpt from Zonker's Bio
He has worked as a postman, a bartender, a journalist, and served as Lieutenant Governor of Samoa. After attending medical school for several years, he won $23 million in the lottery, which had little effect on his lifestyle, though it enabled him to buy a Monet and claim a British title.Although he may not have been aware of it, he was briefly involved romantically with a woman during the late 80s. In recent years, when not living with his parents, Harris has devoted himself to the field of professional childcare. He is currently nannying and surf-mentoring Boopsie and B.D.'s daughter Samantha. When no one else is using the oven, he bakes and delivers marijuana brownies to AIDS patients. 

http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/thecast/html/zonker.htm
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Comment #19 posted by Hope on January 28, 2002 at 12:45:57 PT

Zonker
Checking out doonesbury homepage to see if they had a place to comment. There is a snow scene in middle of page. Reading other stuff on page, suddenly noticed characters starting to appear and move across the screen. The end has Zonker smoking a peculiarly shaped cigarette and suddenly dreaming of summer. http://www.doonesbury.com/index.cfm
http://www.doonesbury.com/index.cfm
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on January 28, 2002 at 11:41:00 PT

Thanks EJ
I thought it was a real lawsuit. Maybe I'm doing to much space truckin'! I am so dense sometimes. I get in this news mode and can't get out for a while! Don't mind me I'm just a bit of an airhead or so I've been told more then once! LOL!
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Comment #17 posted by E_Johnson on January 28, 2002 at 11:33:18 PT

FoM It's right in front of you, I wrote it
The link is Cannabisnews.com.
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on January 28, 2002 at 10:11:06 PT

EJ Do You Have a Link?
I'm keeping my eyes open but haven't found it yet. If you would post the link that would help me find it. I have a very bad Internet connection and it takes me forever to get around the news sites. Thanks!
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Comment #15 posted by E_Johnson on January 28, 2002 at 10:00:16 PT

Can MAP circulate press release about Zonker suit?
Oh gosh, is this comical BS can be treated seriosuly by the balitimore Sun, why don't we circulate MY deliberately comic non-BS as something equally serious?Here is the latest polished version:Doonesbury comic strip character Zonker Harris announced today that he is suing the Baltimore Sun and writers Jim and Ed Gogek for libel and defamation of character. Soon after Harris announced his lawsuit, famed British supernanny Mary Poppins released a statement supporting Harris's involvement in distributing medical marijuana through the comic strip mail, saying that medical marijuana constitutes the "spoonful of sugar" sometimes needed to make the medicine go down for people being treated for AIDS and cancer.Harris was accused by the Gogeks of being a loser pothead with a wasted life. Harris contends that he can't be a pothead because, being made of paper and ink, he can't smoke, and his life as a nanny for fellow Doonesbury characters B.D. and Boopsie has been far from wasted."Hey I don't know what everyone else has been smoking, but myself, being made of paper and ink, do you really think I could ever smoke anything, including marijuana? Think of what a lit match could do to my face! These Gogek dudes must be on something." Harris told the press today."And saying I have no meaningful job -- I'm a nanny. That's like saying the precious little girl I take care of has no meaningful life. What kind of family values does that represent?"Sources in London confirmed this morning that famed British supernanny Mary Poppins has agreed to testify on Harris' behalf. Poppins later released a statement announcing her support for the medical use of marijuana."As I have said many times in the past, a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. In addition to being an absolutely spot-on nanny, Mr. Harris has dedicated himself to helping people find that spoonful of sugar that makes their medicine go down. For that he should be publicly commended, not publicly abused."Rumors are circulating in Washington that Eldon from the TV show Murphy Brown has also expressed interest in supporting Harris in court.Attorneys for the Gogeks replied, "We know there's proof in that comic strip that Zonker Harris is a loser pothead without a meaningful job, and we're going to show that in court."Harris' attorney Joanie Caucus told reporters last night that this libel case will be "a landmark case for the defense of humanity, truth and common sense against the state of aggravated insanity and cultural brutality that constitutes the war against marijuana users in American society today."

