Perhaps expecting reasonable and informed opinions on cannabis reform is a fool’s errand. Maybe we should easily predict what the notoriously conservative cable network, which influences President Donald Trump and his four-hour daily TV watching habits, will say about marijuana. Then again…Reefer Madness reaches absurd levels on Fox & Friends.
Cannabis legalization is one of the few remaining bipartisan issues in this country. Just this year, 59 percent of Fox News watchers supported legalizing cannabis, according to a poll conducted by the network itself. In January, Fox News senior health managing editor Dr. Manny Alvarez joined “Fox & Friends” to evince a pro-cannabis position from a health advocacy perspective. “It’s time to legalize marijuana and move on,” he said.
You don’t have to look far to find other Republicans spouting pro-cannabis platforms. Rep. Matthew Gaetz (R-FL), who’s been labeled our “Trumpiest congressman,” has emerged as a die-hard cannabis crusader, especially in crafting bipartisan legislation to deliver veterans better access to medical marijuana. Texas Republicans added marijuana decriminalization to its party platform, which had support even from the intractably conservative Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Some have even wondered if the cannabis industry is catering to the Republican Party now.
You shouldn’t reasonably expect Fox News to castigate cannabis legalization or exhibit intransigent negativity on cannabis. Their constituency just doesn’t blindly decry cannabis anymore. Which explains why their recent Reefer Madness moment was so wildly disappointing.
Fox & Friends goes full Reefer Madness, claiming that cannabis is:
-"addicting"
-"not a minor, non-violent felony"
-"killing people every day across the United States"
-"a gateway drug"
-used by meth addicts to help "kill themselves, or overdose, or kill someone else" pic.twitter.com/euvjB4h3Dr— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) December 3, 2018
These comments stem from the 12-year-old Florida boy who brought THC-laced gummies to school and shared them with six of his classmates. Five were hospitalized. A reminder: No sane person in the cannabis industry believes kids should consume cannabis, outside explicitly medical reasons.
But “Fox & Friends” couldn’t resist a good misinformed cannabis-bashing opportunity. So they brought on Polk County Sherriff Grady Judd, who’s been fashioning himself into a conservative media personality recently with a new podcast called “Not In My County.” Judd is investigating the case and claimed—without any evidence whatsoever—that marijuana is “killing people every day across the United States.”
“Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade couldn’t resist piling on the misinformed slushfest.
“It is ruining families and killing people every day across the United States and we stand here in denial thinking that it’s not a gateway drug to drugs killing people,” Kilmeade said.
Again, there are zero recorded cases of someone dying from cannabis overdose. In addition, overdoses have fallen in areas where cannabis have been legalized, and the position that “cannabis is a gateway drug” is not supported by science.
You can watch the “Fox & Friends” segment if you’re interested in watching some old-fashioned Reefer Madness. But fair warning: You’re not learning anything based in truth and science.
