Pubdate: Mon, 22 Dec 2014
Source: New York Post (NY)
Copyright: 2014 N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc.
Contact: http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/letters/letters_editor.htm
Website: http://www.nypost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/296
Author: Eliyahu Federman
Page: 27

THE HUFF POST'S DRUG PROBLEM

THE Huffington Post, through its widely viewed video service HuffPost 
Live, is promoting recreational use of marijuana as well as even more 
troubling nonsense about the medicinal value of hard drugs like 
ecstasy, acid and other Schedule I substances.

When Miley Cyrus smoked a joint on stage at the European Music Awards 
and at the Art Basel Miami Beach festival, most saw it as reflecting 
the ills of celebrity culture. But the danger of public acceptance 
and misuse is much greater when a significant media outlet promotes 
illicit drugs.

The most recent example was just this month in a HuffPost Live 
segment on the benefits of psychedelic drugs, like mushrooms, to 
treat depression. In the intro, host Josh Zepps talks up his own 
personal and seemingly positive "holistic loving majesty" 
recreational experiences with hallucinogen use.

Tellingly, the panel consisted of two authors on books defending LSD, 
mushrooms, acid and ecstasy, plus one libertarian presenting the 
pro-drug-legalization side. There wasn't a single MD to defend (let 
alone challenge) the claim that psychedelics have legitimate medicinal value.

A network that has had guests like Jimmy Carter, Elizabeth Warren, 
Bill Gates, Bill de Blasio, Cory Booker and others should've had no 
trouble finding an expert physician to discuss this. Was someone too 
high to realize that having a doctor on the panel might be relevant 
to a segment on the power of "magic mushrooms" to treat depression? 
Or maybe HuffPo couldn't find a doctor to endorse that view?

In a similar segment earlier this year, HuffPost Live host Alyona 
Minkovski joined author Tom Schroder to discuss how ecstasy can 
supposedly help heal illnesses like PTSD.

The problem's not just that the government classifies ecstasy as a 
dangerous drug with "no recognized medical use." A scientific review 
of the drug found that even if it has therapeutic effects in some 
patients, it's still unsafe medically because of its "lasting 
neurotoxic and cognition impairing effects in humans."

The HuffPo host concludes by claiming, "There are a lot of people in 
the medical community that are calling for at least more 
experimentation in this area," without citing who or what any of 
those sources are. No doctor was on this panel either, nor were the 
risks of the drugs even considered except for host Minkovski to 
dismiss the dangers as government conspiracy and cast doubt on 
studies showing how ecstasy "can have devastating health effects."

The Huffington Post isn't just promoting dangerous theories on 
claimed medicinal benefits of illicit drugs. The host of HuffPost 
Live's recent holiday segment "A Christmas Gift Guide For The Stoner 
In your Life" openly promotes recreational pot use.

HuffPost's Ricky Camilleri starts the broadcast discussing the 
legalities of transporting marijuana across Colorado state lines. No 
harm in that. But one minute in, he gets to the main point, promoting 
weed: "We got a lot of the legal stuff . . . out of the way - let's 
talk about what people really want to hear about, which is what they 
are going to get for Thanksgiving and Christmas when it comes to weed."

 From there on out, the show is devoted to advice on cooking 
marijuana, using paraphernalia, getting high and giving 
cannabis-related gifts, without a single mention of the health costs 
of marijuana use.

Regardless of one's views on legalization, marijuana is still illegal 
in most states and can also be harmful, especially when use is heavy 
and long-term. According to the National Institute of Health, a 
whopping 16 percent of drug-treatment-facility admissions are related 
to "marijuana dependence." Web MD reports that marijuana can cause or 
exacerbate "mental health problems like depression, anxiety, suicidal 
thoughts, short-term psychosis, and schizophrenia."

Studies suggest that favorable portrayals of drugs in movies and TV 
shows can even lead to more substance abuse. How much worse the 
impact of the news media's positive portrayal, normalization and 
misinformation on drugs?

HuffPo's coverage of the war on drugs and the debate over pot 
legalization is generally fair. But its shows promoting illegal drug 
use and one-sided theories on the medicinal value of illicit 
narcotics - while ignoring or glossing over the real risks of drug 
abuse - are irresponsible and dangerous.

Someone needs to tell the Huffington Post to just say no to drugs or 
rename its video broadcast HighPost Live.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom