Hey, Check Out These Meaningless Statistics!
From the drug czar's blog:
According to a recent national survey, 11 percent of weekend nighttime drivers tested positive for illicit drugs - five times as many as were under the influence of alcohol.
It's just perfect nonsense of the exact variety the drug czar's office specializes in. Testing positive for drugs just means the person has drugs in their system (which could have been ingested days or even weeks before getting behind the wheel). By contrast, those who were "under the influence of alcohol" were over the legal limit at the time they were driving. The drug czar is literally comparing people who may have smoked marijuana last week to people who are drunk right now. It's insane.
And, as is often the case when drug warriors wildly misinterpret scientific data, the report itself specifically warns against drawing exactly the types of conclusions claimed by the drug czar:
The reader is cautioned that drug presence does not necessarily imply impairment. For many drug types, drug presence can be detected long after any impairment that might affect driving has passed. For example, traces of marijuana can be detected in blood samples several weeks after chronic users stop ingestion. Also, whereas the impairment effects for various concentration levels of alcohol is well understood, little evidence is available to link concentrations of other drug types to driver performance.
Is that confusing to anyone? It really shouldn’t be. But, unfortunately for us all, it is the drug czar's job not to understand or acknowledge basic facts like these. Once one comes to understand that our drug policies are routinely based on complete nonsense, it ceases to be a mystery why we achieve such dismal results.
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redditAlcohol Industry big benefactor from Drug prohibition
Comment posted by Anonymous on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 7:26pmLet's not forget who has been a constant heavy funder of the partnership of a drug free America since that organization's inception; The alcohol industry. Any wonder none of the PDFA's dopey PSAs ever addressed the dangers of binge drinking or drinking alcohol fast? It was a trade off that the broadcsters went along with. I know from first hand experience that any group or individual that openly supported the SMART (Stop Marketing Acohol on Radio & TV) campaign wer banned from appearing on the national media.
The alcohol industry is one of the keys reasons is so hard for reformers to get on national TV. As long as the PDFA keeps focussing it's attention on the dangers of pot while ignoring alcohol's deadly side effects, that will continue to be the case. Only news events, such as the legalization movement in California or the carnage in Mexico will change this reality.
There's not shortage of confused drug war whores...
Comment posted by Anonymous on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 1:46pmThere's not shortage of confused drug war whores... and they need to be attacked for their bigotry and avoidance of facts.
I've been saying for years that the SAFER approach, which attacks the alcohol hypocracy, is very important to the over-all battle.
The more money the alcohol manufacturers are forced to spend on mandatory public service anouncements the less money they'll have to spend on politcal and cultural whores!
Nut 'em & Gut 'em!
B.S. Can we file a class action lawsuit against all the rehabbers and/or the alcohol industry which falsely advertises and claims 'Drugs & Alcohol' instead of 'Drugs, Especially Alcohol'?
What's important was whether they were actually impaired...
Comment posted by Anonymous on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 1:35pmWhat's important was whether they were actually impaired... not whether compounds are still in the system.
I've read that cops really hate the fact that 'tokers' typically pass the field sobreity tests with flying colors.
Not surprising they would overlook the studies warning AGAINST MISINTERPRETATION... Prohibitionist have, after-all ,mis-interpreted just about everything in life... as far as I'm concerned!
Always Dare to Disagree!
B.S. We also need to start a class action lawsuit against all rehabbers that falsely claim they have 'Drug & Alcohol' and 'Alcoholism and Addiction' cures and treatments... WTF...these medical professionals apparently didn't stay in school long enough to learn that alcohol is adrug?
New marijuana test
Comment posted by krokker on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 12:29pmI have heard there is a test now that can be administered that actually measures marijuana impairment rather than proving use in past weeks. Anyone heard more on this?
I guess I should look first :)
Comment posted by krokker on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 12:35pmI read that article...
Comment posted by Anonymous on Wed, 09/02/2009 - 1:53pmI read that article... and have to agree with 'G' about it just being another violation of rights and proves absolutely nothing regarding 'driver/public safety'.
What we really need is a test to see if people pay attention when they drive... when I ride my harley into town/city I'm more likely to have issues with the elderly & distracted drivers!
The stat regarding the combination of mj with alcohol is fascinating... again substantiating the alcohol is a more dangerous drug fact!
Saw something in the news yesterday about a French minister? who was trying to advance the theory that drinking 2 glasses of wine before driving was ok... that idea is going about as well as the idea of reducing the drinking age in this country!
Choose Legality,
Thomas Paine IVXX
B.S. "Later [after the American Revolution], Paine greatly influenced the French Revolution. He wrote the Rights of Man (1791), a guide to Enlightenment ideas. Despite not speaking French, he was elected to the French National Convention in 1792." - Wiki
ONDCP = Joke
Comment posted by Anonymous on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 6:00pmWow! It really doesn't surprise me that they'd stoop to this level. This is the sort of thing that makes me think that ONDCP is the agency that losers who can't get a real job in government work for.