Newsweek Reefer Madness Edition 2017

Reefer Madness in 2017 – Newsweek edition

Your Chances of Getting Married Go Down if You Smoke Weed - Newsweek Reefer Madness from CannabisNet on Vimeo.

As you guys know, I’m always scouring the internet for reefer madness articles because it helps me to provide counter arguments to the insanity they project. Lately though, I’ve been noticing fewer of these kinds of articles on the internet. Of course, every now and then a newspaper or media outlet will allow me to delight in their ignorance, but for the past few weeks they have been scarce.

Thanks to Newsweek, the cycle is broken. With the title reading, “MARIJUANA: LIKELIHOOD OF GETTING A JOB AND MARRIAGE PLUMMET FOR TEENS WHO SMOKE” I immediately clicked it and prepared myself to objectively read the article. I mean, for such a substantial claim, they must have some serious evidence.

cannabis newsweek article

So what did the article say?

I did leave the link in the title of the article if you’re interested in reading it yourself [I wouldn’t unless you’re looking for a laugh]. I’ll just summarize what the article said on your behalf.

It starts off with the hook. “Parents, your fears have been confirmed, drinking and smoking pot will ruin your kids’ future!” The alarmist hook obviously wants parents, concerned about their children’s futures to read on.

Now, the entire premise of the article is based on a survey conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut where they analyzed 1165 people over the course of their teenage years into early adulthood. Their intention was to discover if these substances impacted “key milestones and objectives” such as getting a full-time job, getting married and completing their education.

What they essentially “found” was that pot smokers and alcoholics didn’t achieve these goals while other kids who abstained did.

And there you have it…the general gist of the shit show of an article.

Let’s break this bitch down shall we?

It’s articles like these that give me great joy. As I’m taking a hit from the wax, my mind is racing to provide some logic to the madness.

So here we go;

A Survey of 1165 is a small sample group compared to the 50 million regular cannabis smokers in the United States. Additionally, it’s geographically restricted. According to the researchers they will be conducting a study nationally, but for the most part it’s geographically limited. There is absolutely no way you can claim a blanket statement like “pot will reduce your chances of getting a job or married” based on a sample group that small.

There is something called “correlation” and there is something called “causation”. Let me provide you with an example. If you look at fatal crashes in the US and find cannabis present in the victim’s body…does this mean that cannabis caused the accident? Of course not, it only means that the person smoked at some point in the past 30-90 days. This is where most of these reefer madness stories go ape. They see “cannabis” and immediately conclude “causation”. There is absolutely no evidence that cannabis will reduce your ability to get a job or get married.

They ignore all other socioeconomic factors. They simply looked at drug use. A survey paints a very limited portrait of a person. What about shitty parents? What about poverty? What about opportunity? There are so many factors that could influence “milestones” such as getting a job or getting married. Secondly, the institution of marriage is in decay. People are less likely to get married these days because the importance of marriage has declined over the years.

The world is a different place. The “milestones” they talk of sound eerily like something a 50s TV dad would want for his kids. The only problem “dad”, is that the world has evolved. You can now literally make money sitting on your ass playing video games on Youtube. Why do we need a “9-5” in a global economy where we can outsource labor to cheaper markets and sell them in more expensive ones? A “job” is old school thinking. Perhaps, these stoner kids are just seeing that you could become an Instagram celebrity with 50,000 followers and sell any product to those people to sustain your income. Similarly, the education system is slugging behind the world. The world innovates itself so quickly, that by the time you finish your college degree, you’d have to go back to college to learn about everything they invented while you study.

Of course, anything in excess ‘can’ be bad for you, but as mentioned [correlation does not mean causation]. I think the world is evolving. We’re entering into a marketplace of ideas. You can literally become an author by self-publishing on Amazon today and make money from your work. You could go bargain hunting in flea markets and garage sales to flip the products on Ebay and make much more than a typical job.

This is the major problem with prohibitionist rhetoric….it’s so fucking antiquated!

Newsweek Keeping Reefer Madness Alive and Well