The Dumb and Dangerous Anti-Drug Propaganda in the Miami Zombie Story

AlterNet / By Kristen Gwynne

The Dumb and Dangerous Anti-Drug Propaganda in the Miami Zombie Story
The media love a story about people going crazy from drugs. But that's rarely the true story.

May 31, 2012 |


Rarely does a story excite the media as much as a scary drug story -- a person supposedly crazed and made violent by some mysterious concoction. The problem is these stories, often hugely hysterical, are rarely true, and spread dangerous misinformation about drugs, which is surely the case with the so-called "Miami Zombie."

Media outlets are reporting that Rudy Eugene, a.k.a. the "Miami Zombie," who chewed a man’s face off (and even ate his eyeballs) did so because he was "overdosing" on bath salts, "a new potent form of LSD," and maybe also cocaine. These reports are based entirely on speculation by police spokesmen and media excited to fan the flames of fear in Miami. No toxicology tests were performed, no drug paraphernalia found on the scene.

Bath salts are not “the new LSD,” and calling them the new LSD is propaganda for the media to gobble up. Bath salts and LSD have almost nothing in common chemically, and there is no hard evidence (outside of one police spokesman's speculation) that Rudy Eugene was high on anything. Not only are his statements not supported by science, they are at odds with common sense. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/155671/the_dumb_and_dangerous_anti-drug_propaganda_in_the_miami_zombie_story/