The AP Mugs a Dead Albert Hofmann

R.I.P. Albert Hofmann 

News organizations have acknowledged that their coverage leading up to the Iraq War was “far too deferential and uncritical.” (LINK) At least they had an excuse - how do you investigate cooked “intelligence” cloaked in “national security”? When will news organizations acknowledge they have perpetuated the War on Drugs by echoing its falsehoods? Is it too much to ask that they investigate scientific literature?

A case in point is the AP article, “Albert Hofmann, Father of Drug LSD, Dies in Switzerland” written by Frank Jordans. The bias is exposed in the opening sentence:

Albert Hofmann, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD whose medical discovery inspired - and arguably corrupted - millions in the 1960s hippie generation, has died.

LSD alters the mind temporarily. There is no evidence it affects the brain permanently. Is alcohol “mind-altering”? Is being sleep-deprived “mind-altering”? Who did LSD corrupt? Did it corrupt the youth into protesting the Vietnam War and segregation?

By plucking and placing quotes Jordans also gave the impression that Hofmann agreed that LSD had to be kept from responsible adults by law enforcement so that there are not “catastrophic consequences,” and that LSD should only be taken out of, “scientific interest.”

Of course, Jordans couldn’t restrain his moralizing and also had to wander into the land of urban myths and outright lies to justify its criminalization:

But away from the psychedelic trips, horror stories emerged about people going on murder sprees or jumping out of windows while hallucinating. Heavy users suffered permanent psychological damage.

The U.S. government banned LSD in 1966 and other countries followed suit.

Murder sprees? Is it 1955? Who’s feeding Jordans this crap, J. Edgar Hoover? Can the press still get away with this? Jordans knows that when these LSD horror tales have been investigated they turned out to be blarney which is why he used the untraceable and unverifiable language of “horror stories emerged.” Yes, a microscopically minute percentage of people have used LSD in idiotically irresponsible manners and hurt themselves. The same can be said for alcohol, cars, ladders, gas stoves, and trampolines.

There is no evidence LSD causes brain damage. (It can exacerbate the symptoms of those who already suffer from mental health disorders.)

Of course this article failed to mention how acid was intricately linked with the early developers of the modern computer like Steve Jobs. (Bill Gates did it too.) It doesn’t mention how the likes of Aristotle, Plato, & Cicero partook of LSD in the rites of the Eleusinian Mysteries. And it doesn’t mention how responsible users often describe tripping as one of the most awesome experiences of their lives.

In the words of Albert Hofmann himself on the 50th anniversary of his discovery:

You, my dear friends, and millions all over the world who now commemorate the 50th birthday of [LSD], we all testify gratefully that we got valuable help on the way to what Aldous Huxley said is the end and the ultimate purpose of human life–enlightenment, beatific vision, love. I think all these joyful testimonies of invaluable help by LSD should be enough to convince the health authorities, finally, of the nonsense of the prohibition of LSD and of similar psychedelics.

For an LSD article that dares to stray from the “Just Say No” party line go to Wired, LINK.

Sources:

  1. “Albert Hofmann Foundation,” Hoffman.org, ret. 1 May 2008. LINK
  2. AP, “Study: Bush Led U.S. to War on ‘False Pretenses,’ Hundreds of False Statements on WMDs, al-Qaida Used to Justify Iraq War,” MSNBC.com, 23 Jan. 2008, ret. 30 Apr. 2008. LINK
  3. Robert Arthur, You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos (2007). LINK
  4. Frank Jordans, “Albert Hofmann, Father of Drug LSD, Dies in Switzerland,” AP, 30 Apr. 2008, ret. news.yahoo.com, 1 May 2008. LINK
[Slashdot] [Digg] [Reddit] [del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Technorati] [Google] [StumbleUpon]

Pro-Drugs Column Runs In UK

London’s esteemed Times newspaper ran a pro-drugs piece by one of its columnists, Martin Samuel (left). This is amazing. In the United States even articles that simply make policy arguments against drug prohibition - while still echoing the ”drugs are bad” mantra - are almost never published. (See Eric Sterling’s post, LINK.) Samuel’s piece was a flat-out defense of recreational drugs. Wow.

