More Journalistic Excellence: Ex-Drug Czar Puppetry

I had previously noted a distressingly anti-science bit in a newspaper called the “dcexaminer.com” on the website and apparently just “The Examiner” on the masthead. I’ve been following the story a little bit after the fact so let me just recap the events:
Mar 26-
Examiner Staff Writer Bill Myers published:

• http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Examiner-Special-Report–Federal-programs-gave-addicts-street-drugs-41846907.html
• http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Subjects-choice-cocaine-or-cash-41847552.html
• (a related cursory cull of a couple of related grant titles/abstracts is here)

I posted an analysis of the bit. I focused on the opinions of Bush’s (now departed) Drug Czar John Walters who seemed to be the prime driving force, concluding:

That’s wrong. It is harmful to our Nation’s public policy on drug control and substance abuse to run roughshod over the scientific information in this way. It is specifically harmful to drug abuse science to misrepresent the studies in this way. It really, really is time to push back against this mistreatment of science when it comes to the political arena.

[warning: I embedded a video after the jump and right now it is stuck on autoplay, so you may want to mute until you get to the controls]

Does Legal Status of Recreational Drugs Influence Your Use?

I was recently contemplating the influence of legal status on individual choice to use the drug. Of course there are data here and there, but how much fun is that for a Friday.
Let’s poll the DM readers!