A SAD DEVELOPMENT IN THE WAR ON DRUGS

The Monday, October 7, 2002, edition of the Columbus Dispatch reflected a
sad development in the War on Drugs, particularly marijuana.

Page A7 lead off with an article about products that some people use to
thwart drug tests. The article only featured one side of the complex issue
of drug testing, quoting only one source, the Drug and Alcohol Testing
Industry Association. Obviously, this group has a bias in favor of drug
testing.

The remaining three-quarters of page A7 displayed a large anti-marijuana ad
from the Office of National Drug Control Policy. This piece recited
numerous "facts" about marijuana that, upon closer examination, have proven
questionable time and again.

It has been said that the first casualty of war is the truth. Might it be
that the second is journalistic ethics?

Traditionally, newspapers have erected a figurative "wall" between the
newsroom and the sales department. This meant that news was news regardless
of corresponding advertising. The Dispatch, along with many other
newspapers such as the Chicago Sun-Times, appears to have torn down this
wall. A page that starts with a one-sided drug testing article and ends
with an anti-marijuana ad takes newspapers away from their traditional
search for the truth to a mouthpiece for government propaganda.

Some might find this transition palatable if it were not for the sidebar
article in the Dispatch Metro section on the same day. Here is where
propaganda leads. On September 27, 2002, a SWAT team killed 23 year old
Clayton Helriggle while executing search warrant for marijuana on his home
in rural Preble County. Only a small amount was found. He joins a growing
list of individuals like Donald Scott of California or Patrick Dorismond of
New York City who have met a similar fate.

When the government and the media conspire to influence the public by
presenting only one side of an issue, real people do get hurt. So the
question must be asked, if news is news and journalists search for the
truth, why wasn't the article about Clayton Helriggle placed below the drug
testing piece or next to the ONDCP ad? A sad development in the War on
Drugs, particularly marijuana.

Mary Jane Borden

(address info)