Here’s an excerpt:

Now I don’t see my views on drugs reflected too often in the mainstream media, so here goes. This is the comedian Bill Hicks quoted in performance at the Laff Stop, Austin, Texas, December 1991. “I don’t do drugs anymore,” he said, “but I’ll tell you something honestly: I had a great time doing drugs. Sorry. Never murdered anyone, never robbed anyone, never raped anyone, never beat anyone, never lost a job, a car, a house, a wife, or kids. Laughed my ass off, and went about my day. Sorry.”

Martin Samuel, “Better to Have an E Than a Bee,” Times, 4 Jan. 2008. LINK 

[Slashdot] [Digg] [Reddit] [del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Technorati] [Google] [StumbleUpon]

Leave Your Cocaine Outside the White House

Drugs Equal Death

This cartoon uses the same rationale that the Office of National Drug Control Policy used in the following asinine marijuana ad, LINK.

Barack Obama is open about his past cocaine use. (Although it would be interesting to know how candid Obama would be if his admission had not been published in 1995.) Despite the fact that most cocaine users never become dependent, the mainstream media finds it noteworthy that Obama could have used cocaine without having drug problems as this New York Times snippet shows:

In more than three dozen interviews, friends, classmates and mentors from his high school and Occidental recalled Mr. Obama as being grounded, motivated and poised, someone who did not appear to be grappling with any drug problems and seemed to dabble only with marijuana.

Bush on the other hand is not open about his raucous past. Multiple people allege that he used to use cocaine like fellow staffers from a 1972 Republican senatorial campaign who have claimed he, “liked to sneak out back for a joint of marijuana or into the bathroom for a line of cocaine.”

Bush himself has never denied using cocaine, instead choosing to be coy. Republican hacks like to seize on the fact he once denied using “hard drugs,” however, put in context this appears to have meant heroin. Of course, at Fox any notion of Bush using cocaine is blasphemy. LINK

Sources

  1. Robert Arthur, You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos (2007). LINK  
  2. Kitty Kelley, The Family (2004).
  3. Serge Kovaleski, “Old Friends Say Drugs Played Bit Part in Obama’s Young Life,” New York Times, 9 Feb. 2008, ret. NYTimes.com, 28 Feb. 2008. LINK
[Slashdot] [Digg] [Reddit] [del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Technorati] [Google] [StumbleUpon]

Scapegoating Drugs: Steroids

Chris Benoit

Chris Benoit 

Not much has changed in 75 years when it comes to blaming drugs for heinous murders. In the 1930s it was Henry Anslinger trying to drum up funding for the precursor to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He would tell the media and congress that marijuana was responsible for gruesome homicides by twisting isolated incidents. The media and congress didn’t care that doctors called these claims bogus because sensationalizing and fear mongering brought them readers and votes.

In 2007, only conservative squares that don’t read can still believe the DEA’s continuing demonization of marijuana. However, just as most of mainstream America was not familiar with marijuana when Anslinger made those fantastic allegations, in 2007 most of mainstream America is not familiar with steroids and so the game is played.

On June 26, 2007, the professional wrestler Chris Benoit, “The Canadian Crippler,” was found dead in his Georgia home along with the corpses of his wife and seven-year-old son. Benoit had killed them both and then strangled himself. As every narco-phobe knows professional wrestlers have big muscles and big muscles means steroids and steroids means “roid rage.” When anabolic steroids were found in the house the stories could write themselves.

A leader of the charge was the commentator, Bill O’Reilly. The popular O’Reilly has built a reputation on using “common sense” instead of research and facts to provide a “no spin zone” for his viewers. (For examples of his common sense trumping facts go to the Bill O’Reilly Page at Media Matters.) On June 27 O’Reilly had a former professional wrestler, Jon Stewart, on The O’Reilly Factor to discuss Benoit.

