Journalism vs Media
Journalism is the watchdog of our society. It educates, informs, and forces all of us to ask questions. Would Watergate ever come to light if there weren’t two journalists focused on looking under the hood? How about the corruption and sexual abuse inside the Catholic church? Every day there is new information coming out about Trump and January 6th, or the indictment of Eric Adams.
But the media is a whole other ball game. The media appears more interested in capturing eyeballs than telling a balanced story. Does anyone believe the polls? Does anyone believe what they are reading anymore?
There was an article in the NYTimes called As Americans Marijuana Use Grows, So Do the Harms. This type of journalism creates conspiracy theories, such as what happened during COVID. Are some people still affected by long COVID? Sure. Were some people affected by the vaccine in a bad way? Sure. Did it keep most people alive? Yes. Have vaccinations stopped horrific diseases like polio, whopping cough, diptheria, influenza, hepatitis? Yes.
Do I believe the risks outweigh everything else? Absolutely. I feel the same way about using cannabis, and we have yet to discover all the positive opportunities that cannabis can make in the medical space. You know who is not happy about this? Pharma.
If you take the time to read the article in the NYX, which was pushed heavily for eyeballs and placement in the newspaper, the stats show a minor impact. Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome is what a lot of the article focused on. Reporters surveyed 200 physicians who have different specialties and found almost 600 people who suffer from this syndrome. 600 people spread throughout 200 physicians? I mean seriously. Thirty-five million people use cannabis daily in the United States.
Another slant in the article is the US is an outlier when it comes to selling cannabis sales. Really? Canada, Thailand (depending on the day), Spain, Uruguay, Croatia, South Africa, Spain, Netherlands, Greece, Mexico, Malta, Germany and Luxembourg, to name a few. If you are reading about the shifting legal cannabis market (recreational and medical), as I am, you will see that every country across the globe is talking about changing their policies.
How about some research on alcoholism, the worst vice? There are no data points in this article either. What other drugs are these people taking that they are not reporting? There is no study here but heresay from doctors and the patients. I am sure it’s horrifying for those who have these issues but the placement and story is inappropriate. And, of course, at the end of the article, if anyone ever gets there today, only 1-3% have chronic psychotic disorders.
This type of “journalism” is destroying the trust of the media in this country. Journalism is so important to a free society but when you look around at the lies being fed everyone particularly from Trump, it makes it really hard for anyone to understand the truth. Numbers are fungible and they should not be used to grab eyeballs.