In November the voters of Massachusetts will face Ballot Question 2, an initiative petition that seeks to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Predictably, the eleven Massachusetts District Attorneys, the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police and Massachusetts Sheriffs unanimously oppose this measure by echoing the hackneyed mantra, "what kind of message does this send our children," and citing bogus studies.   

For example, in a recent story the North Shore Sunday (Beverly, MA) reported  Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett's claim that "the only real data about marijuana and its link to other drugs comes from a 15-year-old study from the Columbia Center for Substance Abuse and Addiction" -- aka CASA

Blodgett stated that "It's scientifically proven that you are five to six times more likely to develop serious addictive behaviors with other drugs if you use marijuana," and that is a flat out lie.

There is no credible scientific evidence to support that statement. What is true is that the CASA Study is the only one Blodgett could find to support his bogus claim.

According to The Center for Consumer Freedom, CASA has virtually always refused to submit its reports to peer review, which is not the way real science operates. In peer review, an editor or other neutral person submits the report to a number of peer experts in the subject of the research. These authorities read the report to determine if it meets the minimum standards for research.

CASA has never submitted a study for "Peer Review" and without peer review, a bogus report full of misleading statistics can be passed off to the public as a scientific study. That's what CASA does, and that's what DA Jonathan Blodgett and his cohort are doing.
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SOURCES:

1 -  "Pot Shots: DA Says Pot Initiative Would Be Bad For Kids," North Shore Sunday, October 10, 2008