Misinformation on drug blasted

MICHAEL JORDAN/The London Free Press

Jeff Shurie shows literature that he says contains "misinformation."
A Racing Against Drugs pamphlet lies about pot's effects, a critic says.

By Noel Gallagher
Free Press Education Reporter

A former teacher fired for growing pot wants what he describes as the
"lies" and "propaganda" in an RCMP antidrug pamphlet sponsored by
London's two school boards removed.

Jeff Shurie said the alleged "misinformation" is in an 18page booklet
given to local Grade 46 pupils visiting Racing Against Drugs, a drug
awareness project held recently at Western Fair.

Shurie said there's no scientific proof to support many of the
"harmful effects of marijuana" listed in the booklet, including damage
to the brain, pituitary gland, chromosomes, reproductive, immune and
central nervous systems.

"Someone has to answer for this breakdown in the system and the school
boards and the Mounties have to take responsibility," said Shurie, a
volunteer worker at Hemp Nation, a retail hemp shop in London.

The controversial antidrug booklet was referred to during the trial
of Hemp Nation's proprietor Chris Clay, who was charged with several
counts of possession and trafficking cannabis sativa. Clay's trial
ended earlier this week with Justice John McCart reserving his
decision.

An RCMP release Friday said its local drug enforcement branch had
"reviewed the contents of the literature and find it consistent with
data provided in recent reports from reliable medical sources."
Neither the release nor the booklet name those sources and calls to
the RCMP's drug awareness program in London weren't returned.

LondonMiddlesex Catholic school board officials said they plan to
investigate the information. London board of education officials said
they've sent the booklet to drug experts at the Addiction Research
Foundation for review.

Corrections are definitely needed, according to Harold Kalant,
director emeritus of research for the Torontobased foundation, who
termed much of the booklet's marijuana data as "exaggerated,
overstated and misleading."

Kalant, who appeared as a Crown witness during the London pot trial,
said he knew of no scientific evidence that backs several of Racing
Against Drugs' claims, including the one stating longterm marijuana
users become "chemically addicted" to the banned substance.

"The term 'addiction' is no longer used in regard to marijuana. Groups
such as the World Health Organization and the American Association of
Psychiatrists have agreed 'dependence' is a more accurate word," said
Kalant, who's also professor emeritus of pharmacology at the
University of Toronto. "The biggest risk of dispensing this type of
misinformation is that the young people will become skeptical and
suspicious and not pay attention to the true information."

"When kids find out the truth they're liable to say 'well, if they
lied to me about marijuana then maybe they're lying to me about the
dangers of cocaine, alcohol and steroids, too,' " Shurie said. "I hate
to use the word 'lying' but the warondrugs groups are so righteous
they're willing to use any means to justify their ends."

NOT A REPRISAL: Shurie, 40, denied his criticism was a reprisal for
his being fired by the board in April 1992 after he was charged with
growing marijuana in the basement of his London home.

"I'm sure the board will say I have an axe to grind, but that's just a
smoke screen," said the former Hillcrest elementary school Grade 6
teacher who pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $2,000. "It's
been five years since I was busted and my teaching career came to an
end and if I was trying to get back at the board I would have done it
before now. I'm just waiting for the Mounties and the two boards to
fix this. All I want is to see a wrong corrected."