Anti-pot academics paid by drug companies
By Lee Fang, Vice
As Americans continue to embrace pot — as medicine and for recreational use — opponents are turning to a set of academic researchers to claim that policymakers should avoid relaxing restrictions around marijuana. It’s too dangerous, risky, and untested, they say.
Just as drug company-funded research has become incredibly controversial in recent years, forcing major medical schools and journals to institute strict disclosure requirements, could there be a conflict of interest issue in the pot debate?
Vice has found that many of the researchers who have advocated against legalizing pot have also been on the payroll of leading pharmaceutical firms with products that could be easily replaced by using marijuana. When these individuals have been quoted in the media, their drug-industry ties have not been revealed.
Take, for example, Dr. Herbert Kleber of Columbia University. Kleber has impeccable academic credentials, and has been quoted in the press and in academic publications warning against the use of marijuana, which he stresses may cause wide-ranging addiction and public health issues. But when he’s writing anti-pot opinion pieces for CBS News, or being quoted by NPR and CNBC, what’s left unsaid is that Kleber has served as a paid consultant to leading prescription drug companies, including Purdue Pharma (the maker of OxyContin), Reckitt Benckiser (the producer of a painkiller called Nurofen), and Alkermes (the producer of a powerful new opioid called Zohydro).
Kleber, who did not respond to a request for comment, maintains important influence over the pot debate. For instance, his writing has been cited by the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police in its opposition to marijuana legalization, and has been published by the American Psychiatric Association in the organization’s statement warning against marijuana for medicinal uses.
The similarities with the Climate Change deniers come immediately to mind.
Agreed, Copper. Always a good idea to check who is paying for the research, and what corporate veeps are on the board of directors for the universities the studies are coming out of.
Why don’t we just uncomplicated the argument of all of these drugs and chemicals and just legalize “Getting Stupid” ….
I just want to maintain the right to check a box before having surgery indication whether I want my surgeon on pills, drugs, alcohol or dope.
Is that too much to ask for ?
Bringing up the most extreme example to make your case.
Obviously your sobriety is questionable.
If a person has not outgrown the use of marijuana on a regular basis by the time they are 25 , they probably still sleep in Star Wars sheets and play X box.
Getting stupid has always been a right, supported by every side of the political divide. Unless, of course, you get stupid in a fashion that actually might offend the stupid folks on the other side. Then look out. An entire internet forum industry has been created to support stupids vs stupids. Make sense and you’ll upset the equilibrium and be banished forever.
tahoebluewire: The best thing about stereotypes is that you don’t have to think very hard after using them. Thinking hard is hard.
MONEY!! Why on earth would anyone think that anything that concerns as much money as this issue would be simple and straight forward? We are talking about BILLIONS of dollars. On one hand you have Big Pharma who wants to keep the status quo and on the other you have new start up companies (yeah you Kubby) who want to cash in on changing public opinions. With this much green involved (green folding money that is) both sides will do everything they can to try and influence your opinions on this. If things were only about facts the tobacco industry would be GONE.
So pick your own poison people. YOLO.
Cosa..not stereotyping. Those are my observations. Most of My friends that are drug free : successful careers and families. My friends that use pot: single, renters , living check to to check.
Bluewire, I guess you didn’t catch that recently two different US congressman admitted openly to marijuana use. Your observation is myopic and just plain generalization. And those friends that you speak of that are supposedly drug free, do they drink? Alcohal is a much more dangerous than marijuana. Alcohol ruins more lives and causes over 100,000 deaths in the US per year from just the physiological effects of drinking. Marijuana, zero. And don’t kid yourself, alcohol and tobacco ARE drugs.
Biggerpicture, sugar and fat are addictive too. Endorphin junkies are addicted to their highs off adrenalin, some people get high off nature. SEX is addicting to many.Alcohol, pills, marajuana, are all addicting. People choose their poision and all of these choices have consequences. All of the choices above can kill you in one way or another. I read an article about all the touchy feely benefits of pot smoking and at the end of the article it told several stories about people that died from eating pot laced candy and foods. They overdosed on pot. One girl was so high she tried to fly out her dorm window. Maybe you should tell her family that pot is all ok.
We are all addictive to something ,Who is perfect ,name one ?
Cosa Pescado,
I feel so fortunate that I have much more of a life than literally living in forums and insulting everyone to make myself feel better…….
Right on copper, I like your take on stupid, both far right and far left, who like to Waite to hear themselves speak(though we all do that a little bit) I just wish people wouldn’t get personnel and act civil
Go figure, a person would have to ingest the thc from the equivalent of close to one ton of marijuana to receive a lethal dose. And please refer us to the publication you speak of that cites death being caused by ingesting marijuana.
Biggerpicture. All I did was google colorado deaths from pot and there were 20 or more articles from different respectable publications that shared stories about different people who have died or killed someone because they were too high. Im not making this up, look for yourself. It said one kid consumed 65mg of thc in a serving of pot edibles, no where close to a ton of pot like you suggest. Do your homework…there is no regulations on concentrations or labeling yet, thus the overdoses. Pot smokers and users do not live in a bubble and will most certainly overuse their drug of choice.