Project SAM Hyperbole: Seattle Students Love Marijuana

In normal shit-peddler fashion, the visionaries over at Project SAM recently tweeted the following:

Spike in MJ use seen in Seattle public schools: http://t.co/BiUKGFVIDX

— Project SAM (@learnaboutsam) March 19, 2014

While that makes a catching headline and certainly plays handily into Project SAM’s propaganda, it’s an incomplete representation of truth.

For starters, the entire source article came to fruition in response to a letter sent out by one principal of a Seattle High School. In that letter, the principal says, “our discipline incidents with respect to marijuana/alcohol use are double what they were this time last year [with] the freshmen class account[ing] for approximately half of those numbers.” For the sake of clarity, last years number was 12 incidents, this year is about 24 (out of a school with a population of over 3,000). That’s an increase from 0.4% of the population to “double” at 0.8% of the total student body.

This “staggering” number of incidents accounts for marijuana AND alcohol incidents. And let’s not forget that about half of those incidents came from one incoming freshmen class. I would imagine that if this insidious cannabis takeover that Project SAM is hoping for was a real thing it would require more evidence than an alleged increase of 12 students from one cohort. I’d also like to point out that I am familiar with the schools that feed into this high school and created this freshmen class. The schools are all overcrowded and underfunded.

Additionally, the claim by SAM that marijuana use is a pandemic plaguing the entire district is suspicious. It appears that this whole notion of marijuana use skyrocketing came from one person, Lisa Sharp, who heads the Seattle Public School drug and alcohol prevention program. She states, “specifically, really this school year, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in marijuana use on campus by our students.” And while her word certainly carries gravity based on her position, it’s also exactly what you’d expect an anti-drug program leader to say. Additionally the article states, “the district does not yet have figures that quantify the increase; Sharp said her assessment is based on anecdotal evidence and reports from schools.”

Anecdotal evidence counts for nothing in the world of science. But it sure does preach to a choir looking to make arbitrary connections that support their issues. Shit, my cat refused to eat “healthy” cat food, I guess since that happened it must mean that every cat in the whole city refuses to eat it as well. This is the problem with reporting “findings” without doing any actual research and having a pool of sample data from which is too small to draw accurate results.

What Project SAM (again) seems all too happy to overlook is that while there is a small increase (about 1-2%) in marijuana use since 2008, alcohol use has dropped about 9% and cigarette use is down by about 5% in that same time span. If you’re in the business of making anecdotal correllations, how about jumping on the obvious correlation that minor increases in cannabis use leads to significant decreases in tobacco and booze? I’d wager a national poll of parents would show that, given those three substances to choose from, cannabis is far and away the safest.

I am a parent of Seattle Public School children and, of course, I hope my kids don’t drink or smoke anything at all while they are children. But the hard truth is that most kids will experiment with something. This has been true since time immemorial and anyone who has made it to adulthood can verify this from their own experience. Given that propensity and the high likelihood that kids will try something, I hope my kids choose pot over booze and cigarettes. Being a teenager/young adult is a hard time developmentally speaking and most of us would likely say that things get better as you grow into your adult self. I had too many friends who drank and drove and died and the evils of tobacco are widely documented. I feel confident in saying that if those kids had chosen cannabis, they would at the very least have a much greater chance of still being here.

In no way am I advocating underage substance use. However, I will always advocate for honesty and accuracy in reporting. It seems, yet again, that the one common thread that connects nearly all in the anti-cannabis community is an allergic reaction to the scientific process. I don’t think I am asking too much. Prove your points, support (with science) your claims and I will be happy to listen. I am wholly willing to alter my perception of a thing if you can convince me that to do so is virtuous and based on reality. I have no patience for emotional gas-bagging and reactionary commentary.

Aziz Ansari has a bit where he says that, at some point, fighting against gay marriage (no matter what justification you concoct) really boils down to not liking gay people and wanting to stick it to them. I’m beginning to feel that way about the anti-pot crowd. If you don’t bring science and honesty to the table when you’re trying to convince me that cannabis is bad, then you just look like an angry internet troll trying to attack something you simply don’t like. I don’t care if you want to get high, I care when your stubborn, selfish, ignorance gets so overblown that you try and stop the rest of us from living the lives we choose. I don’t go to Kevin Sabet’s office and knock the Speak n’ Spell out of his hands, I wish Project SAM would just stick to their fun abstinence and Triscuit parties and leave the pot to all of us gangstas and cartel lords.