John Walters' Suicide Fraud

At a May 3 press conference calling attention to what he described as "growing and compelling evidence…that regular marijuana use can contribute to depression, suicidal thoughts, and schizophrenia," federal drug czar John Walters presented the parents of a Colorado Springs 15-year-old, Christopher Skaggs, who was caught smoking pot with friends behind his school in January 2004 and committed suicide that July. The press and public were encouraged to believe that marijuana made him do it. But as the Marijuana Policy Project notes (in a press release that's not online yet), it turns out the teenager tested negative for cannabis at the time of his death but positive for alcohol. What's more, at least four drug tests conducted in the months before his death did not find any traces of pot. In other words, there's no evidence he smoked marijuana even once after he was caught in the act. These details emerged in Denver radio host Peter Boyles' May 5 interview (free registration required) with the boys' parents. "We wish we would have found the underlying problem as to why he was using the drugs instead of getting him immediately stopped from it," his mother said.