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Comment #14 posted by observer on January 28, 2002 at 09:25:02 PT

re: JAIL, driving
So it is okay to put human beings in JAILS because they smoked a substance that those purtians do not like?Amen!! Notice how these snakes 'just happened' to forget about the little detail of "JAIL" the "Jay" character's whole point. No, better to concentrate on other things: maybe people will forget abut the jail bit if you rail on reefer madness enough.Do we really want another legal drug to abuse? What's this "we" stuff, anyway? Oh, I see: another careering "counselor" needs to drum up business. He can't remember jail, but ranks on your short-term memory. Ironic, eh?One-third of them tested positive for marijuana only, clear evidence that it impairs driving. For the more than 50,000 people killed in car accidents each year, alcohol is the main culprit. But if marijuana can cause such a high rate of reckless driving, it must take its own share of lives.It "must," eh?Liar.Cannabis/Driving StudiesAustralia: No Proof Cannabis Put Drivers At Risk (2001)
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1849/a09.htmlUK: Cannabis May Make You A Safer Driver (2000) 
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1161/a02.html University Of Toronto Study Shows Marijuana Not A Factor In Driving Accidents (1999)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases\1999\03\990325110700.htm Australia: Cannabis Crash Risk Less: Study (1998) 
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98/n945/a08.html Australia: Study Goes to Pot (1998) 
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98/n947/a06.htmlso typical ... 
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Comment #13 posted by E_Johnson on January 28, 2002 at 09:05:00 PT

Harris to sue Sun, Gogeks -- latest update!
Doonesbury comic strip character Zonker Harris announced today that he is suing the Baltimore Sun and writers Jim and Ed Gogek for libel and defamation of character."Hey I don't know what everyone else has been smoking, but myself, being made of paper and ink, do you really think I could ever smoke anything, including marijuana? Think of what a lit match could do to my face!" Harris told the press today."And saying I have no meaningful job -- I'm a nanny. That's like saying the precious little girl I take care of has no meaningful life. What kind of family values does that represent?"Sources in London have just confirmed that famed supernanny Mary Poppins has agreed to testify on Harris' behalf. Rumors are circulating on the east Coast that Eldon from the TV show Murphy Brown has also expressed interest in supporting Harris in court.Attorneys for the Gogeks replied, "We know there's proof in that comic strip that Zonker Harris is a loser pothead without a meaningful job, and we're going to show that court."Harris' attorney Joanie Caucus told reporters last night that this libel case will be "a landmark case for the defense of humanity, truth and common sense against the state of aggravated insanity and cultural brutality that constitutes the war against marijuana users in American society today."
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Comment #12 posted by aocp on January 28, 2002 at 08:57:21 PT

Pulled out of their collective a**es
They usually end up seeing psychiatrists because they suffer from problems that chronic marijuana use can cause - depression, panic attacks and, oddly enough, outbursts of uncontrollable rage.We're back to playing the "rage" card? How pathetic. First, we were told that cannabis makes one insane and violent. Then, the commies were going to give it to our GIs to make them complacent and not want to fight. Now, it causes rage, "oddly enough". It sure is odd when you make up something completely off the top of your head.
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Comment #11 posted by E_Johnson on January 28, 2002 at 08:23:56 PT

Zonker Harris files suit for libel against Gogeks
Doonesbury comic strip character Zonker Harris announced today that he is suing the Baltimore Sun and writers Jim and Ed Gogek for libel and defamation of character."Hey I don't know what everyone else has been smoking, but myself, being made of paper and ink, do you really think I could ever smoke anything, including marijuana? Think of what a lit match could do to my face!" Harris told the press today."And saying I have no meaningful job -- I'm a nanny. That's like saying the precious little girl I take care of has no meaningful life. What kind of family values does that represent?"Attorneys for the Gogeks replied, "We know there's proof in that comic strip somewhere that Zonker Harris is a loser pothead without a meaningful job, and we're going to show that court."Harris' attorney Joanie Caucus told reporters last night that this libel case will be "a landmark case for the defense of humanity, truth and common sense against the state of aggravated insanity and cultural brutality that constitutes the war against marijuana in American society today."
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Comment #10 posted by freedom fighter on January 28, 2002 at 08:18:03 PT

