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TLG
Stranger
Registered: 02/01/06
Posts: 31
Loc: Ireland
Last seen: 17 years, 8 months
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[IRL] Drug 'Experts' Living in Fantasy World
#5348275 - 02/28/06 04:22 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Letter in today's Irish Examiner...
Drug ?experts? living in a fantasy world PARTISAN campaigners occasionally make outrageous claims to bolster their case.
However, when it comes to the issue of drugs, it seems that no statement is too nonsensical.
The recent controversies about magic mushrooms and cannabis highlight the fantasy world inhabited by so-called drugs experts.
Fine Gael's Health Spokesperson, Dr Liam Twomey, has repeatedly stated that magic mushrooms were rightly considered Class A drugs, along with heroin and cocaine, because they were addictive and could lead to fatal overdose.
The expert data flatly contradicts this. The most comprehensive report on mushrooms and their impact was carried out in 2003 by the Coordination Centre for the Assessment and Monitoring of New Drugs (CAM), a Dutch government agency.
It which found that "the drug is not associated with physical or psychological dependency the use of paddos (hallucinogenic mushrooms) does not, on balance, present any risk to the health of the individual."
Gr?inne Kenny, president of the campaign group Europe Against Drugs (EURAD), recently claimed that cannabis is more addictive than valium or tobacco. There is no scientific evidence whatsoever to support this claim.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse, a US government agency which funds the majority of global drug research, ranks cannabis along with coffee as having a low addiction potential, while alcohol, tobacco and heroin are found to be highly addictive.
It is also widely recognised that tobacco is the most addictive drug. It's clear that our 'war on drugs' is failing miserably.
However, so long as the public discourse is dominated by 'experts' like Dr Twomey and Ms Kenny, there is little hope of arriving at a policy that might actually work.
Brendan Hogan Rosehill Cottages Cord Road Drogheda Co Louth
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blackout


Registered: 07/16/00
Posts: 5,266
Last seen: 2 months, 24 days
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Re: [IRL] Drug 'Experts' Living in Fantasy World [Re: TLG]
#5348432 - 02/28/06 07:17 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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What is Liam Twomey a Doctor of? I sincerely hope it is just a phd in some bullshit arts degree and not a medical qualification, if not I would like to know what college it is from and check if my own GP went to the same shithole, all his comments are seriously worrying, probably bought the phd on the web like that other guy in the news recently.
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero


Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 2 months, 20 days
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Re: [IRL] Drug 'Experts' Living in Fantasy World [Re: blackout]
#5348488 - 02/28/06 07:53 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liam_Twomey:
Quote:
Liam Twomey was born in Bealad, Clonakilty, Co. Cork. He was educated at St. Finbarr's Seminary and Trinity College Dublin. He worked as a general practitioner before entering public office in 2002. Twomey ran as an Independent candidate in the Wexford constituency who highlighted the deficiencies in the Irish health service. He joined the Fine Gael Party in the autumn of 2004 and was appointed to Enda Kenny's Front Bench just over two weeks later.
A general practitioner is a medical doctor.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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TLG
Stranger
Registered: 02/01/06
Posts: 31
Loc: Ireland
Last seen: 17 years, 8 months
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Re: [IRL] Drug 'Experts' Living in Fantasy World [Re: Seuss]
#5348681 - 02/28/06 09:27 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Yeah, he's an actual doctor.
Pretty scary, eh?
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Brakkie
Myself
Registered: 09/26/05
Posts: 813
Loc: Rotterdam... The City of ...
Last seen: 17 years, 1 month
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Re: [IRL] Drug 'Experts' Living in Fantasy World [Re: TLG]
#5352066 - 03/01/06 02:25 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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But didn't we know that those "experts" were fake after all? They lie and they tell the media shit that isn't even true...
But hey who are we to change? We don't know anything about drugs? Or do we?
-------------------- "This combines the good sides of every other drug with none of the bad. This is the ultimate luxury, the flawless wisdom-pleasure hit. More mellow and cozy than heroin, but you don't nod out. I feel more alive and wired and energetic than with speed, but not jangly. Its got the blast of cocaine, but it lasted ten times longer." "Going to the grave without ever having a psychedelic experience is like going to the grave without ever having sex. That means you will die before even becoming an adolescent." -Terence Mckenna
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