Marijuana

Many opponents of medical marijuana make much of the purported link between marijuana use and mental illness. But there is simply no compelling evidence to support the claim that marijuana is a causal risk factor for developing a psychiatric disorder in otherwise healthy individuals. Most tellingly, population-level rates of schizophrenia or other psychiatric illnesses have remained flat even when marijuana use rates have increased. Rates of mental illness have remained stable in light of changes in marijuana consumption levels. Some psychoactive substances have been shown to improve mental health functioning and some do not. These findings have been replicated by myriad other studies, including a new study conducted by Harvard University researchers, which found that marijuana “is unlikely to be the cause of illness,” even in people who may be genetically predisposed to schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders.

This is Your Nation on White Privilege (Updated) By Tim Wise For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help. White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay. White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their fuckin' ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug. White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Tim Wise on White Privilege - | Media Education Foundation Tim Wise on White Privilege Racism, White Denial & the Costs of Inequality For years, acclaimed author and speaker Tim Wise has been electrifying college campuses with his impassioned and deeply personal take on whiteness and white privilege. In this spellbinding lecture, the author of the bestselling White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son offers a powerful inside-out look at race and racism in America, surveying the damage white privilege has done not only to people of color, but to white people themselves. The result is a vivid and accessible introduction to the social construction of racial identities, and a critical new educational tool for exploring the often invoked, but seldom explained, concept of white privilege. Sections: Introduction | The Erasure of Politics & Culture | White Denial | Unburdened by Race | The Creation of Whiteness: How Race Was Used to Hide Class | Privilege & Pathology | Guilt & Responsibility Tim Wise Filmmaker Info Praise for Tim Wise