Wow! I read through this whole thing and it's clear to me that there are a few baseless assumptions that most are making:
First, calling this propaganda is an interesting choice.
There is definitely an abundance of propaganda out there, to be sure. But just because something says something you don't like, that does not make that thing propaganda.
prop·a·gan·da /ˌpräpəˈɡandə/ See definitions in: All Politics Roman Catholic Church noun 1. information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. "he was charged with distributing enemy propaganda"
For something to be propaganda, there must be a particular underlying motive intending to sway a particular audience in a particular way.
This is a news piece. It is reporting something that happened. It is fairly matter-of-fact in tone. There is no mention at all whatsoever of anyone wanting to do anything about marijuana consumption, legality, or access.
There is no judgement placed for nor against the defendant by the journalist. If anything, there is a very faint air of skepticism of her story.
This is simply a report of a thing that happened.
Everyone getting worked up about it being propaganda needs to take a deep breath. No one is trying to take away anyone's drugs, freedom, or anything else. (At least not in this context.)
We live in a complicated universe where things can be both good and bad. Marijuana can be good for many people. It can be bad for other people.
Just like any other drug, some people can have adverse reactions.
I am personally of the opinion that all recreational drugs should be legalized and researched more. I am not trying to argue that marijuana is bad. I think it's extremely beneficial for a lot of people in a lot of circumstances and is overall safer than nicotine and alcohol, along with myriad prescription drugs whose side effects can be horrendous.
HOWEVER, I personally also have experienced episodes of delusional and somewhat psychotic breaks from consuming only small amounts of marijuana. I have had delusions of reference in which I thought TV's or radios were telling me things, and they were not good things. It was terrifying.
In fact, if I had to estimate, the majority of the times I have tried marijuana have been unpleasant and resulted in various levels of anxiety and paranoia.
So I don't think it's impossible for someone to experience a psychotic break due to consuming too much.
Whether or not you want to blame it on the individual for being "crazy" beforehand.... Well I hate to be the one to break it to you but all the people who are diagnosed "crazies" have a first episode that is brought on by something. Nobody is crazy... Until you are.
I have ADHD, depression and anxiety. It is not widely known but "just" depression and anxiety can cause people to have transient psychotic symptoms and/or delusions when under high levels of stress or other risk factors. (Of which marijuana is a well known one -- I can cite sources for this if you doubt it.)
Now, shall I keep going? I could post numbers of how many people will obtain a diagnosis of anxiety or depression in their life if you dispute the claim that it's a large number.
Of that subset, some may use marijuana. If their symptoms happen to converge in an unfortunate way, that person could perhaps experience an exacerbated psychotic break under the effect of the drug.
Why is this so unbelievable or objectionable?
Also, all the judgement about this woman is pretty telling. Yeah, maybe you are right and she premeditated the idea to get high and ruin her life by killing the things she was pretending to love because... Reasons?
Or maybe she really did have a horrific experience where she thought she was dead and heard voices telling her that she had to do this horrible thing to get out of this nightmare she was experiencing.
Can you imagine how horrific and traumatic that would be? No? Just step outside your "this is propaganda" mindset for one moment and entertain the notion that this really happened the way she claimed.
This woman's life is wrecked and she killed the things she loved. Because she had an adverse reaction to a drug. This shit happens with all kinds of drugs, things as simple as antibiotics can and have caused some people to become almost completely paralyzed and in horrific pain for the rest of their lives. I can cite a particular case of this which I listened to on a popular podcast not long ago, if anyone would like.
Marijuana is a drug, and people are all different. I don't think this means that it should be illegal or restricted or anything. But I do think that is possible for things to be both good and bad at the same time. Anyone who doesn't is the one trying to sell you some propaganda.
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