State-Sponsored Drug Awareness Seminars Spin the TruthSally Oh Judging by the sign-in sheet, almost all attendees were state employees, including the Mayor, the Police Chief and social workers employed by the War On Drugs (WOD). Candy, the seminar leader, was young, adorable, great smile, and seemed right at home in front of the room. Her expertise on the topic of synthetic drugs, however, left much to be desired. If she were really an expert, why were there so many inconsistencies, half-truths and errors of omission in her presentation? In fact, during the seminar, experts who actually know facts about drugs, like Dr. Alexander Shulgin, were ridiculed. Did those learned conclusions not fit the narrative? After Candy mentioned Dr. Shulgin and his massive body of work, all the while shaking her head with a pitying smile, the social worker (according to her name tag) sitting across from me, muttered, Idiot. Idiot? Really. Dr. Shulgin knows more in the tip of his pinky about drugs and their effects on human beings than this woman will know in her lifetime, particularly if all she ever learns is from state-sponsored seminars. And she calls him an idiot? Is the tone here just a bit peeved? You betcha. Who do you think is paying for all this? Not just the seminar but the salaries and benefits and pensions of every government employee in that room. The least they could do is a) get it right and b) have some respect for the truth, even if its inconvenient. Meanwhile, since 2000, tens of thousands of teens have used synthetic drugs with no negative side effects at all, making it safer than alcohol! No mention made of that. Why not? Its a FACT. Picking Apart the Re-Education Following are a few of the seminars inconsistencies, half-truths and omissions discovered by doing a tiny bit of research. Research Candy should have done. On Criminalizing Melatonin Apparently, the FDA is looking into regulating melatonin. How ridiculous! Melatonin is a harmless substance sold OTC in every drug store, superstore, grocery store and vitamin store in the US, whether brick and mortar or online. Melatonin is a natural, non-addicting hormone supplement that assists with sleep. Dr. Oz Melatonin is not addicting, not harmful in anyway. In fact, it is believed by many experts including the National Institute of Health to have healing properties. At relatively large dosages (7580 milligrams) it appears to produce an increase in total sleep, along with a decrease in daytime sleepiness. This is all without hangover. It appears to be a sleep catalyst at modest levels, and a soporific at higher levels, where it can be administered chronically (75 mg/day) for a couple of weeks. with satisfactory effects. There is a paucity of reports at intermediate dosage levels. Another study has shown melatonin to be very protective of the DNA in human white blood cells from gamma irradiation, even at very low concentrations. This may be due to the strong anti-oxidant properties of melatonin. PiHKAL by Dr. Shulgin. No matter that melatonin is not harmful and possibly healthful, says Dr. Shulgin: In the name of drug control, melatonin will eventually become illegal, and it will then pass totally out of any semblance of control. Candy was laying the groundwork for this in her seminar. Why? Either she is terribly concerned about your children and the imagined dangers of melatonin which can be dispelled with 15 minutes of research or, like a lot of people in todays world, she is terribly concerned about job security. Drug warriors need a few drugs to be illegal so they can keep their jobs. And they need you and me to be terribly frightened so we will go along with the game. Its certainly possible Candy believes what she is doing is moral and righteous. It is not. And Reefer? Not a negative word said. Not one. Because its no longer possible to make pot out to be a menace to society. Marijuana is not only harmless, it has medicinal uses. The governments own studies prove this. Another government study proved that marijuana is not a gateway drug. Inconvenient truths, but you cant argue facts. What will happen when marijuana is legalized? Synthetic drugs will go the way of bathtub gin, of course. Why not just legalize pot? In fact, it would be interesting to check out how synthetic mj sales are doing in Washington and Colorado these days. Kids are a) going to get high and b) believe they are immortal. Dangerous combo. If we cared about teen users, wed educate them and the adults around them with facts. Why arent we? P.S. Local Head Shop Gets A Mention At the end of her seminar, Candy asked if anyone had heard of The Botany Bay? A few people, me included, raised our hands. She said the Bay is raided like monthly and that it writes it off as a business expense. Those remarks fit the definition of slander. The Botany Bay has been raided exactly two times in the past 3 years. Yes, the $300,000 these two raids have cost the owner would be considered a business expense. Unless you call it what it was: being vandalized, stolen from, harassed and intimidated by government thugs, then being shamelessly extorted when it looked like she might get away with running a legal business. The facts of this matter like all the other facts in all the other matters above can be confirmed with a quick internet search. It seems only fair that Candy be required to get her facts updated before she is allowed to lead another one of these training sessions at tax payer expense. Is there a Synthetic Drug Awareness mis-information campaign in your area? Find out about upcoming educational programs by calling your health department. Keep us posted. Sally Oh is a native Kentuckian, wife, mother, liberty blogger, real food blogger, homesteader, recovering REALTOR and future nutritional counselor. When not writing, shes lobbying for liberty. Follow her on Facebook. linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 