In a move that stunned organized journalism today, Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey was named as the new editor-in-chief of the Washington Post. "He was practically editing our news coverage anyway, so we thought we could only gain by making the relationship official," a Post spokesman commented.

The idea came to the Post news staff when McCaffrey called to congratulate them on their coverage of the IOM report on medical marijuana.

"I thought I was the world pro at misrepresenting the conclusions of government reports on marijuana," said General McCaffrey, "but when I saw what they did to the IOM report, I had to acknowledge I’d been beaten."
See
Washington Post and New York Times on IOM Medical Marijuana
Compare and Contrast – A Split In The Establishment?
The Drug Czar’s Quote In The Post Wins The Prize.

McCaffrey praised the Post’s coverage of the Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana released last Wednesday. A group of the most prominent scientists and physicians in America concluded that marijuana was not particularly addictive and did not cause hard drug use, in direct contradiction to the assertions being made by McCaffrey’s office to keep marijuana classified as a Schedule I narcotic along with heroin.

The Post’s coverage of the IOM report failed to mention at all the IOM’s major conclusion regarding marijuana’s relative lack of addictive power, and reported the debunking of the heroin gateway theory as only applying to medical users under strict medical control.

"It was great when I took the NHTSA report that concluded marijuana was not a hazard on the road, and made the public think the report actually concluded that marijuana was a major killer on the road, second only to alcohol. I really thought I had the title of the King of Misinformation nailed."

"But misrepresenting the Institute of Medicine on their own home ground was a stroke of genius! I’d have never dared to do that. I complimented the Post team and they asked me to edit their paper."

"If it weren’t for the Washington Post, people in Washington would have known that the IOM concluded that marijuana wasn’t dangerously addictive or a cause of hard drug addiction in youth, and that could have undermined our ability to imprison Americans. This would be disastrous for America’s growing prison industry. American jobs are at stake here! The Drug War is good for the economy, as we proved with all that advertising money we’ve been handing out to the media that support us."

McCaffrey will not be stepping down from his White House position while he edits the Post. "We thought we’d break with all those limiting old journalistic superstitions about the independence of the press and the government," McCaffrey said.

Rumors that he will institute random drug testing of all Washington Post subscribers could not be confirmed.

(Marijuananews note: Well, it could have happened, and this report is at least as accurate as most of the things the Post prints about marijuana, and more accurate than what the Czar usually says.

I am indebted to a reader name Violette for this jewel. This is one that I wish that I had written.)