Referring to cannabis as "dope" only helps advance the prohibitionist tactic of associating cannabis with hard drugs like cocaine and heroin.
Bad journalism is the source of a significant amount of disrespect toward cannabis consumers, prolonging the harms being visited on Canadian society as a result of cannabis prohibition.
The word "dope" is often used to evoke seedy imagery in the news coverage.
The term "dope" is also being used to insult cannabis users ("only dopes use dope"), falsely asserting that cannabis use has the effect of lowering a person's intelligence. Not true...
Marijuana Users Likely Single, Well-educated, Study Finds (03/28/05)
Marijuana popular among educated, middle-class Canadians: study (05/21/08)
(Note: Carl Sagan was a cannabis consumer.)
Don't let them use of this counter-productive term go unchallenged. Write to journalists and ask them why they chose not to use the proper word "cannabis" instead of a loaded, insulting term like "dope".
If more people expressed their offense at the use of biased and insulting terms for cannabis and cannabis users, the result could be a more respectful and balanced treatment of the cannabis prohibition issue by the media.
That would benefit ALL Canadians because a true democracy can only exist with an informed public.
"The continued prohibition of cannabis jeopardizes the health and well-being of Canadians much more than does the substance itself."
- Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, 2002
"Cannabis: Our Position for a Canadian Public Policy"
http://www.senatereport.ca
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