A Drug War and a Toothless Press

Well, this isn't the most eloquent thing I've ever written, but exasperation is the enemy of pretty sentences. And I'm plenty exasperated after reading David Hench's piece in the Portland Press Herald, about the officers of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency who are sure to "make an important dent" in the supply of illicit drugs in the state.

Like too many press articles, especially in regional papers, Hench's piece amounts to an eager verbal back rub of the men he's supposed to cover with a measure of critical thinking and independent thought. So I wrote him a note.

Dear David:

I just read your "Pot Hunt" piece, and I think you missed some questions.

First this: Why would you swallow what the MDEA tells you hook, line, and sinker? Don't you know that at least half of all Mainers are thoroughly sick of the drug war, and with good reason? Does that not provide you with enough legitimate incentive to insert just a little bit of critical reporting into your articles?

The police team spends a day in the woods and comes home with a haul of 99 plants. That's considered success? You allow them to describe that as "pretty effective" without asking them a couple of follow-up questions? Huh.

Why not make a quick evaluation of the finances involved? That's taxpayer money, you know. Yours and mine. Sending search teams on a wild goose chase costs how much? Sending helicopters up in the air to look for a supposedly telltale shade of green costs what, exactly — let's say, on a yearly basis? Other than the officers themselves and some tough-on-crime showboating politicians, who would consider the uprooting of a few handfuls of plants a wise use of a veritable mountain of community funds?

Who was the genius who blurbed the story on Friday's or Saturday's front page, and wrote that the MDEA "knew" they stood to make a difference — a real "dent", even — in the availability of pot in the state? Really? They've been fighting this drug war for the better part of a century, and there's no indication illicit drug use is down. On the contrary. How are the DEA and the ONDCP and their ilk making a dent, exactly? An "important" dent at that, in your words!

Why do reporters time and again let these folks get away with this duplicitous crap — wanting their cake and eating it too? I mean, year after year, professional drug warriors justify their chosen profession by claiming that drug use is at excessive and dangerous levels. And then they contend that they're pretty damn successful in fighting it. So which is it?

You write that marijuana "can contribute to depression and lead to decreased cognitive function and motivation." It's debatable to what degree marijuana does this, but what isn't debatable is that alcohol leads to these same things in much higher numbers. Now, David, let me ask you this: When's the last time you went on a "Booze Hunt" with a team of ATF agents in search of illegal distilleries? Oh, that's right, alcohol isn't illegal.

And there's the rub: You want to talk about "decreased cognitive function"? I see plenty of that in McKinney's statement that "[Pot is] the most abused drug in the nation after alcohol, and Maine is no exception." So why is it OK for him to go after the number-two drug but leave the number-one drug alone? That's a cognitive disconnect of mindsplitting proportions. I'll bet Mr. McKinney goes home at night and knocks back a few cold beers, or a couple of bourbons, and feels really good about himself. But you didn't ask him about that. Or if you did, that regrettably didn't make it into the article.

Prohibition doesn't work, as this country found out in the 1920s and 30s. As soon as alcohol became legal again, the murder rate plummeted, and public health improved because people weren't drinking themselves blind on moonshine and turpentine anymore. And yet reports like yours make it seem like prohibition is a fine and just and halfway successful strategy.

Finally, in whose book it is OK to publish an article like yours without presenting the other side, however cursory? If you need the phone numbers of a couple of drug policy reform groups — the Drug Policy Alliance, Reconsider, NORML, and what have you — I'd be most happy to provide them.

Best wishes,

Rogier van Bakel

To be fair, when a reporter writes about drugs, he or she is is under no obligation to get into the history of the drug war. Habitually parsing the differences between the nation's drug policies versus alcohol policies shouldn't be a requirement either. But simply getting the other side of the story, come on, that's journalism 101; and working in some numbers about the cost and effectiveness of a taxpayer-financed agency is journalism 102.

Asking critical, informed questions would be journalism 103, but I'd be pretty stoked if David Hench and his fellow reporters began showing signs of having completed even just the prior two courses with a modicum of comprehension.

Comments

[Phil Nelson]

What do you think the odds of you seeing a reply are? I'd put them at about the same level of me finding a box of money today.

[Dave]

Great letter Roger. I hope the guy has the guts to at least reply. Actually looking into the matter with some real reporting instead of that puff piece would be even better. Let us know if you hear back from the guy one way or another.

[benpal]

Good job, Rogier. From my own experience I just guess that Hench doesn't really care that much about what he writes but about his monthly paycheck. Journalism today is in many cases a copy-and-paste job.

[Allan Erickson]

Well said. But understand, once you start, you won't be able to quit... there is no end to the drug war stupidity in this nation. Politicians won't deal with the subject beyond shallow sound bites. The media, at least our print media, is catching on. Slowly.

One of the most critical points to all of it is the shield that drug warriors surround themselves with. Like the ONDCP's "blog." Simplistic mutterings and no place for the pulic to be heard. At least those of us who use the wwweb to fight the drug war are public, we encourage discussion and eagerly await the drug warriors to step up and engage in open debate and discussion.

Keep it up.

[George Arndt]

The History Channel had a provacative series a few years back called "hooked'.

It was less timid than most things in the MSM.

[DH Michon]

Great site and good job on this Hench character. When you stop to consider the actual size of the problem, and remember that Hench is small-fry, the scope of the problem becomes clear. The Press (Media) is our enemy, for the most part.