Money for programs that increase drug use?

MSNBC ^ | Feb. 8, 2007 | Tucker Carlson

[JTN]

Feb. 8: President Bush is asking for a 31 percent increase for his anti-drug campaign that studies suggest actually increases drug use among teens. Tucker Carlson discusses with Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind.

(Video at the link)

[JTN]

Rep. Souder makes a number of idiotic statements, which Carlson doesn't let him get away with. I laughed out loud several times while watching this video.

Via Drug War Rant.

[JTN]

Ping

[traviskicks]

Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.

[traviskicks]

lol, interesting part about him comparing pot nowadays to 'crack' and 'coke' and whatever he was talking about emergency room visits...

[CindyDawg]

Why do they hate GB so much? He irritates me to no end with Mexico but I would vote for him again if he was running.

[JTN]

interesting part about him comparing pot nowadays to 'crack' and 'coke'

Then looking stupid when Carlson pressed him on it.

Carlson: ... and how many people died from marijuana overdoses last year?

Souder: Uh, if you count the, uh, uh, amount of crime associated with marijuana...

Carlson: No, no, just marijuana overdoses. Just the drug itself, which you said is like cocaine now. How many people died from it?

Souder: Uh, I don't, I don't, uh. 65 percent of emergency room admissions for drug abuse are marijuana.

Carlson: Huh. OK. But did anyone die that you know of?

Souder: Uh, presumably so, thousands have died, the only question is, you said "overdose" --that isn't even most of the deaths related to prescription drug or to cocaine or heroin -- there's a whole range of drug crimes and so on. I don't know the number of overdose. Marijuana is often managed ah, with meth -- no drug user is a single drug user so marijuana is often in the mix of most deaths so it would be very hard to separate what's what. A marijuana user is very seldom just a casual marijuana user, ah, except in the early stages, they're often gonna polydrug.

Carlson: Yeah. OK. I'm not endorsing drugs, but I know a lot of casual marijuana users, so, that's wrong.

But I appreciate you coming on. Thanks a lot, Congressman.

[gcruse]

bttt

[ellery]

"...no drug user is a single drug user..."

See, this is the crap that makes me crazy. When the feds blatantly lie about marijuana, doesn't it diminish their credibility when they warn about the dangers of heroin, crack and meth? Common sense tells me it does.

Fortunately, I am not relying on the feds to educate my kids about the dangers of (some) drugs...or about the perils of untrammeled government power abuses. I will teach them about both myself.