Bruce Mirken Defends CA Ads on Fox News 07/08/2009
Comments (37)
July 8, 2009
July 8, 2009
MPP Director of Communications Bruce Mirken talks about the benefits of taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol as a way to help California’s budget problems. He also criticizes the rejection of ads promoting this reform by several California TV stations in the wake of Governor Schwarzenegger’s call for open debate on the subject. Debating him is Calvina Fay of the Drug Free America Foundation. 07/08/2009
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37 Comments, Comment or Ping
Chris Brensinger
Great job Bruce! Keep up the great work MPP!
Jul 8th, 2009
R.O.E.
Great job Bruce! They always say the health cost will be a problem. We all know the health costs are and alway will be there. I found it interesting she put alcohol and tobacco in to the gatewy theroy at one point alnog side of cannabis.
Jul 8th, 2009
Green Devil
Now those are two very good spokespeople for their sides on this issue. But FOX News really needs to give more time to the capitalist approach to the issue instead of the prohibitionist view… I mean like once in a while… just sayin’
Bruce, good job once again!
~ Green Devil
Jul 8th, 2009
Jay
I love new MPP videos. Bruce has an amazing ability to stay calm and collected under pressure, every word has meaning and weight. When are people going to wake up?
Jul 8th, 2009
adle1984
Excellent work Bruce. Love how the piece was very balanced: Bruce got to say a lot helpful and factual things while that lady was talking out of her bottom. I think Bruce decidedly won this debate.
With technology these days, the government and all its corrupted drug-war-funded ‘programs’ are being exposed for what they truly are: tools to control, harass, and sometimes kill US tax-paying, liberty-loving citizens that just want to unwind at the end of a hard days work with some cannabis.
No worries Bruce, our generation will take over capitol hill and the world will see in the REAL change in America. In due time, in due time…
Jul 8th, 2009
Ben
Bruce…Great job buddy. You really came correct especially when they gave the lady about 45 seconds on the last topic and only gave you 10 seconds. I was worried there but you manned up and threw down only as you know how. Thanks again for representing us.
Jul 8th, 2009
Joel
Bruce is so cool. He just stays with the facts. We all know what prohibition does to American citizens.
Jul 8th, 2009
Sniffle Dog!!!
awesome. i don’t know how you do it but it’s awesome. propaganda like that coming from fey just gets to me because it’s so bass ackwards and i think about how some people still believe it. but you always stay cool and back your statements up with actual, real, references to legitimate research.
and laughing at her statement that “the majority of people who do consume alcohol intentionally do not get drunk whereas everyone that smokes marijuana for recreational purposes smokes it for the exclusive reason for getting high” was seriously what we all wanted to do, at least i know i did. when people drink they do so to either get a little drunk or drunk (a little drunk is just called “buzzed”), the difference is basically the same between getting a little high or high on marijuana and to suggest otherwise is laughably ridiculous. the only real difference is in the actual effects between the two substances, marijuana being the less dangerous by far. i’m guessing fey probably drinks, at least from time to time, but rationalizes it by “intentionally not getting drunk”.
either way what you are doing is very much appreciated and you are the best person to voice what so many of us believe, many many thanks bruce.
Jul 9th, 2009
Ben
Gateway drug argument is so old and is a claim that cannot be supported by any sort of rational testing or experimental trials. It is just another ridiculous fallback claim that anyone using it is clearly lacking a real justification for their cause. It’s not the Marijuana that is the gateway it the fact that I have to go get my Marijuana from a guy that is also trying to make money by selling cocaine or meth or any other number of drugs, and when you are a young ignorant person it is easy to get persuaded in a situation like buying drugs from a a drug dealer. I don’t get high and say, “man I really want to get some cocaine”. 8 joints a day! wow I don’t know if I could do that if I wanted to, especially due to the fact that I use a vaporizer.
Jul 9th, 2009
jibber420
Good job overall, however I almost laughed when the moderator gave Bruce a 10 second window to give a closing rebuttal to the 30 seconds or so that that girl had. 10 seconds was hardly enough time to answer back to all her claims!! Bruce did an excellent job though, if it would have been me up there I think I would have just been like “10 seconds?” and froze…haha. I suppose thats why we have people like Bruce doing this instead of me!
One quick comment on that 8 joints a day….that’s just ridiculous!! I have known some pretty heavy pot smoking buddy’s over the years and even for them I would say 8 joints a day would be pushing it!! That’s a huge amount of money being spent on marijuana and if they are stoned out of their gourd all day every day I’d like to know how they get their income to support their habit. (drug dealers I suppose). I bet I don’t even smoke 8 joints in a month!
Jul 9th, 2009
Dreamer
Good job Bruce. Handled like a pro. Good luck out in cali, the cannibus world is pulling for you.
Jul 9th, 2009
Keegan
Bruce, in the final 10 seconds you were unfairly given you made a better point than she made in the entire minute she was talking
Jul 9th, 2009
Phillip
Fox news is a waste of peoples time! Bruce was awesome as always, but i really dont understand why you guys keep doing thier interviews. They always try that bullshit. Give her a minute to spew out a bunch of propaganda, they give bruce 10 seconds to give facts.
