TheAntiDrug.com is a website put together by the
National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. Its main purpose seems to be the dissemination of anti-drug propaganda. This node will focus on the 'information' available there about Marijuana, such as:
- Many marijuana cigarettes one buys on the street are laced with Crack Cocaine.
Now, if one were to have any sort of knowledge regarding Federally Controlled Substances, one would realize the idiocy of this statement. It's rather simple: Dealers want to make money. The fact remains that it's simply bad business to sell someone laced Marijuana without telling them what it is. Not only due to the fact that many people become rather angry when notified (either by the dealer later on, or by the fact that rather than being pleasantly stoned, they're bouncing off the walls) that they've just smoked something other than what they thought, causing the dealer to lose business, but also because of the simple fact that Cocaine is more expensive than Marijuana. Think about it this way: You're a used car salesman, and rather than telling your prospective buyer all the features of this rather nice car, you neglect to mention that you've modified the engine to be more powerful than normal at your own expense. Sound stupid? That's because it is. I've heard of one instance of that, and the dealer in question was not the sort of person I would expect to see outside prison walls on a regular basis.
I had originally claimed here that Crack was destroyed by direct flame, which wick, bless his heart, has shown me to be false. Please /msg me with any more corrections.
- Some Marijuana users "brew tea" with the plants.
This is just foolish. THC, the active ingredient in Marijuana, is not water-soluble. For this reason, water is used to filter the smoke in a bong without diluting the effects. THC is fat-soluble, which is why it is sometimes cooked into brownies, cakes, and other fine confections.
Rose Thorn says re TheAntiDrug.com on Marijuana: Actually, I have heard of people who do brew tea from marijuana.
Frank Cauldhame informs me that, "if one places milk in with the boiling water, or uses hot milk, the thc will dissolve in the fat. Gives a slow high, in between eating and smoking."
So, it turns out I am wrong on this one. I would make the argument, however, that this method is more than a little wasteful and imprecise, and therefore impractical for regular use without a consistent strain and method.
- Marijuana use leads to "...acceptance of deviant behavior, more delinquent behavior and aggression, greater rebelliousness, poorer relationships with parents...."
Let's take this one apart piece by piece.
- Acceptance of deviant behavior.
I'm not exactly sure what they mean by 'deviant behavior'. One of the possibilities is homosexuality, which I wouldn't classify as 'deviant' at all. They might, though. Another possibility is Furries. Yes, parents, that's correct, if your child smokes pot, he'll turn into a FURRY!
Razhumikin had this to add: "The statement, 'Pot causes deviant behavior' is stupid because it could be the other way around. It is observed that kids who smoke pot get in trouble in other ways a lot, maybe not because they smoke pot, but because pot is considered bad, and it's mostly kids that would otherwise do bad things who smoke pot."
- More delinquent behavior and aggression.
At this point it would probably be prudent to ask these people if they've ever seen anyone stoned. Apparently not. Anyone who's seen people under the influence of Marijuana knows quite well that it has a calming effect on people, reducing aggression. As for delinquent, I'd like to point out that Marijuana use is a crime, and therefore juveniles smoking/eating/drinking it are delinquent. So, no argument there.
- Greater rebelliousness and poor relationships with parents.
For this one, let's have a little story:
Little Johnny is 14 years old. He's in 8th grade now, so he's been through a good deal of DARE and various other anti-drug education programs. Johnny knows that Drugs Are Bad and thus, when offered an after-school toke by his best friend, he refuses, using one of the many "creative" ways he was taught in DARE. Little Johnny goes home and finishes his homework, and then he gets on the internet. His interest piqued by the encounter with his friend, he decides to find some hard evidence that Marijuana is bad for you, as he was told all throughout DARE. So he goes to his favorite search engine and does a query for some information on Marijuana. Up pops this little site called Erowid. "Hmm..." Johnny thinks, "let's have a look at this." And so he reads. And reads. And, balancing the information he finds there with his DARE training, he begins to wonder, "Have I been lied to even more?" So he goes and looks up Morphine. Surprise surprise, according to actual clinical data, Morphine doesn't cause any real physical problems aside from addiction. Rapidly, his trust in the government breaking down, it's not long before he wonders, "What if Marijuana isn't as bad as they said?" So he goes and tries it. It isn't as bad as they said. In fact, after the first puff, he's not a junkie, he can still think, and he feels rather funny. What a shock, it's not so bad. He goes home later that night and goes to bed.
Marijuana is not in and of itself a gateway drug. Our government and society have turned it into a gateway drug by lying about it for years upon years. When Johnny, who has been indoctrinated with the anti-drug propaganda of our government all his life, finally seeks some information from the other side of the issue, it undermines the credibility of the government. "Perhaps," he says, "they lied about LSD or Ecstasy too." After more information on the two, he decides to go and take some LSD. Big shock, he doesn't stare at the sun for 4 hours, nor does he get run over by a train. In fact, it was rather interesting. Perhaps he'll do it again.
Point is, would you trust and willingly obey people who have lied to you for your entire life for no apparent reason?
- Heavy Marijuana use causes lung damage.
Quite true. While not nearly as bad as heavy tobacco smokers' lung damage, it's still significant if you're doing it every day. What do you expect? After all, you are inhaling smoke. This seems to be the closest thing to fact on TheAntiDrug.com, and it's far overstated.
It seems rather clear at this point that TheAntiDrug.com is not actually about
information. Many people should already know that. What isn't clear, however, is why these people have an almost
militant disregard for fact. I'd like to point out that, regardless of what I put into my body, I would not advocate people using/doing
ANYTHING without knowledge of the consequences. Speaking as one of the
DARE kids with a story similar to Johnny's above, I'd like to dispense some advice to anyone who wishes to keep kids away from drugs:
Tell the truth and give good reasons!
Teenagers need reasons. Sure, when we were toddlers, "Because I say so" was more than enough of a reason. But we're Young and Foolish now.
"Because I say so" doesn't cut it anymore.
Preach it, psydereal!
Numerous people have told me that this node is interestingly formatted... Danke. A slightly smaller amount have said it's formatted difficultly. I've tried to follow your suggestions (at least, a little bit).