As a group beholden only to patients’ best interests, TRUCE’s goal is to be a credible source for news and info people can rely on in examining the case for medical cannabis.
Not all opponents hew to that standard, with many focused simply on keeping cannabis banned under as many circumstances as possible – where publishing misleading, unreliable data doesn’t seem much of a concern – even when their efforts are supported by the US government…
The Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA) is one of several regional groups chartered by the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy.
The ONDCP is a component of the Executive Office of the President of the US. The Director of NDCP, known as the Drug Czar, heads the office. The office’s mission is “to reduce illicit drug use, manufacturing and trafficking; drug-related crime and violence; and drug-related health consequences,” i.e., the value of medical cannabis is NOT on their radar
(See: http://ift.tt/1i9XO31 and http://ift.tt/1LH6D2p),
#RMHIDTA’s near book length “findings” are being circulated by Initiative foes (who also don’t shrink from implying that any and all concerns about legal personal use cannabis apply equally to medical, when they clearly don’t).
You may have already encountered the group’s handiwork. It’s being circulated by some local law enforcement groups and has been highlighted by members of the Eagle Forum, plus it’s generated national stories taking its claims at face value.
So how do the claims hold up when subjected to independent scrutiny?
As this Forbes look finds (along with another investigate piece (see link below), “RMHIDTA likes to present dramatic, seemingly scientific charts that make legalization look like a big mistake. The difficulties of interpreting the data presented in the charts are usually relegated to a footnote, assuming they are mentioned at all.”
The article takes down a number of their least defensible contentions and their frequent misuse of and unwarranted extrapolation from questionable or misread sources.
And in the RMHIDTA and its parent, we see further evidence of just how thoroughly institutionalized and ossified the federal government’s policies are against even medical reform across its vast, sprawling structure built up ever since the 1930s.
#MMJ #Research #BadData #USpol #UTpol #UtahNext #TRUCE
http://ift.tt/2fNf31F
See full article – Dishonest Government Report Assumes Marijuana Legalization Has No Benefits
