Marijuana-book giveaway: Mason Tvert offers DARE instructors tome saying weed's SAFER
Mason Tvert, the main man behind SAFER, lives to promote the theory that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol -- and if he can hype his book Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? at the same time, that's even better. These goals come together in Tvert's latest campaign -- challenging the idea that alcohol's less risky than weed by offering his tome for free to DARE instructors nationwide.
Mason Tvert.
A banner from Tvert's website.
Tvert's latest campaign was inspired by a "Backers of Legal Pot Just Want to Get High," a San Jose Mercury News op-ed by Skip Miller, chairman of DARE America. The piece takes a stand against a pot legalization initiative headed to the California ballot in November.
In it, Miller writes about e-mails he's received from marijuana advocates -- but notes that "I have yet to see one that overcomes the body of scientific research demonstrating that smoking marijuana is harmful and does just one thing well: It gets people high. And that high comes with short- and long-term health risks that proponents of legal weed don't like to acknowledge."
Tvert took this assertion as a challenge. In addition to writing a sample e-mail complete with links to information that, in his view, puts the lie to Miller's claims above, he's pledged to give a copy of his book to every DARE instructor across the country, including those planning to attend the 23rd Annual DARE International Training Conference, which begins tomorrow in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Will minds be changed? Doubt it -- but the portion of DARE's website identifying alcohol as a "gateway drug" that can lead to more harmful substances does seem to soft-peddle booze risks in comparison to the organization's "Medical Marijuana Reality Check," which starts with this simple statement: "Simply put, the smoked form of marijuana is not considered modern medicine."
Page down to read that fact sheet, immediately following Tvert's release announcing his DARE offer and the sample e-mail to Miller:
Write Comment
Email to Friend
Print Article