We should be running a boycott on there crappy, GOP loving, station.
Jul 9th, 2009
adle1984
Phillip, 10 seconds is all that Bruce needed in the end to shut that lady’s one minute of vomit. You could see it in her eyes in the end after Bruce give his final comment – she just looks straight down… you could almost see denial oozing from her skin.
Jul 9th, 2009
Chappy
Great job Bruce. I only have one critique. I think anytime a drug policy thug uses the Marijuana rehab statistic. That should become the number one point that needs to be addressed. Because that statistic is true and it looks really scary. At least until you realize that it’s the drug warriors and their drug courts that are padding that stat. MPP has done some great work debunking that statistic. But, that work almost never makes it to the MSM. And, if you don’t address it when a drug warrior brings it up on camera. People are going to believe it’s Cannabis and not the courts causing it. That’s just my humble opinion.
Jul 9th, 2009
Jesse Lee
Another Nazi bites the dust! Outstanding job Bruce, you are turning into a hot shot debater! Oh the damn lies they keep spreading…none of the Prohibitionist ever do independent research on what they are talking about. They just re-cycle what government propagana has filtered down to them mainly through the local media. No, that look at the end was her realizing she just got taken to school by Bruce who actually did his homework.
Jul 9th, 2009
Mark, Glenolden, PA
Well done Bruce. Some people (like this woman) Cant Understand Normal Thinking.
She is a parrott. Parrotts have one talent – repeating what they hear. Otherwise, they are just pretty birds.
Jul 9th, 2009
Mark, Glenolden, PA
She was dumbfounded by Bruce’s comment “If it is so dangerous, why wouldn’t you want to regulate it?”
She is as dumb as George W. Bush, dumb as a friggen tree stump.
Jul 9th, 2009
massmang
I’m noticing a disturbing trend in these interviews. Either it’s 2 against 1, or even 3 against 1 if you include the biased host.
If it’s a 1 on 1 debate, then they seem to give the prohibitionist twice as much time as the pro marijuana advocate. And the interviews end by the prohibitionist spouting off the usual BS “gateway”, “highly addictive”, “not your fathers marijuana” and then the host says OK you have 10 seconds to respond, guaranteeing that the advocate won’t have enough time to counter all the lies.
Jul 10th, 2009
Todd
How come you Guy’s never mentioned the simple fact that this is a Democracy and the Majority of the voters Want marijuana Legalized? It seems that while every other reason to Legalize Weed is going though its scrutiny, the fact that the PEOPLE want it Legal seems to be getting overlooked. Good Work though, just stop being so nice to these ignorant bums.
Jul 10th, 2009
stephen |cleveland|
Great Job Bruce keep it up!
Jul 10th, 2009
DocP
This woman is completely false on every account. The number one reason kids are in treatment isn’t because of pot, it’s because there are problems at home.
Jul 10th, 2009
Matt
Californians: If you want marijuana to be legalized, taxed, and regulated for adults, tell your legislators to support California Assembly Bill 390. It’s easy. Visit yes390.org
Jul 10th, 2009
Drew
The very NAME of this woman’s organization, “Drug Free America” shows how lacking they are. Caffeine is in many drinks many people buy. Companies lace darn near everything with sugar/sucrose. Walk in to nearly any store and there are rows of medications and other things marked as drugs.
What is needed is truth, honest education, not scare-story fairy-tales like were often used in the Dark Ages to keep children out of forests!
Ma’am, it’s LIES that lead kids into temptation, not legalizing marijuana.
Nearly every “Drug Warrior” reminds me of these recent economic crashes. They love to “cook the books,” leave out statistics they know show their arguments to be flimsy and/or false. They love to spend billions on marketing their increasingly shoddy products.
GET YOUR MARKETING OUT OF MY TEMPLE!
Jul 11th, 2009
Will S.
Once again, great job Bruce. Intellectually these people don’t have a leg to stand on when debating someone of Bruce’s caliber. Unfortunately, our side is always shorted when it comes to time. The only positive I can see is the multitude of legislature awaiting review or vote in many states and on the Federal level, and the fact that this issue is not dying out, but gaining ground with every interview. Thanks again Bruce and the MMP team.
Jul 12th, 2009
stevo
Bruce is a total badass! Calvina is a dumb one. It’s interesting around 4:30 when she claims she deals with professionals all over the country that “provide treatment” who agree with the marijuana gateway theory. These “professionals” work at the re-hab clinic. Of course they will want to keep pot illegal. Then they keep getting paid to “treat” us. The prohibitionists always site the high rates of people in need of marijuana treatment. This is the first reason Calvina gave to back up her assertion that MJ is not the harmless drug it’s portrayed to be. Firstly, these rates are high because its often a choice between treatment and jail. Nobody gets treatment for MJ voluntarily. It’s non-addictive. Secondly, If the high rates of people in treatment is such a problem, quit coercing them to go.
