The War on Drugs

A short documentary, included below, was published on Youtube yesterday that showcases a new dangerous drug sold in the black market named Scopolamine. Although the movie is based in Columbia, where the drug was found, people in the United States also have had access to this drug. What's even more alarming is some have used the drug on others with criminal intentions.

One man in the video claimed that while he was under the influence of the drug, he woke up to his emptied out apartment and didn't remember a thing. When asking the doorman what happened the night before, he explained that him and three friends were moving out his stuff. The man became livid, yelling why would you let me do such a thing, and the door man replied that he told him that he was moving out with his friends.



This is an example of the more significant side effect of the drug, you lose your free will to people.

They exclaim several times in the video that this is the new date rape drug, and it looks exactly like cocaine. Horribly enough, 1 gram can kill 10-15 people. This video provides information that Americans need to know to keep aware.

However, when I searched for further news on the subject, I pulled up articles from online-only alternative news forums such as "Mail Online", "International Business Times"and "RedOrbit". How about the New York Times or Los Angeles Times, the newspapers most Americans read?




Have you read articles from these websites before?

Why isn't this news more distributed across the mass media, let alone the Internet? This information should be better disseminated so we are able to protect ourselves and know of it's existence, especially if criminals are using it against their victims' will.

The war on drugs is the right to know this knowledge immediately, to be educated and be protected from what's out there so more lives are saved in the long run.

Every Dog Has His Day

On April 22, 2012, Sioux City Journal, the daily newspaper of the fourth largest city in Iowa, put an anti-bullying editorial on the front page of their newspaper. This is the first time they have placed an editorial as their front page story, and its almost unheard of in the newspaper industry.

The drastic act was primarily done to commemorate the loss of a 14 year old boy, whom took his own life after coming out as gay to his fellow students and receiving constant harassment thereafter.

Although the editorial on the Journal's front page is essentially someone's opinion, its still provides vital information about the nationwide bullying crisis in schools and the recent proliferation of teen suicides that have resulted from this crisis. By providing a strong opinion rather than mere facts, the ethical issue at hand is more apparent and the story provides a stronger impact onto readers by evoking empathy.

Before reading about this innovation from the Sioux City Journal, I believed opinion was only tied with soft news. Opinions about breaking news did not seem as relevant when the event just occurred, since people would rather have the objective information and statistics to assess the situation for themselves first.

This article and Foust's complaints in "Echo Chamber" illustrate that blogs and editorials also have a huge impact on a news story and are missed when absent. Blogs and editorials have more free reign to say what's on their minds about the issue. The writers are able to provide fresh commentary that readers can relate to at a personal level rather than just receiving "curious and ideological" content (Foust).

Although it is widely believed the newspaper industry is dying, a newspaper can still make a huge impact in terms of innovation, even one that isn't read nationwide.