Pubdate: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 Source: Review, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2008 Osprey Media Group Inc. Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/8den7vMS Website: http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2907 Author: Russell Barth MEDIA HYPOCRITICAL OVER POT COVERAGE Society is so hypocritical, and the media, doubly so. Most days, the papers have scathing, hyped-up reports of "grow-ops" and the supposed psychosis-inducing dangers of the newfangled space-age super-pot they grow in them. We see cops in hazmat suits and read quotes from police and government officials about how pot users are the scourge of society. Then, two aging hacks come to town to rehash some outdated routines that only serve to reinforce negative stereotypes about pot users, and a winking media and a complacent public just giggle. What about the fact that the hugely unpopular, incredibly expensive, and wildly dysfunctional prohibition on pot is subsidizing everything from organized crime to human trafficking and international terrorism? What about the fact that federally licensed medical marijuana users like me are having our human rights violated because we forbidden by provincial laws from even using our medication in public? Tommy Chong is the yardstick by which our culture measures pot users, and we have him to thank, in large part, for the pot-legalization movement being held back for the past 40 years. RUSSELL BARTH Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath