Tom Scott is No Expert on Drugs Says NORML

Cannabis law reform group NORML has attacked the credentials of one of New Zealand’s main anti-drug campaigners, the well-known cartoonist Tom Scott.

"Tom Scott is no drug expert. It’s a tragedy that the media have virtually ignored the Law Commission’s well-researched discussion paper and are instead treating a propagandist like Scott as an expert, says NORML President Phil Saxby.

"Tom Scott admits the War on Drugs is "wrong" yet at the same time continues to mislead the general public about the real effects of cannabis use", said NORML president Phil Saxby today.

The cartoonist was presented as a drug expert when speaking last Tuesday, April 6 on National Radio’s The Panel about recent statements made by Sting criticizing the War on Drugs.

"Tom Scott must stop giving people false information about cannabis and other drugs", said Mr Saxby. "In approximately one minute he made the following statements on public radio – all of them completely unsubstantiated and incorrect:

1) Cannabis today is "fifty times stronger" than it was in the 1970s.

2) Cannabis is "stored in every cell membrane for six weeks" after smoking. "Cannabis is the only drug which does this". By contrast, heroin, cocaine and alcohol all disappear from the body "within minutes".

3) Cannabis "causes damage to every single cell in the body".

4) Cannabis "duplicates Alzheimer’s in a young person’s brain". "

"This last claim is simply appalling. Comparing the possibility of short-term loss of short-term memory while stoned on cannabis with a tragic disease that causes major degradation of the brain is a wild and extreme claim amounting to fabrication", he said.

Mr Saxby said that with 400,000 New Zealanders currently using cannabis, it is absurd for Scott to keep making false claims. "The majority of the country won’t fall for prohibitionist nonsense. Unfortunately, continued exaggerations and untruths like this, unchallenged in the news media, are confusing and put at risk the chance of updating our obsolete drug control laws.

The Law Commission talks about a more balanced approach – its report is called "Controlling and regulating drugs". We badly need to hear from the real experts, concluded Mr Saxby.

ENDS

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