Open Thread and Reading material

“bullet” Time for boomers to ‘fess up by Karen Bojar

The willingness to incarcerate large numbers of people for minor drug offenses is the shame of the baby-boom generation.
A generation of young people in the ’60s and early ’70s experimented with drugs and for the most part did so with impunity.
Many powerful and successful women and men in our society experimented with drugs in their youth. But their careers were not derailed; their families were not torn apart. Sadly, they are now willing to ignore the fact that another generation of women and men are being incarcerated in appalling numbers for drug-related crimes.

“bullet” Stupid Drug Story of the Week by Jack Slater Shafer (at Slate):

Among the first news organizations to post a sensationalized account of the story was the Reuters wire service, which titled its July 26 report “Teenagers Using Mothballs Get High: Study.” Yes, teenagers are using mothballs to get high if two young ladies in Marseille constitute a sufficient population to establish a meaningful medical plural.
The next day, CNN.com International published a version of the Reuters story under the headline “Teenagers ‘Bagging’ Mothballs to Get High.” Canada’s CBC News Web site headlined a derivative account of the story, “Teens Sniffing Mothballs to Get High, Doctors Report.” The Aussie press developed a contact high from the story: “Teens Get High on Mothballs,” screamed the country’s national daily, the Australian. The Melbourne Herald Sun, the Courier Mail, the Sunday Times, the Sydney Morning Herald, and the Daily Telegraph all combine the words “teens” and “mothballs” in their headlines to announce the plague.

“bullet” Apparently drug abuse is just fine if you’re Presidential candidates and the drug is alcohol. (Via Mark Kleiman.)