Short-term memory loss??
So it is okay to put human beings in JAILS because they smoked a substance that those purtians do not like?ff
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Comment #9 posted by goneposthole on January 28, 2002 at 08:00:36 PT

more moronic ramblings
These guys must have had their haircut before they sat down and did their 'real' job.
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Comment #8 posted by Morgan on January 28, 2002 at 07:28:34 PT

Fact or fiction?
Yes kids, let this be a real-life lesson to you. This fictitious cartoon character smoked pot most of his fictitious life, resulting in the FACT that he could never hold down a REAL fictitious job. (What have you been drinking?)So Gogek dudes, you'll excuse me if I pass you two up when I'm looking for what is REAL and what is fiction. 

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Comment #7 posted by lookinside on January 28, 2002 at 04:24:58 PT:

In my humble opinion...
The Gogek brothers are hypocrites...Gary Trudeau has a real clue...Watched "Traffic" last night for the first time...I recommend it...Richard Lake: The Sacramento Bee carried it, and I will be writing a letter thanking them this afternoon...
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Comment #6 posted by SoberStoner on January 28, 2002 at 01:28:47 PT:

Umm...wait a second.
A study in The New England Journal of Medicine looked at people arrested for reckless driving who hadn't been drinking. One-third of them tested positive for marijuana only, clear evidence that it impairs driving.Wait a minute...so out of all the people who werent drinking, 2/3 of them had no MJ or alcohol..So doesn't that mean that more people got reckless driving citations while sober than they did stoned?? I'm no advocate for driving stoned, but i know when i do, i pay MORE attention to how i drive so i dont screw up. I have a slight..history of accidents..none serious thank god, but after i started smoking, i never even got another ticket, let alone get in an accident. For the more than 50,000 people killed in car accidents each year, alcohol is the main culprit. But if marijuana can cause such a high rate of reckless driving, it must take its own share of lives.Didnt we just say that more people were driving reckless then they were high? How many people die because of someone being SOBER behind the wheel? Make everybody smoke from a hooka in their car in the front seat while driving and then nobody will care that the speed limit is 35 cuz they're just chillin:) 
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Comment #5 posted by bruce42 on January 27, 2002 at 23:52:19 PT

hmmm...
"You say marijuana never killed anybody?A study in The New England Journal of Medicine looked at people arrested for reckless driving who hadn't been drinking. One- third of them tested positive for marijuana only, clear evidence that it impairs driving. For the more than 50,000 people killed in car accidents each year, alcohol is the main culprit. But if marijuana can cause such a high rate of reckless driving, it must take its own share of lives."Clearly, MJ killed no single person in any of these traffic accidents. It is safe to say each and every coroner's report would confirm that violent impacts, lacerations, and other traumas would be the culprit here. And the cause of these injuries? Why, the crashing of the car, dingleberry. And who crashed the car? The person driving the car. Simple. Irresponsable drivers are to blame, not MJ, or alcohol, or any other flavor of drug. Blaming drugs for car crash deaths is like blaming the meat when you cover yourself in thick, juicy steaks and jump in the shark tank at Sea World.I also hate how this guys tosses around terms like addiction. You would think a professional like this would know the difference between physical addction and psychological dependance. And yes, if a person is a chronic, dependant user then yes, they have a problem and need help, BUT MJ itself is not the problem. There has to be an underlying problem- drugs are a means of escape in this situation. I know plenty of people, myself included, that enjoy MJ on occassion or even every day and they have good jobs, lots of friends, and strong relationships."You're right, Zonker, that alcohol and tobacco are legal, and in many ways more harmful than marijuana. But so what if marijuana is less bad? Do we really want another legal drug to abuse?Marijuana may not be as addictive or dangerous as cocaine or alcohol, and it kills fewer people, but that's hardly a selling point. Should we legalize petty theft because it's not as bad as grand larceny?"Hardly a selling point?! What?! Are you mad! That is a superb selling point! As I see it, Americans have and will probably always be doing some sort of drug- alcohol, tobacco, pot, crack, smack, crank, e, you name it. Why not give them a safer alternative?! And comparing the consumption of drugs to theft is completely irresonsible and utterly unprofessional. What I do to my own body ans mind is my right as a free thinking American. As long as what I do to me does not harm you or anyone else, what is the problem? Why should you care? Why should anyone care? I would also like to take this occasion to point out another Sunady funny- Non-Sequitur. If you do not have the pleasure of reading this strip, here's a link.http://www.non-sequitur.net/index.php3?inmonth=1&inday=27&inyear=2002&x=19&y=8To me it seemed rather appropriate, even more so in conjunction with Sunday's Doonesbury and Ed's bit of propoganda fueled MJ bashing.
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Comment #4 posted by Richard Lake on January 27, 2002 at 22:40:37 PT:

