Walters

[boulder]

Top Story: Dan Forbes Documents Walters’ Lies About Potency. Understanding That The War On Cannabis Is Built On Lies Is Key to Understanding More Than Just Drug War.

Posted by Richard Cowan on 2002-11-20 17:39:18

Source: www.slate.com

 

Posted November 20, 2002

Analysis by Richard Cowan

 

My friend Dan Forbes is one of the few Authentic Journalists – to use Al Giordano’s phrase – covering the war on cannabis.

See

Dan Forbes Strikes Again! Uncovers Conspiracy By Ohio Governor and the Partnership for An UnFree America to Subvert the Democratic System.

and links

 

In an article posted on Slate Magazine yesterday, The Myth of Potent Pot, The drug czar's latest reefer madness:He claims that marijuana is 30 times more powerful than it used to be, Forbes documents one area of Walters’ campaign of lies and hatred against cannabis users. The article is an excellent addition to the analysis of the “potent pot” line that is so important to the prohibitionists today.

 

 

 

In fact, the potent pot line was a key premise of the British Lung Foundation’s prohibitionist propaganda piece that gulled much of the UK media.

See

British Lung Foundation Cons Media. Blaming Cannabis for Problems Caused By Prohibition. Tripping Over the Party Line. The Media Fell For It, As Usual, But UK Anti- Tobacco Group Does Not.

 

 

Excerpt from Slate:

In an early September op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle, Walters wrote: "In 1974, the average THC content of marijuana was less than 1 percent. But by 1999, potency averaged 7 percent." This is plain wrong. According to the federal government's own Potency Monitoring Project at the University of Mississippi, 1999's average was 4.56 percent. Referring to Walters' 7 percent figure, Dr. Mahmoud A. ElSohly, who runs the project, says, "That's not correct for an overall average." (THC is tetra- hydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in pot.)

See

Potent Pot Myth Undermined By Report From The Ultimate Authority. Cited By Swedish Prohibitionist Who Don’t Seem To Understand. As Usual.

and links.

 

Walters also wrote that the THC level in "today's sinsemilla … averages 14 percent and ranges as high as 30 percent." (Sinsemilla is the highest-quality pot.) He concluded, "The point is that the potency of available marijuana has not merely 'doubled,' but increased as much as 30 times."

 

 

A couple of weeks later in the Detroit News, Walters gave even more alarming numbers about regular pot, claiming that "today's marijuana is 10 to 14 percent [THC]. And hybrids go up to 30 percent and above."

 

 

Walters' figures are grossly distorted. For starters, his figures for "today's sinsemilla" actually come from 1999. He ignores data from 2000 and 2001. That's presumably because sinsemilla potency spiked in 1999 at 13.38 percent (which, incidentally, rounds off to 13 percent, not 14 percent). But the most recent full-year figure available, 2001, shows a potency of 9.55 percent. Yes, sinsemilla's THC count has been increasing, but its average over the past decade is only 9.79 percent. More important, the potency of sinsemilla has little to do with quotidian reality for most pot-smokers. Sinsemilla comprises only 4.3 percent of the University of Mississippi's sample over the years. It's prohibitively expensive for casual (and young) users: On the East Coast, the very best stuff is $700 an ounce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As noted, that is just one part of Walters’ campaign of lies, but understanding that the war on cannabis is built on lies is essential to understanding how the Drug War is turning more and more countries into police states, even as we cheer the spread of democracy.

 

 

 

For more examples of Walters’ lying see the following.

 

If the Las Vegas Review Journal "Gets It," Why Don’t The Other Papers?

and

Walters Puts The Media to the Test By Taking Hyper-Lying to A New Level. Blood Libels To Justify Police State. San Diego Medical Activist Faces Federal Charges for 20 Plants.

 

and

 

Walters Concedes That Canada Can Legalize Cannabis If It Wants To, Which Was The Only True Thing He Said While In Montreal.

 

and

 

Marijuana Bigger Problem Than Meth? DEAland And The Bush Administration Have a Very Serious Walters Problem. We Couldn’t Make This Up!

 

and

 

The Myth That The Washington Post and John Walters Are ‘Harmless’; Drug Czar Puts Hyperlying About Cannabis At The Center of the War on Freedom.

 

and

 

Democracy, Cannabis and the Drug Czar. Arrests Remain Close to Record Levels. Support for Medical Cannabis Now Up to 80%. And 34% Favor Full Legalization. We Are Winning, But The People Are Suffering.

 

and

 

More Fraud On Wall Street; The Drug Czar Lies to Business Leaders Courtesy WSJ. Reporting from Beautiful Haarlem, in The Netherlands.

 

and

 

The Drug Czar Harvests BC Bud Propaganda Campaign At Canadian Border. The Jails Are Full, But He Likes That.

 

and

 

NORML Analyzes the Record of the New Drug Czar. Is He Out of Touch, or Just Out of His Mind?