Drug War Zealots Pressure AARP The Magazine to Kill Medical Marijuana Story

At the beginning of February, AARP posted the findings of a poll they had commissioned on medical marijuana on their website. The poll found that 72% of older Americans ( 45 and over) support an adult’s right to use medical marijuana with a physician’s recommendation.

A December 18th Associated Press article discussing the poll mentioned that AARP The Magazine was scheduled to release an article about medical marijuana in its March/April issue. But when the March/April issue reached subscribers in late January, the article was conspicuously absent. The editors had apparently pulled the article in response to malicious attacks by a “media watchdog” organization, Accuracy in Media, and a pressure campaign by fanatical anti-drug groups with a long history of engaging in malicious and dishonest attacks.

“We urge the editors of AARP The Magazine not to cave in to such attacks and to publish the medical marijuana article soon,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. “Ultimately this issue is not about medical marijuana but whether or not free and open discussion of issues that matter to AARP members will be censored and abandoned in the face of coarse attacks by disreputable forces.”

The Drug Policy Alliance is encouraging its supporters (many of whom are also members of AARP), and all believers in freedom of the press, to send letters to AARP urging its leadership to stand firm.