Did you see Sunday's Doonesbury???
As you may already know, many newspapers carried the strip at this link Sunday:http://www.mapinc.org/image/db012702/Am trying to create a list of as many newspapers as we can that it is confirmed actually carried the strip.Please, if you know for sure of your local papers that printed it it, just send me a quick note with the name of the paper(s) and, if not on Sunday, the date printed.Send a private note to rlake mapinc.orgThanks much!!!RichardOh, we are using the info to write a Focus ALERT asking our LTE writers to thank newspapers that did carry it, and if we find any that normally use it but didn't Sunday, to blast them.Will also have a link to this b.s. opinion item.'We' are the folks that host cannabisnews....
Sunday's Doonesbury
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Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on January 27, 2002 at 22:23:13 PT

Easy targets I must say
A study in The New England Journal of Medicine looked at people arrested for reckless driving who hadn't been drinking One-third of them tested positive for marijuana only, clear evidence that it impairs driving.Well I would call this passage clear evidence that these two men don't have the cognitive ability necessary to deduce the correlation between pouring piss out of a boot and reading the instructions printed on the bottom.I'll put my cognitive abilities, and my driving record, up against theirs any day of the week.They need to have a talk with some professional safety statisticians about what constitutes clear evidence that something impairs driving.But of course they won't, because they don't actually care whether what they say is true or not.
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on January 27, 2002 at 22:14:11 PT

And here's a start
A study in the Journal of Addictive Diseases found that greater frequency of marijuana use among inner-city kids was associated with a greater likelihood to commit violent offenses.Well let's see, if we are complete and total idiots incapable of abstract thought, then we would naturally assume that all correlation immediately indicates some deep form of causation. After all, why would they do a study if it weren't to prove something?In other words, if I can show that it rains every time I wash my car, then of course it can only be because the act of washing my car actually causes it to rain. Yes, that must be it!And by the way, let's just throw thousands of years of human cognitive development down the modern flush toilet of ignorance-by-choice.No, the reason why they notice this correlation is many fold. For one thing, life in the ghetto has always been dangerous and that was just as true in Roman times when there was no marijuana to blame.And second, young black males have the highest rate of diagnosable Post traumatic Stress Disorder, and marijuana happens to be mighty effective at getting rid of many of the most damaging symptoms of that illness, like for example the sleeping problems and the dissocation.The very same correlation between young men, violent offenses, and marijuana would have been noticed in Vietnam. Only there the violent offenses were at the command of the US government.And that has a lot to do with why we are still fighting this war now.But let's not let facts and reason get in the way of a dramatic Puritan narrative about the demon weed and how we're all headed stoned for Hell. They will hear from a colleague of theirs, at least one of them, maybe more, that's for sure.
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Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on January 27, 2002 at 22:04:25 PT

I'm going to ask my own psychiatrist to respond
I'm printing this one out and taking it to my shrink. I think he could put these weasels in their rightful place.
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