The “gateway drug theory” is idiotic. Considering all the things a typical addict is likely to have tried prior to ending up in rehab, why is MJ always the “gateway” and not caffiene, tylenol, or multivitamins?
Jul 12th, 2009
Drew
@ STEVO, if caffeine were illegal, you bet they’d be claiming it was a gateway drug.
Take a look at more restrictive cultures where even more things are shamed/banned/made illegal, they blame the world’s ills on whatever their hang-up is.
The problem is they mainly use shallow associative logic, vs. determining real cause and effect relationships.
Here’s the irony, as far as I’m concerned, they’re all HIGH on their power trips over the rest of us.
Jul 13th, 2009
Joe
As always, Bruce, you did well. We are very fortunate to have intelligent, well-spoken individuals like Mr. Mirken representing us in the media.
Jul 14th, 2009
Anne Morris
That stupid woman is so full of crap she makes me sick. Why are dingbats like her even in the media?
DOWN WITH PROHIBITIONISTS!!
Jul 14th, 2009
Terry Wright
Spot on, Anne Morris!
Calvina Fay is a blatant liar and it astounds me that she is even invited to talk on TV. Did you notice that every statement from her was either a lie or disingenuous? What has happened to common sense when someone like Fay is allowed to make such fallacious comments and not be pulled up by the media? If it was any other subject, she would have been laughed out the door.
BTW, I like how Bruce Mirken just shook his head in disbelief at her dodgy responses.
Jul 15th, 2009
Robert
The people opposing the legalization of weed seem to want to skip things, or don’t fully back up their idea. When she said that marijuana was MORE toxic than alcohol, she didn’t say anything to back it up. That annoys me.
Jul 16th, 2009
jd
Drug free america? DMT in human spinal columns. DMT in human pineal glands. Morphine in breast milk. The human body is its own pharmaceutical manufacturing plant…maybe they should make human-beings illicit?
Jul 20th, 2009
jd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYNaDcYGaeI
Jul 22nd, 2009
Steve
I really enjoy Bruce’s debates. Never gets flustered and always armed with the facts. Keep it up !! Run for office, I’d vote for you.
Jul 23rd, 2009
Mert Erel
Great Points to remind people. Here is where I would respond differently:
“growing pot… how do you license”.
Simple… I get a license to grow pot for myself at my private home and I pay $1200 a year for it much like a fishing license.
“Gateway Drug”
No this is not true. If you make pot legal, you take the underworld and “demonization” of it. What I mean is, if pot were legal, i could go to a “pot bar” and buy my pot legally without being exposed to other hard drugs.
When I go to the pot dealer when it’s illegal, i’m exposed to other drugs and the dealer asks “want to try some coke”. This is the only reason that marijuana would be a “gateway” drug. The illegality of the drug makes it a “gateway” drug.
“too many children are smoking pot”.
This is because the illegality and unregulated market for it allows illegal sales to minors very easily. For example, it’s very hard for a minor to get a hold of alchol because this industry is well regulated. If you have a kid, ask him if it’s easier to get alchol or marijuana. They would say marijuana. If Marijuana is legal, it would be difficult for minors to get a hold of.
Aug 6th, 2009
Ba Marley
In this time of HEALTHCARE takeover by the federal gov, please keep in mind that the people wanting the power over our healthcare are these same people – drug warriors – who say cannabis has no medical value.
The federalization of “healthcare” is a first step in dismantling all the progress we’ve made in the states. The health care power will be taken from the states if we allow this new healthcare federal plan. We don’t really know what the plan is, but whatever it is, it WILL NOT INCLUDE CANNABIS as an alternative for health care.
I’m a lawyer and I can easily see a federal argument once this federal takeover occurs – a challenge to state power to regulate health care decisions. Likely could be a successful challenge if the states give up sovereign authority over healthcare/health insurance/doctor regulation, etc.
Every inch of power you give them, they take a mile. New drug czar said a couple of weeks ago that cannabis has no medical value. WTF?! Well, that’s not anyone I want involved in any manner in my health care. And his thinking is no different than the other federal goons.
Just say NO to any additional involvement of fed gov in health care, and get them out of current invovlement, back to constitutionally-authorized duties only.
Aug 8th, 2009
Rocco P
I have a theory (as a former cigarette smoker)… I say it is CIGARETTES that is the real gateway drug. I smoked cigarettes 4 years before i ever picked up a joint. I dabbled in some other recreational drugs growing up as a young man and never even thought about “If i hadnt smoked pot, I wouldnt be doing this”. CIGARETTES are the gateway drug. Make them illegal, as well as alcohol, before you condemn marijuana. What is the difference between a marijuana leaf and a tobacco leaf? One is taxed and regulated, much to the delight of the government.
Also, look at the stats. How many people have died of lung cancer that NEVER smoked pot, but smoked cigarettes religiously (and legally)? Now… how many people who smoked Marijuana, and ONLY marijuana, died from lung cancer? I’m not insinuating that there is no tar in pot, but its pot tar. Its not tar from 600 chemicals. There is no nicotine in pot.
How many people in this country died because of alcohol related incidents last year? How many died during marijuana incidents?
Sep 21st, 2009
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