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Between Punkerslut and Freevibe
Date: Wednesday, January 3, 2007 Greetings, There are some factually incorrect statements on your website that I would like to draw attention to. For example, the website states, "Long-term use increases the chances of tissue damage and lung cancer, and also causes changes in the brain similar to those caused by long-term use of cocaine and heroin." [ http://www.freevibe.com/Drug_Facts/rightangle.asp#upinsmoke ] However...
Another part states: "They can also get the munchies when they're high-and it's not exactly health food they binge on. They don't call that tire-shaped ring of flab around the middle of a pothead the 'stoner's spare' for nothing." You're communicating to children at a very early and impressionable part of their mental and emotional development. The messages hear and the words they connect with at this age will determine the roles they decide to take in their community. Am I supposed to believe that there is something wrong, unattractive, or unappealing about partners that do not fully and completely conform to the media-hyped image of "sexy"? Should I be more critical of the way women look? Should I be more judgmental of the appearances of my brothers? What's your message here? Are you just about willing to exploit every social prejudice to advance your campaign? In the 20's and 30's, the government's public education program associated Marijuana use with Mexicans, deeming it unfit for the good old white man. You never heard the word "Marijuana" alone; it was always "Mexican Marijuana." You're just spoon-feeding more propaganda. Also, you're incorrect in associating Marijuana with overeating...
I look forward to hearing a response. Thank you. Andy Carloff, Date: Sunday, March 4, 2007 Greetings, I noticed that your website quotes the NIDA website on your Marijuana research page. Much of the research from the NIDA website is misquoted, misreferenced, or taken out of context. For example, they make the statement, "In laboratory experiments that exposed animal and human cells to THC or other marijuana ingredients, the normal disease-preventing reactions of many of the key types of immune cells were inhibited." and their citation is Adams IB, Martin BR: Cannabis: pharmacology and toxicology in animals and humans. Addiction 91(11):1585–1614, 1996. However, when I backtracked the original journal publication, I found out it actually stated, "Cannabis also has great therapeutic potential and has been used for centuries for medicinal purposes." The results of this report are counter to the published opinion of NIDA. If you would like to see a full review of NIDA's Marijuana facts, please see the following link... Naturally, no public health organization wants to publish misinformation about the health effects of drug abuse. If you doubt that NIDA's opinion on the health effects of Marijuana is founded on unsustainable footing, please see the above link. I appreciate it so much. Thank you, and I look forward to hearing a response. Sincerely, Date: March 7, 2007 Thanks for your interest in Freevibe.com. We are always excited to hear your thoughts. We publish research from leading drug experts, such as the National Institute on Drug Addiction (NIDA): http://www.nida.nih.gov/index.html. All facts and statistics from Freevibe may be found on the NIDA Web site. Freevibe.com is part of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. This Web site is designed to provide information on drugs and other risky behaviors to youth between the ages of 9-18, so we will never advocate anything that is illegal or harmful for our audience. We routinely use research and suggestions from teenagers to improve content for the site and television ads. Your comments will be taken into consideration as we continuously work to improve Freevibe.com. Thank you for contacting www.Freevibe.com Date: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 Greetings It has been at least a week since our last correspondence, regarding the republication of information by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Your website is still citing this alleged fact, "Long-term use increases the chances of tissue damage and lung cancer..." There is no association between marijuana smoking and lung cancer. In a study of 1,040 subjects without cancer and 1,212 subjects with cancer, there wasn't any increase of lung cancer for even the heaviest smokers. ["Study finds no marijuana-lung cancer link," Reuters, quoted from CNN.com, Wednesday, May 24, 2006; Posted: 2:11 p.m. EDT (18:11 GMT).] It has also been demonstrated that injecting THC into a tumor will significantly inhibit its growth. ["Pot Shrinks Tumors; Government Knew in '74," by Raymond Cushing, AlterNet. Posted May 31, 2000, http://www.alternet.org/story/9257/] This experiment was done in 2000, but it was also done in 1974 in the United States, where further research was prohibited by the federal government. In 1972, the US National Commission of Marijuana and Drug Abuse published a report titled, "Marihuana, A Signal of Misunderstanding." In this report, there are several citations for the use of marijuana in therapy and treatment of cancer; they certainly lack in depth credibility, and further research is absolutely needed. By preventing the public from hearing and understanding this information, Freevibe.com is contributing to the current public hysteria about drug use. Naturally, the use of Marijuana as a medicine has been highly advocated. Unlike the synthetic THC drugs the FDA and DEA pushes, Marijuana has never caused a single death. [ Medindia.net, "Coroner Says Sativex Is Responsible For Death Of Patient," 17 Dec 2005, http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=6382 ] By publishing information that suggests Marijuana causes cancer, Freevibe is hindering the progress of this drug becoming a medicine. With a misinformed public, that means a misinformed voter, citizen, and worker. This misinformation will sway the way in society behaves. Knowing that Marijuana has serious potential as a therapy to cancer will influence a person's decision when presented with the opportunity to vote for a candidate with a pro-medical marijuana agenda, or if a ballot initiative allows the state to conduct marijuana research, or if asked to sign a referendum petition decriminalizing marijuana. Instead, the misinformed public will be unfriendly and antagonistic to any social progress with the idea of Marijuana. Consider the millions in the world suffering from serious illness. Federal agents are even raiding medical marijuana distributors in the United States. [Seattle PI, "Agents raid medical marijuana advocacy office," http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/300191_potbust18.html] Publishing misinformation in this scientific area means that sick, suffering, and dying people will not have the medicine they need. Ultimately, these are the final victims of your drug war. It isn't drug use that is killing them... It the massive War on Drugs by the government, acted through the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. It is a war of both militarized aggression and militant, blindsighted propaganda. But, there's one other reason I suspect you won't remove your suggestion that Marijuana causes lung cancer. If presented with the true facts about Marijuana, an individual is more likely to say yes when offered to experiment with it -- and that undermines the basic precepts of Freevibe.com. Perhaps it is an inherently flawed mission -- to publish whatever it takes to stop people from using drugs, even if it means lying and deceit? Should you have any evidence that confirms that Marijuana causes cancer, I would be very interested to see it. So far, of all the citations by the National Institute of Drug Abuse that I have reviewed, each and every one of them misquoted or misreferenced their statement -- as far as the matter of Marijuana and cancer. If you would like to see... http://www.punkerslut.com/critiques/nida/infofactsmj.html Thank you again for listening. I hope very much that the website is quickly changed to remove the text stating that Marijuana increases the chance of lung cancer. Sincerely,
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