Sabet’s Snake Oil Show Heads to Oregon

It looks like my favorite punching bag and one of the most vocal shit-peddlers, Kevin Sabet, took his stinky train of bullshit to Oregon earlier this month to spread the horrors of cannabis. This guy just reeks of political ambition and I truly believe he has aspirations of higher office and he is using cannabis as his whipping boy to build up his political clout.

I get crippling diarrhea every time I read the “science” he spouts. I do take some small comfort in the fact that he has blocked me from his twitter feed. It seems fitting that he buries his head in the sand when confronted with a dischordant voice. Ignoring the truth and breathing lies is how cannabis prohibition got started, so it’s only natural that the reincarnation of Harry Anslinger uses the same tactics.

His tour of Oregon was originally supposed to entail 13 stops, but it was truncated to 7 when cannabis advocates accused Sabet of using federal grant money in support of what many thought were political events. I won’t include the full Q & A section from Sabet’s talk, but you should definitely read through them in case anyone uses his filthy mouth-turds as facts.

Here are a few choice excerpts:

“Q: What do you think of how legal marijuana has rolled out in Colorado and Washington?

A: I think it sounds a lot better in theory than it plays out in practice. In theory, it sounds like rainbow and unicorns — tax revenues, getting rid of gangs, and keeping it out of the hands of kids. In reality it means gummy bears and ‘pot tarts’ marketed to 15-year-olds and coupons that allow you to get a one dollar joint if you show your ski pass and more dangerous roads and communities that are all of a sudden in the pocket of special interest marijuana groups. I don’t think that’s what the soccer mom in Littleton thought about when she voted for (Colorado’s) Amendment 64.”

In reality, Sabet doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about. Is it fair to say that there are going to be some down sides to the growing cannabis movement? Probably. There are good and bad facets to any issue. But Sabet seems content to hone in on a few anecdotal cases of negativity while summarily ignoring the overwhelming amount of positives. Also, it has been reported that, despite the fears of rampant weed-gremlins espoused by lawmakers in Colorado prior to legalization, those fears have simply not materialized. Tax revenues are skyrocketing and crime is falling.

“Q: Legalization advocates say your message is modern-day ‘reefer madness.’ What do you make of how you and your message are portrayed?

Sabet: I think I am extremely misunderstood and also purposely mischaracterized. It would be a lot better for legalization advocates if I was a modern-day prohibitionist from the ’20s, saying that everybody should go to prison if they smoke a joint and this is a gateway drug.

That would make their lives easier. They could say, ‘This guy is crazy.’ I didn’t say any of that. I go out of my way to say a couple things. One, I go out of my way to say most people who use marijuana won’t become addicted. Two, most people who use marijuana will not go on to use heroin. And three, that this is not the devil’s weed.

But what I do talk about is what every single medical association talks about, which is the drug is more harmful than it used to be, that we underappreciate its harms because its harms aren’t as immediately apparent as other drugs, that we desperately need to understand the connection between mental illness and learning and if we are supposed to create a race to the top for education and a workforce that can compete on the global marketplace, we should think twice before allowing ourselves to be duped by another industry, just like the industry we are beginning to put in its place, which is tobacco.”

Poor Kev-O is not mis-characterized in the slightest or misunderstood. I know fully well what his message is: veiled prohibitionism behind the guise of public health and science. It is likely true that cannabis potency is much higher than it used to be, but that also means people need to use less of it to get the effects. Also, potency aside, it still doesn’t mean it’s more dangerous.

He likes to blame weed for mental illness when those connections are vague, at best. And for all his talk about how much legal weed will hurt America in the global workforce and educational fronts, he seems completely unwilling to acknowledge that, despite prohibition, cannabis has long been the most widely used recreational drug (not counting alcohol and tobacco). We, as a nation, have been smoking weed for generations. How can he keep a straight face when trying to paint a direct line between using cannabis and reduced mental function?

Carl Sagan was one of the most brilliant minds of our time and he was an avid, frequent marijuana smoker. 50 Kevin Sabets couldn’t hope to hold half the intelligence of Sagan. I am reminded of an Albert Einstein quote:

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”

Thanks for proving Albert correct, Kev. You’re about as mediocre a mind as I can imagine. When weed is fully legal in this country, I’m not sure you’ll be able to find a squeegee big enough to get all the egg off your face. Good luck in your future career selling fries to a bunch of stoners.