Yesterday, we all found out that Miami’s “Causeway Cannibal”, Rudy Eugene, wasn’t actually found to have any traces of “bath salts” in his system. The news came after the release of his long awaited toxicology report. The lone substance found was marijuana. Mr. Eugene has now gone from “Causeway Cannibal” to “Cannabis Cannibal” in a few news stories about the case. Sadly, in all likelihood, Mr. Eugene was probably suffering from the extreme comorbid effects of serious mental illnesses.
Unfortunately, this follows a familiar pattern. Almost every illicit substance known today has undergone similar social epidemics. Remember the social emergence and media demonization of PCP and Crack? Look at the history surrounding famous college basketball star and cocaine –not crack– overdose victim, Len Bias. The reporting of his death was the faulty crux of a greater media scare revolving around crack, that ended up helping instill one of the most socially damaging laws of the war on drugs. (The death of Bias was the social tipping point that lead to the establishment of the the crack cocaine sentencing disparity that devastated African American communities around the nation.)
Which is similar to what happened last week with the “bath salts” scare. Once again, cynical lawmakers used the scare to help rush bad legislation through Congress. As far as I can tell, the lone source of information that suggested Mr. Eugene might have been on bath salts was the speculation of a Miami police officer, without any evidence to support his opinion. This speculation would be repeated in practically every subsequent news story about Mr. Eugene.
There is not much reason to think that this story will be bad for the movement to end marijuana prohibition. The social perception and use of marijuana has risen to such a level in our current society, that news reports like this are more likely to elicit laughs, not screams, given that 50% of Americans are thinking about legalizing cannabis. Most people have never used bath salts, so it’s easy to believe propaganda about how terrible they are. On the other hand, so many people have used marijuana at this point in our history that it’s hard to pull one over on tens of millions of people who know that marijuana may give you the munchies, but not the munchies for human flesh.
Stop calling it bath salts. It is called MDPV. There were pills in his stomach that have yet to be identified.
Not true, bath salts could mean a number of different chemicals. MDPV, methylone, and mephedrone are common in ‘bath salts’ products. Pill casing in stomach mean nothing, could be normal medication, or could be aspirin.
It is troubling that this immature, unsophisticated media has so much indirect control over public thinking with they ways in which a story is spun. This can be potentially dangerous with customers running on half empty in the cranium tank; considering that the food, air, and water consume contains toxic chemicals that are causing damage you cannot see, but may make you or your genetic offspring suffer from the side effects of consuming foods that have modified your own DNA. The genetic food-product modification. Can we get this martin’s foods supply off Drugs?
Maybe then intellect will restore, and being balance to the earth. Media: YOU ARE FIRED!! And you’ll never work in my town again! I’ll vote to end dishonorable journalists before I vote to make legal issues out of a drug, or vote mandating the criminalization and warehousing of the members if this community who manage mental health challenges.
Do I sense civil war in the future? Yep. Good luck you rich SCUM.
>suffer from the side effects of consuming foods that have modified your own DNA
what
Oh, no, not weed! Oh, dear! Everyone who tries weed will end up like this!
They don’t have a test to detect SPICE that is why the kids were sold on using it by the Associated Press after the Government paid Clemson University researchers to develop it in 1993. But for the sake of this scare article by the Associated Press they left out the things that make people go nuts like antidepressants or the withdrawal of antidepressants that make people go wacko. We have an epidemic of these synthetic mood drugs. This poison is filling our emergency rooms, jails, morgues and grave yards. Yet the AP wants to scare old farts with cannabis cannibal stories. The AP has been lying to the public for 41 years about the history and science behind cannabis the #1 cash crop and source of food, fuel, fiber and medicine for the past 5, 000 years. The pain, suffering, crime, death and division the Associated Press has created to justify, finance and gather support for this war on drugs, weeds and humans amounts to war crimes against humanity. Time for these drug war politicians and journalists to cut the crap, come clean and face the music.
I’m so disappointed how this whole situation played out. All the sudden were jumping to outlaw another range of substances which doesn’t even address the problem. War on Drugs has failed and its time to follow Portugal’s example.
The media focus in this case is extremely disturbing as it *completely ignores* the most important aspect about this case – the fact that Mr. Eugene was able to consume any cannabis at all!
Cannabis is illegal in this country, and the fact that the toxicology report found that Mr. Eugene had been able to successfully obtain and consume some amount of it is a damning testament to the fact that **the prohibition doesn’t work**!
THIS should be the big news here – whatever particular effect the cannabis may or may not have had should be very secondary. But the media is acting like it *expects* the prohibition to fail. In fact, it’s acting like it so expects the prohibition to fail that this isn’t even news!
This is outrageous! We taxpayers fund the prohibition to the tune of $40 Billion a year and it’s now just taken for granted that it’ll never work?!! I want my money back! The prohibition causes 850,000 arrests and 10,000 brutal murders every year – if it doesn’t work then we HAVE TO END IT!
Umm…no. the big news here is that the dude ate a guys fuckin face off. The drug is actually legal in sone parts of the country..how can you even look past this and say the big issue is that he is on weed? Who gives a fuck what he was on…he ate a dudes face.
I’m more shocked that someone is so ignorant to marijuana laws and how millions and millions of people break them every day. I thought someone eating Someones face was crazy, but the fact that someone thinks that someone sold marijuana to someone and they bought it is a crazier thought.
Wow! And weed is in your system 30 days, who says he just smoked it?