For a quick laugh check out “Report Shows Marijuana Users Growing Older [9]” from the Salem News in Ohio. (Update: now removed, hopefully for the reasons listed below. Full article appears in the comments section of this post).
The story caught my attention because marijuana users are rarely studied in the U.S. I thought it odd that the Salem News would have the scoop on new marijuana research.
Turns out all they’ve got is the talkative County Prosecutor Robert Herron who read toxicology results from the coroner’s office and got upset that middle-aged dead people were testing positive for marijuana.
He thinks it’s a sign of moral decay:
"These are people who have kids, and I think that's significant," he said. Herron referred to a section in the recently released annual report of county Coroner Dr. William Graham which highlighted positive toxicology results by age. The report said 75 percent of cannabinoid (marijuana) users were males in their early 40's, and out of 17 positive tests for drugs, 16 cases involved people ranging in age from 20 years old to 48 years old.
But um…dead people are more likely to be old, silly. They’re also more likely to have been sick, in which case their marijuana use may have been medical.
I’m not surprised to see a drug warrior drawing asinine conclusions from an autopsy report. It’s happened before [10]. But I’m disappointed that the reporter missed these obvious flaws in his logic.
Send your feedback here [11].
I think County Prosecutor Robert Herron is just pissed that he never got a chance to put these folks in jail.
Update: The article was suddenly removed from the Salem News website