Professor Jan Copeland, highly paid Director of The National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC), has been described as "a very enthusiastic supporter of prohibition" on the UKCIA blog.The writer, who says he has heard Professor Copeland speak three times at forums in the UK, claims her input into NCPIC publicity is slanted and easy to spot. This opinion resonates with this blog's sharp criticism of NCPIC's output since its inception.
Questions must be asked about a supposedly evidence-based public organisation which is seen to be driven by the personal ideology of its director. Our tax dollars should be spent on establishing the truth, not selectively interpreting evidence to support a preordained ideology.
The public has a right to assume that information presented as scientific is unbiased and reliable, especially when it comes from a Professor and they are paying for it.
And credulous media accepting NCPIC's media releases as authoritative need to look a little further into the facts, or at least seek opposing comment, before amplifying such propaganda. I name The Sydney Morning Herald and 702 Radio's Deborah Cameron as guilty in this regard. At least Professor Copeland's inaugural essay on the ABC blog was open to comments and was factually flamed.
To see previous posts on this subject, with links to the abovementioned material, just type NCPIC into the blog search field above.
2 comments:
Why would anyone think the Director of a thing called The National Cannibis Prevention and Information Centre would be anything other than prohibitionist? The title pretty much spells it out.
I would expect the Centre to achieve its aims of preventing the uptake of cannabis and informing the public about it by using balanced. truthful evidence and publishing material that reflects this.
In the end, the truth will always persuade better than propaganda, especially for those whose personal experience gives them a frame of reference -- like cannabis users, for instance.
Inaccurate spin is effective only on people ignorant of the facts -- that's why I think NCPIC is more about upholding prohibition than preventing cannabis uptake.
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