Recent reporting about research on laboratory rats corroborating the
marijuana "gateway" theory, that smoking cannabis leads to a desire for
harder drugs, was carried as a major story by nearly every newspaper
and news programme in the US (This Week, 5 July, p 4).

By contrast, another marijuana study, also funded by the
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), garnered practically zero
media coverage when it was published in this April's issue of the
American Journal of Public Health. The unpublicized report, entitled
"Marijuana use and mortality", studied a sample population of 65 171
people (the largest such study ever done) and found "little, if any"
link between marijuana use and premature death.

The difference in coverage given to these two studies can be
explained by the NlDA's disinclination to publicise science which
doesn't serve its political agenda. Unfortunately, the mainstream
media seem mostly content to play the role of government stooge,
dutifully regurgitating information which they have been spoon-fed
by agencies such as the NIDA.

The result is a media bias which deceives the public with lengthy
stories based on carefully manicured "lies by omission" while
other viewpoints are relegated to a few lines on the editorial page.

Craig Schroer
Austin, Texas