by Bridget Hennessey, Vice President Government Relations Weedmaps
Throughout its history, cannabis has been blamed for many of American society’s woes, calamities and catastrophes. While some examples are comical, others are alarming. In the last century, legalization opponents and prohibitionists have used cannabis to demonize everything from jazz music and swing dancing to interracial dating. More recently, it’s been used as a wedge issue in American political discourse; a go-to reason to explain the cause of mass shootings and other acts of violence; and as a distraction strategy for issues ranging from education policy and civil rights to our nation’s involvement in foreign wars.
So it comes as no surprise that cannabis is being used in similar fashion and in a variety of ways during the current coronavirus pandemic.
On March 23rd, for example, the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board took a swipe at California Governor Gavin Newsom’s decision to categorize cannabis dispensaries as an essential business. Their editorial included name-calling (“potheads”), hackneyed jokes, and even used Weedmaps data to make their point — which is still unclear to me. The editorial cited a 2016 research review that claimed cannabis smoke affects human lungs the same as tobacco smoke does. It failed to mention the hundreds of well-established, peer-reviewed research that has found, among countless other important things, that cannabis compounds substitute for many ineffective and toxic medications. Or that 33 states have legalized medical cannabis — recognizing it as a safe, natural, non-fatal, effective and yes, essential medicine. Or even that many patients and consumers use cannabis in other forms than inhalation.
The next day Alex Berenson, a guest on FOX News Network’s “The Ingraham Angle” took the cannabis blame game to a new low. Discussing with host Laura Ingraham how some local and state governments deemed cannabis dispensaries as “essential” during shelter-in-place orders, he stated that “there’s a really strong correlation between the places that have the most cannabis use and the places where this epidemic has really taken off. Whether that’s New York City, the Bay Area, Seattle, Colorado…then Italy and Spain are the countries in Europe, along with France, that have the most use.”
In the same breath Berenson actually acknowledged that he was making the whole thing up, adding: “I think it would be irresponsible to say there’s any causation there. We don’t know anything about this [virus].”
Berenson is the author of the widely discredited book Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana. Cannabis disinformation and fear mongering is his stock and trade. Last year, he blamed teenage cannabis use for the El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH school shootings. Ingraham is no pal of the plant either, and regularly features guests touting a prohibitionist agenda and bogus health concern claims. Last year, she caused a Twitter fury when she unsuccessfully tried to take rival network CNN to task for a New Year’s Eve cannabis segment.
And the day after that. . . political commentator Ann Coulter tweeted to her 2.2 million followers a quote from an unnamed New York City doctor, who in response to mounting Coronavirus infections and deaths, wondered “how many of these younger patients are regularly using vapes, marijuana, smoking, drugs.” The mystery M.D. added: “No one is discussing these major types of dangerous inhalation behaviors and their LIKELY (Ann’s emphasis) impact on ‘healthy’ young people.” Nearly 5,000 of her followers liked that tweet.
By late-April, demonstrations escalated against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s shelter-in-place and social distancing rules, giving protesters and prohibitionists media-friendly sound bites, like: “Pot shops are open. Churches are not.” The line — forcing a comparison between small medical cannabis dispensaries and huge places of worship — gained traction and got a larger national audience when it was called out on “Fox & Friends” and by social media personalities Diamond & Silk shortly before the Fox Nation streaming service fired them for pushing coronavirus conspiracies.
To most people, all this effort would seem futile. Two-thirds of Americans say the use of marijuana should be legal, reflecting a steady increase over the past decade, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted last year. Separately, a YouGov poll conducted last month found that a majority of Americans believe cannabis dispensaries should be kept open as “essential services” amid the pandemic.
So why bother?
Political operatives use a baseball metaphor to describe these tactics: “pitches in the dirt.” They are ways to distract from the real, more pressing issues of the day; score political points and relitigate resolved issues; or just get someone’s name or pet cause out in the media. Sometimes it’s just to appease an audience of one. Often, and as we’ve seen in these examples, the allegations are so absurd and the newsiness is so fleeting, it isn’t worth the time or energy to respond or react. A “batter” has a choice: ignore a pitch in the dirt and let it linger unrefuted in the political atmosphere; or take a swing — and give the issue increased importance and additional attention. Sometimes that swing results in a base hit.
A few days after the Wall Street Journal ran its editorial, the paper’s “letters to the editor” section published two compelling, thoughtful, and deeply personal responses making the case for the essentialness of California’s cannabis dispensaries.
I know both authors. They are exceptional people and extraordinary advocates for our cause.
In his letter, Aaron Augustis, who founded the Veterans Cannabis Group, recounted the critical role medical cannabis plays in relieving the debilitating symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, including his own. That issue wasn’t included or considered at all in the Journal’s editorial.
Nor was Joni Hill’s. She shared with WSJ readers that her 10-year old twins, both with severe autism, require doctor-recommended specific medical-grade cannabinoid oil to function every day. Is “medical-grade pot” (as the editorial called it) essential for families like hers? Without a doubt.
Joni recently shared with me the conversation she had with the paper’s letters editor when he called to confirm her submission. “He admitted that he never thought of 10 year-olds needing pot. He said that when he hears “cannabis” he just thinks of ‘Cheech and Chong.’ I have no doubt he will look at cannabis in a different light when the issue comes before the editorial board in the future.”
That’s an “audience of one” that needed to be reached. And a distraction well worth the time and effort.
