Geriatric Zombies
Here comes the latest scare tactic in the seemingly never-ending fight to extend the life of the failed policy of prohibition. Back in the 1930’s we were shown images of marijuana-crazed “addicts” restrained in straight-jackets, hair messed up, black circles around the eyes; “this could be you were you to be so foolish as to smoke so much as one marijuana cigarette” was the message.
As more and more people failed to believe that marijuana made you a raving lunatic prohibitionists pushed the “gateway theory”. This scare tactic maintained that since the majority of heroin addicts started their drug use by smoking marijuana that proved that marijuana use led almost inevitably to using like heroin. Of course the overwhelming majority of heroin addicts also drank coffee, smoked cigarettes, and/or drank alcohol but these drugs are legal so they didn’t count. The real question to ask is “What percentage of marijuana smokers go on to use heroin?” That number is tiny… in the low single digits. In spite of the convoluted logic of the gateway theory it is still pulled out of the bag regularly and the public still fails to see the fundamental fallacy in its premise.
Last year we had many stories in the press reporting on a British study that purported to show a strong link between teenage marijuana use and schizophrenia. That got lots of attention until other researchers took a look overall marijuana use rates in the UK. If marijuana use causes schizophrenia then in times when smoking marijuana was popular like in the late sixties and early seventies schizophrenia diagnoses should have risen. They stayed the same however and further research showed that the correlation was due to teens self-medicating themselves in an attempt to alleviate some of the early symptoms of the illness. Of course that research didn’t get nearly the airtime that the “marijuana causes schizophrenia” story did.
Now I read that Dr. Richard Dupee, chief of geriatrics at Tufts Medical Center is painting a picture of millions of boomers turning into what I can only describe as geriatric zombies. Apparently the concern is that all these pot-smoking boomers are going to develop memory loss to the degree that it will be indistinguishable from Alzheimers.
According to a recent survey by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) roughly 5.2 percent of Americans ages 50 to 59 had used marijuana in the past year. Peter Delany, the substance abuse agency’s director of the Office of Applied Studies said “We are projecting that by the year 2020, we will probably have enough people in the 50-to-59 age group needing [substance abuse] treatment that we will probably need to double the number of treatment facilities. ”
Now most of these boomer marijuana users have been using for 30 or 40 years. Most function quite acceptably in society, hold good jobs such as teacher, factory worker, doctor, attorney, or even President of the United States. They marry and raise children, travel, go skiing, sailing, and do all the things non-marijuana smoking Americans do but suddenly they will all need drug treatment. This is just another in a long history of claims totally unsubstantiated by the facts designed to scare the public.
H.L. Mencken said “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” Geriatric zombies indeed… and no, I’m not interested in buying that bridge you’ve got for sale either!
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I live here at the the front lines of the drug war. West of Tucson, Arizona. I see First hand what has transpired over the past decade or so. The desert south of here was a great place to go to, Bird Watching, hiking, rock-hounding, and relaxing. However, the desert is over run with Border Patrol. You can’t go that far into the desert without being tailed, or a helicopter circling overhead. You know, I might be one of those Geriatric Zombies, you mentioned very dangerous. There is trash all over the place where illegals hide out during the day. Not only a war zone but a trash dump, also. Oh, and if you get that far, you get to see The Great Border Fence of The United States. What a real Eye Sore. China has its Great Wall and the United States has The Great Border Fence that dosen’t stop much except the wild life. I’m for ending prohabition of marijuans. Its legalization makes sense to help fight crime and stop violence associated with it. When I lived in California I could go to a dispensery in show my medical marijuana card I knew that was safe, and I know anyone under 21 was unable to buy it, and anyone cought contributing to a minor was in trouble.