Our friends at MPP just caught the drug czar literally editing out the most important part of the American Medical Association's new position on medical marijuana. According to a new ONDCP "factsheet":
Notice how it doesn't say what the "new policyâ¦" actually is? That's because the original quote says, "the AMA adopted new policy urging the federal government to review marijuanaâs status as a Schedule I substance." Leaving that part out isn't just confusing and dishonest; it looks ridiculous.
If it's now ok to use ellipses to pervert policy positions, maybe I'll just take AMA's statement and do this with it:
Yeah, I like the sound of that. But I'm not going to print it on a "factsheet," because it's not true.
As accustomed as I am to seeing the drug czar's office routinely deploying these sorts of sleazy semantic deceptions, I'm genuinely awed by this one. They buried the lead so blatantly that anyone who reads it ought to just end up wondering what the hell AMA's "new policy" on medical marijuana actually is. And once Google answers that question in a half-second, you might as well have just told the truth or scrubbed AMA off the site altogether like I suggested weeks ago.
The American Medical Association: "To help facilitate scientific research and the development of cannabionoid-based medicines, the AMA adopted (a) new policy ⦠This should not be viewed as an endorsement of state-based medical cannabis programs, the legalization of marijuana, or that scientific evidence on the therapeutic use of cannabis meets the current standards for a prescription drug product."
Notice how it doesn't say what the "new policyâ¦" actually is? That's because the original quote says, "the AMA adopted new policy urging the federal government to review marijuanaâs status as a Schedule I substance." Leaving that part out isn't just confusing and dishonest; it looks ridiculous.
If it's now ok to use ellipses to pervert policy positions, maybe I'll just take AMA's statement and do this with it:
"This shouldâ¦be viewed as an endorsement of state-based medical cannabis programs, the legalization of marijuana, [and] that scientific evidence on the therapeutic use of cannabis meets the current standards for a prescription drug product."
Yeah, I like the sound of that. But I'm not going to print it on a "factsheet," because it's not true.
As accustomed as I am to seeing the drug czar's office routinely deploying these sorts of sleazy semantic deceptions, I'm genuinely awed by this one. They buried the lead so blatantly that anyone who reads it ought to just end up wondering what the hell AMA's "new policy" on medical marijuana actually is. And once Google answers that question in a half-second, you might as well have just told the truth or scrubbed AMA off the site altogether like I suggested weeks ago.
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