2008 Woodie Awards
NORML deputy director rails media coverage
James Cruikshank
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: News
"I do not at all think it's a hyperbole," Paul Armentano, the deputy director of NORML, said, "when we refer to the War on Drugs as a war on young people."
Armentano spoke Wednesday night at a NORML meeting in Student Union room 218.
Armentano's work is not exclusively with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: his writing has appeared in over 500 publications, he speaks publicly about marijuana policy and contributes regularly to Heads Magazine.
At the NORML meeting Wednesday, Armentano delivered a presentation about the media's role in fair and balanced coverage of marijuana policy, or lack thereof. Starting just under 40 years ago, Armentano documented numerous instances where the media was getting the story wrong.
"In the early 1970s, the media started buying into all this junk science," Armentano said. "There were published stories that said men who smoked marijuana grew breasts."
According to Armentano, major reports had surfaced from Costa Rica and Jamaica about the effects of marijuana during the early 70s, all of which proved the plant to be rather harmless. However, the media chose to ignore the findings, in favor of stories that would garner higher ratings.
Armentano shared a few headlines he found in today's press that outlined his arguments: "Cannabis Bigger Cancer Risk Than Cigarettes" by Reuters, "Marijuana Use May Increase Risk of Heart Attack, Stroke" also by Reuters and "Marijuana Makes Teeth Fall Out," which was actually covered twice by the Washington Post.
Taking the headlines a step further, Armentano proceeded to debunk some of them.
As far as cannabis being a bigger risk than cigarettes, Armenatno asserted the story ran days before the actual study ran.
The findings concluded that heavy tobacco users were 24 times more likely to contract lung cancer, and heavy marijuana smokers were six times more likely.
If you think marijuana will increase your chances of heart disease, consulting additional sources would be a good idea, considering researchers conducting the study did not check patients to see whether they suffered from any heart conditions, or if there was history of heart disease in their family, Armentano said.
Armentano spoke Wednesday night at a NORML meeting in Student Union room 218.
Armentano's work is not exclusively with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: his writing has appeared in over 500 publications, he speaks publicly about marijuana policy and contributes regularly to Heads Magazine.
At the NORML meeting Wednesday, Armentano delivered a presentation about the media's role in fair and balanced coverage of marijuana policy, or lack thereof. Starting just under 40 years ago, Armentano documented numerous instances where the media was getting the story wrong.
"In the early 1970s, the media started buying into all this junk science," Armentano said. "There were published stories that said men who smoked marijuana grew breasts."
According to Armentano, major reports had surfaced from Costa Rica and Jamaica about the effects of marijuana during the early 70s, all of which proved the plant to be rather harmless. However, the media chose to ignore the findings, in favor of stories that would garner higher ratings.
Armentano shared a few headlines he found in today's press that outlined his arguments: "Cannabis Bigger Cancer Risk Than Cigarettes" by Reuters, "Marijuana Use May Increase Risk of Heart Attack, Stroke" also by Reuters and "Marijuana Makes Teeth Fall Out," which was actually covered twice by the Washington Post.
Taking the headlines a step further, Armentano proceeded to debunk some of them.
As far as cannabis being a bigger risk than cigarettes, Armenatno asserted the story ran days before the actual study ran.
The findings concluded that heavy tobacco users were 24 times more likely to contract lung cancer, and heavy marijuana smokers were six times more likely.
If you think marijuana will increase your chances of heart disease, consulting additional sources would be a good idea, considering researchers conducting the study did not check patients to see whether they suffered from any heart conditions, or if there was history of heart disease in their family, Armentano said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
James Bong
posted 11/22/08 @ 9:46 AM EST
"Armentano cited news stations' drive to be first with a breaking story or headline as part of the reason. After all, "If it bleeds, it leads," Armentano said during his PowerPoint presentation. (Continued…)
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