U.S. News and World Report, one of the nation’s oldest publications discussing political issues of global significance, asked their readers if Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s pro-medical marijuana CNN documentary “Weed” delivered the right message. 92.92% of Americans surveyed said his message was right on, man.
Dated August 8th, the survey has been taking in reader’s answers for ten days; although there is not total vote count on this particular survey, the popularity of the website and the subject matter indicates the participation has been robust.
Gupta is a neurosurgeon who is CNN’s senior medical correspondent. His documentary was featured on Sunday, August 4th and sparked two weeks of controversy. Although the documentary was not in support of recreational use and advised that marijuana consumption by those “under 24 years of age” was not advisable, it touted the benefits of medicinal use of cannabis and included several stories of children or young adults using marijuana under a doctor’s care.
The U.S. News survey was contained within an article titled, “Was Sanjay Gupta Right About Medical Marijuana?” The article quotes Gupta himself, describing why he changed his mind about legalizing the use of medicinal marijuana. In 2009, Gupta wrote an op-ed describing why he would not vote for medical marijuana. Since then he has apologized to the world for being part of a campaign to suppress the plant from popular access.
Gupta’s quote was not the only one contained within the article. John Redman, the Executive Director of Californians for Drug Free Youth, aired our some very general complaints about marijuana; specifically, he states that medicinal use of marijuana leads to unsupervised use of marijuana by our nation’s kids. He was quoted as saying, “Dispensaries, many of which market their wares around high schools and parks, have no doubt contributed to these higher use levels.”
The article, and the publication, is of a conservative bent; embedded in the body of the story was a link to a page filled with embarrassing political cartoons regarding President Obama and his new health care plan.
One of the many comments posted on the article said, “Poor John Redman, I bet you wished they never opened a poll on this article…”
Source: The Compassion Chronicles