O’Reilly asked Stewart about Benoit and it immediately became apparent the angle O’Reilly wanted:

Stewart:      …. Chris was a very pensive, quiet guy, a work horse in the industry. And this is completely out of what I’ve known of him and his character.

O’Reilly:      OK, but you did know that he was on steroids. And you know, once you get into that world of narcotics, illegal drugs, whatever you want to call them, your personality changes. Correct?

Stewart tries to provide more context to the story but O’Reilly keeps him on point:

Stewart:      …. the mix of steroids, this gladiator mentality that we have, the way the public treats us that, you know, they’re not — we’re not held to any rules of society. Bill, is that a really lethal combination [sic].

O’Reilly:      OK, but they call it roid rage.

At least with O’Reilly, his bias is apparent with his leading questions and interjections. However, the rest of the news media behaved in a similar fashion even in “objective” news accounts. Of course, this was assisted by the DEA.

The Benoit tragedy was a great opportunity for the DEA to publicly justify its micromanagement and prosecution of doctors. Days after the Benoit murders made headlines the DEA raided Benoit’s doctor’s offices twice and filed court papers charging Benoit’s doctor with illegally prescribing pain killers (not steroids) to two other patients in 2004-2005. (For an article explaining how easy it is for the DEA to prosecute doctors for prescribing painkillers read the 2004 article “Dr. Feelscared” in Reason.) The DEA also said that in a year long probe called “RX Weight Loss” Benoit was identified as someone who bought large amounts of steroids. The DEA refused to identify the source or even any information about the probe.

Predictably, the mother of all news sources, the AP obediently published all this information including the sinister fact that during one of the DEA’s raids on the doctor he was carrying Benoit’s file. These appeared in articles such as the following “Benoit’s doctor surrenders to authorities” on July 2, “Pro wrestler Benoit bought excessive amounts of steroids” on July 3, and “Drugs found in Benoit’s system after killings” on July 18.

All of this would be acceptable if it was not a sham.

  1. Roid rage is likely a myth as has been demonstrated by scientific studies. (See Sources below.) The age-old booby traps of reason are to blame. These include confusing causation with correlation, for example, those likely to abuse steroids are not model behavioral groups completely clean. Football and professional wrestling are violent sports and, on average, they attract more violent people. Another booby trap is anecdotal evidence, for example, just because someone on steroids falls down the steps does not mean steroids caused it.
  2. Roid rage is allegedly an explosion of fury. Benoit’s murders occurred over several days and included several deliberate acts, e.g. placing Bibles next to the victims.
  3. Medical tests on Benoit showed that steroids were in his system but as Georgia’s top medical examiner stated, “An elevation of that ratio does not translate into something abnormal in a person’s thought process or behaviour.” (Toronto Star, 18 July 2007) Ironically this information was buried in articles with titles such as, “Wrestler On Steroids When He Killed His Family.” (Australian, 19 July 2007)

Perhaps most alarming is that the AP writer, Harry Weber, revealed his complicity in the July 3 article with the following line, “Some experts believe steroids can cause paranoia, depression and violent outbursts known as ‘roid rage.’” This is the equivalent of ads saying that “some experts” recommend Crest toothpaste. Weber did enough research to know that “some experts” was all he could claim because “actual studies” debunked roid rage - actual studies he chose not to mention.

None of this mattered as the press got its sensational headlines and the DEA got its publicity. Not to be left behind, Congress is currently planning on holding hearings on professional wrestling and performance-enhancing drugs. As the chairman of the committee, Rep. Bobby Rush (D), said, “We must make sure that today’s wrestling sports heroes are not using illegal performance-enhancing drugs that, unfortunately, can and have led to their untimely deaths.” (Daily News, 30 Aug. 2007)

Sources

  1. F. Klötz, et al., “Criminality Among Individuals Testing Positive for the Presence of Anabolic Androgenic Steroids,” Arch. Gen. Psychiatry, Nov. 2007.
  2. F. Klötz, et al., “Violent Crime and Substance Abuse,” Forensic Sci. Int., 1 Mar. 2007.
[Slashdot] [Digg] [Reddit] [del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Technorati] [Google] [StumbleUpon]