cannabisnews.com: Leading Anti-Marijuana Group Got Facts Wrong
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Leading Anti-Marijuana Group Got Facts Wrong
Posted by CN Staff on September 13, 2015 at 10:33:24 PT
By Christopher Ingraham
Source: Washington Post
USA -- "HHS finds heavy marijuana use soaring among young people," the press release from Project SAM, the nation's leading anti-marijuana legalization group, said. "Today, the Department of Health and Human Services found that heavy marijuana use among monthly users – defined as 20 or more days of marijuana use per month – significantly increased among 12-to-17 year-olds in 2014 compared to 2013."Alarming findings indeed -- but untrue.
Here are the actual numbers (highlighted below), which appear in data from the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which just came out this week. In 2013, roughly 451,000 teens smoked marijuana 20 or more days per month. In 2014, that number dropped to 400,000, according to the survey's estimates. That number is, in fact, the lowest it's been since at least 2009.That drop is not statistically significant, according to the survey. In other words, the number of kids smoking 20-plus days per month is essentially flat year-over-year, and has been for awhile. So how did Project SAM go from that to "heavy marijuana use soaring among young people?" It turns out they were looking at the wrong part of the report.When I asked Kevin Sabet, the group's director, how they arrived at that conclusion, he pointed me to a different set of tables from the report -- the tables showing the error estimates around the survey numbers. It appeared that Project SAM's number crunchers had mistaken the survey's margins of error for the actual survey results.When I pointed this out to him, Sabet thanked me, and the group issued a corrected press release Friday evening. The original headline, which was unsupported by the data, remained up until Saturday afternoon."We made an error and issued a correction immediately," Sabet said. "We're human. What's not in error is that overall marijuana use is up, and perception of harm is down ... and daily college use is at a 30-year high. But that seems to be ignored."It seems clear that this was an honest mistake, and that Project SAM wasn't deliberately attempting to mislead. But their misstep comes after other deeply questionable assertions and inaccuracies pushed by anti-drug organizations going back to the dawn of the War on Drugs. Just this year, anti-drug group DARE published a story on its Web site claiming that marijuana edibles, "sold on the street as ‘Uncle Tweety’s Chewy Flipper’ and ‘Gummy Satans’," were responsible for over 20 deaths. The story was actually an elaborate joke originally published on a satire website.There's no doubt that sussing out the effects of marijuana legalization is really, really hard. New scientific studies come out nearly every week, with sometimes conflicting results. The same numbers might get spun in totally different directions by pro- and anti-legalization advocacy groups.But getting these facts right matters now, perhaps more than ever, as a number of states will consider whether to join Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon and the District in legalizing marijuana in 2016.Update: This article has been updated to reflect the headline change on Project SAM's corrected press release.Christopher Ingraham writes about politics, drug policy and all things data. He previously worked at the Brookings Institution and the Pew Research Center.Source: Washington Post (DC) Author:  Christopher Ingraham Published: September 12, 2015Copyright: 2015 Washington Post CompanyContact: letters washpost.com Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ URL: http://drugsense.org/url/n62yxhYiCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #7 posted by The GCW on September 14, 2015 at 22:00:34 PT
Paint with light,
I get it. It's another example of prohibitionists attempting to perpetuate their farce. Thanks. But quickly, I realize that article is like putting vomit in My mouth. -not going to do that.Climbing a fence; You get to the top, where the barbed wire is and they're purposely ripping Your body to pieces to rot, rather than allow You to continue to freedom.Those wads are barbed wire.What is vomit, to God?
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Comment #6 posted by Paint with light on September 14, 2015 at 21:40:40 PT
Wrong facts in abundance
Here is an article I ran across tonight...http://cnsnews.com/commentary/ed-feulner/double-standard-smoking-vs-marijuanaSee how many incorrect facts you can count.What is great about the cns article is the comments section.I had to read quite a ways down the comments to find one that supported the ideas in the article.The old lies just don't work anymore.Most people have learned the truth.Legal like alcohol for a start.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by The GCW on September 14, 2015 at 21:29:04 PT
Everyone,
Cannabis will wake Us up.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by The GCW on September 14, 2015 at 21:16:35 PT
afterburner,
Thanks for posting that.The awesomeness is barely known but as the superplant becomes more widely available on many different facets, it becomes increasingly evident in reality:We do not yet understand exactly how incredible this plant is.We hardly know anything about the KING of the plant kingdom. And that is changing.-0-Something that is more and more often eluded to is how certain groups, entities and powerful people have withheld cannabis due to the fact cannabis offers incredible uses and needs.Some of those groups and individuals have had access to historical knowledge of the power of cannabis for a long time.They have known all along about the importance of keeping mankind for having cannabis.The plant among other things has spiritual value.That spiritual valueis controlled by the ONE who created it.That spirit is God.As God is LOVE, God and the LOVING spirit in cannabis is not available to those who have prohibited the plant.All cannabis prohibitionists are left with is everything else.Cannabis prohibitionists do not want US to have GOD.REAL, HONEST, LOVING, PURE, GOD.For with God, they shall sell no bullets.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by afterburner on September 14, 2015 at 20:09:14 PT
Fair & Balanced Summary of Cannabis Benefits
The science behind cannabinoids is clear: marijuana helps brain achieve breakthroughs in learning, consciousness and understanding
http://m.naturalnews.com/news/051164_cannabinoids_mental_capacity_marijuana.html
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Comment #2 posted by The GCW on September 13, 2015 at 19:29:16 PT
I don't care for the cannabis prohibitionist group
Sabet said. "We're human.-0-I don't dispute that claim.It's the type of human, that I don't care for.I don't care for humans who want to cage other humans who choose to use a relatively safe God-given plant, as described on literally the very 1st page of the Bible.That's a vulgar uncouth human.Those humans should get some respectable work.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on September 13, 2015 at 10:35:55 PT
D.C. State Fair Features Marijuana Growing Contest
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/DC-State-Fair-Features-Marijuana-Growing-Contest-327114681.html
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