'NY TIMES' TAKES HIT ON MARIJUANA BOOKLET

Group Assails Pamphlet As Distorted, Exaggerated

NEW YORK -- A Washington, D.C.-based group working to ease marijuana laws is
criticizing The New York Times for creating and distributing a handbook with
the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy that the group claims
is full of distortions and misrepresentations about the drug.

The Marijuana Policy Project, in an Oct. 17 letter to Times publisher Arthur
Sulzberger, Jr., obtained by E&P, called the 85-page booklet on marijuana
distributed through the Times' Newspaper in Education program "a succession
of distortions, exaggerations and strategic omission of relevant data." The
non-profit group also complained that the timing of the handbook, released
on Oct. 15, is improper because it occurred just weeks before Election Day,
when marijuana ballot measures will go before voters in several states.

Times officials declined to address the allegation that the booklet
distorted facts. But, in a statement sent to E&P Friday, the paper defended
its practice of providing such educational materials, which are used in
conjunction with the daily paper. "Our main goal ... is to foster
development of critical thinking skills through newspaper reading," the
statement read. "We are able to do this in part by helping teachers to
integrate newspapers into their curriculum."

The paper also said this was the third such handbook it has produced through
the White House drug office. The previous two dealt with drug messages in
the media and overall drug abuse, ranging from alcohol to inhalants.

The Newspaper in Education program is a separate Times business unit from
the editorial department, Times officials said. Although the handbook
included previously published articles from the Times, no reporters or
editors are involved in its creation.

MPP's letter, however, claimed that the handbook had purposely avoided using
Times articles that challenge the government's position on marijuana. "The
articles included have been selectively chosen," the letter stated. "Using
only those that tend to support the federal government's view of marijuana."

The handbook can be downloaded at
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/NIE/focusonmarijuana/ .