The anti-drug group D.A.R.E.\u2019s 2022 officer of the year asserts in a new online documentary that \u201calcohol is a gateway drug\u201d\u2014though he occasionally drinks it. But marijuana is another story and can\u2019t be safely enjoyed recreationally, he says, despite believing that cannabis has medical value after it helped treat his brother-in-law\u2019s cancer-related pain.<\/p>\n
D.A.R.E.\u2019s president, meanwhile, acknowledges in the documentary that some of the criticism of the war on drugs might have something to do with earlier scandals within federal agencies, such as the CIA\u2019s implication in a cocaine-smuggling conspiracy that he described as an \u201cunfortunate part of our history.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the decades-old program works to reshape its image and move away from its scaremongering anti-drug roots under the Reagan administration, the leaders of the group convened for an international conference in Las Vegas last year where independent journalist Andrew Callaghan spoke to them about contemporary drug policy issues.<\/p>\n
The interviews are featured in a documentary for the Callahan\u2019s YouTube program Channel 5 that was released this month.<\/p>\n
One of the more notable conversations involved Alex Mendoza, the 2022 D.A.R.E. officer of the year, who has worked to redefine the program\u2019s approach to youth drug prevention.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it\u2019s really about educating the youth that are out there\u2014to give them the tools necessary to navigate whatever pain that they\u2019re going through\u201d that might lead to substance misuse, he said. \u201cI think that if you don\u2019t have that self-love for yourself and that resiliency, then you\u2019re gonna go to that external source, whatever that might be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cDo you feel the same way about alcohol?\u201d Callaghan asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely. I mean, alcohol is a gateway drug,\u201d Mendoza said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t drink?\u201d the reporter pressed.<\/p>\n
The D.A.R.E. official admitted he does drink, albeit \u201crarely\u201d and \u201cmaybe once or twice within a month period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Callaghan noted in his narration, that admission seemed to call into question the very concept of the gateway drug theory. If this decorated D.A.R.E. officer could responsibly and recreationally use what he had just described as a \u201cgateway drug,\u201d why wouldn\u2019t the same principle apply to marijuana?<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you feel that marijuana can be treated the same way\u2014like semi-recreational, not necessarily a gateway drug?\u201d the journalist asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, there\u2019s so many things about about marijuana that go far beyond, I guess, really our understanding, right?\u201d Mendoza replied. \u201cFrom a lot of the statistics that are out there, obviously, they say that it can be more dangerous than tobacco products.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the D.A.R.E. officer went on to say that he\u2019s aware there are \u201cpeople out there that say that marijuana could be used to treat people that have some sort of illnesses to help them navigate and deal with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the problem that you run into is that you have the people that truly legitimately have a need and a purpose behind it and will use it to help them navigate their pain,\u201d he said. \u201cMy brother-in-law recently passed away of cancer, and he didn\u2019t want to go with any type of prescription medication. He wanted something natural and he resorted to using THC to deal with his pain. And it helped.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps them navigate that, right?\u201d Mendoza continued. \u201cAnd then you have, unfortunately, people that will use that as an excuse to try to use that product for recreational purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later in the documentary, Callaghan talks to D.A.R.E. President and CEO Francisco Pegueros, a retired Los Angeles Police Department officer who oversaw one of the department\u2019s more controversial divisions in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cA lot of people were critical of the war on drugs overall,\u201d Callaghan acknowledged.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, there was some evidence that certain governmental agencies were involved in a lot of activity that were kind of contrary to the whole concept of the war on drugs,\u201d Pegueros said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you talking about, like, the CIA giving crack to Freeway Ricky Ross?\u201d the journalist asked, referencing reports from the 1980s that the federal intelligence agency had a relationship with an international drug trafficking syndicate that was supplying Ross with cocaine for domestic illicit sales before he was convicted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an unfortunate part of our history. But evidently, it\u2019s reality,\u201d Pegueros said.<\/p>\n
\nSouth Carolina House Panel Takes Up Senate-Passed Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill After Months Of Delay<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis \/\/ Side Pocket Images.<\/em><\/p>\n
The post Top D.A.R.E. Officer Says Medical Marijuana Helped His Brother-In-Law Treat Cancer Pain<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\nRead More: Top D.A.R.E. Officer Says Medical Marijuana Helped His Brother-In-Law Treat Cancer Pain<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The anti-drug group D.A.R.E.\u2019s 2022 officer of the year asserts in a new online documentary that \u201calcohol is a gateway drug\u201d\u2014though he occasionally drinks it. But marijuana is another story and can\u2019t be safely enjoyed recreationally, he says, despite believing that cannabis has medical value after it helped treat hisContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74606"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74606"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74607,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74606\/revisions\/74607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}