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WASHINGTON - A marijuana advocacy group has accused the White House drug czar of manipulating the story of a Colorado teen's suicide in order to "perpetrate a fraud" about the dangers of marijuana use.

That charge drew an angry response Thursday from Ernest and Tanya Skaggs, a Colorado Springs couple who told the story of their son Christopher's marijuana use and suicide at a White House Office of National Drug Control Policy event May 3.

"You can tell those dumb b------- up there I buried my 15-year-old son because of marijuana, and that's how I feel," Ernest Skaggs said. "Ain't no one using me at all."

The Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates the reform of anti- marijuana laws, issued a statement Thursday sympathizing with the parents but accusing ONDCP Director John Walters of exploiting them with an incomplete and misleading story of how the teen died.

Walters and other officials cited Christopher Skaggs' suicide in July 2004 as an example of purported links between marijuana use and serious mental health problems, particularly in people who use marijuana at younger ages.

The parents described how their son was caught smoking marijuana in January 2004. They said they put him on regular drug Testing and under the treatment of a counselor, who told them that marijuana use was contributing to their son's depression.

Christopher Skaggs left Colorado temporarily to visit relatives, and just days after returning home, he hanged himself in the family's home.

Bruce Mirken, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said it was misleading for Walters and other officials to blame Christopher -Skaggs' death on marijuana use, since drug testing had not detected any continued marijuana usage and only alcohol was found in his system at the time of his death.

"The scientific evidence connecting alcohol to depression and suicide is much stronger than the evidence for marijuana," Mirken said. "Unfortunately, ONDCP has a political agenda here. They're on a crusade against marijuana. I don't think kids should be smoking marijuana. (But) to blame marijuana for his death and not even discuss the role of alcohol is really just wrong."

Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project, was even more blunt: "What kind of man puts a grieving family through such agony to perpetrate a fraud?"

That drew angry responses from the parents. They said their son was not tested for marijuana in the time he was away from the family, but that someone has admitted providing him the drug during that time.

"I'm pretty upset because I don't want them to just think marijuana is a laid-back drug," Tanya Skaggs said Thursday. "It was involved in our child's death."

ONDCP spokeswoman Jennifer de Vallance said she was outraged by the group's attacks.

"Mr. and Mrs. Skaggs have demonstrated tremendous courage and really are doing a public service to tell their very painful story in the hopes that other families and other parents won't go through the same thing," de Vallance said.

"It truly is despicable to belittle their very courageous and important contribution to this public health effort," de Vallance said.

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Higher Logic

Ah so now the truth comes out, he had alcohol in his system at the time of the death, which probably means he had some deep emotional issues going on and this isn't your picture perfect family. Judging by the father's response it seems he has some guilt issues as well, and pinning it on Mary Jane is quite the cop out for him. There's always more to the story, too bad it's too late...

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Dennis

Good! Walters has finally been accused of FRAUD, at least in the media, and it obviously freaked him and his staff out.

This trumped up story is an ONDCP initiative to drum up support for MORE anti-marijuana legislation and the status quo. Their intent is to turn this poor teenager's fate into the motive for locking up almost a million Americans a year, who by the way, didn't commit suicide.

Walters must be desparate if he has to grasp at straws and spin a web of deciet around it. Good job MPP! Congress is the final battle ground and shooting down ONDCPs anecdotal initiatives is one measure to release the stranglehold that ONDCP has on Congress.


Dennis

WNB

Maybe the kid killed himself because he was experiencing normal teenage depression, and that was too much when compounded by drug testing and being treated like a criminal by his own family. Just a thought

It's not hard to see the kid killed himself right before he had to go back to his parents and their drug testing. Gee, maybe that was a contributing factor?

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TNTMagicHerb

So he was smokin and drinkin... hmmm.... sounds like about 3/4 of the people I went to school with yet I can only recall one suicide and it was cuz his girl dumped him not cuz of the alcohol or weed. I can tell you why the kid commited suicide A) His parents were testing him for drugs/alcohol all the time B) He was sent away from all his friends C) He was put through conselling from a guy telling him it was marijuana causing his problems D) Everyones out to get me why dont I just kill myself. Probably not exactly how it went but I do know that parents telling you not to do something only makes you want to do it more and couple that with the fact he felt he was in prison with the testing and being sent away. Then right before he comes home (back to hell with parents) he says **** it! Then parents cry "The weed made him kill himself!" and I cry "Since when did you have a ****ing PHD, obviously if you did you would have known your kid was at rock bottom and it wasnt the THC putting the thoughts in his head, it was the free time they created to think about what a crappy life he had."

And on a side note lets look at his situation if weed was legal and he was able to smoke legally. Well he wouldnt have had any problems with parents because they would have thought weed was ok, and he would have went about his normal life (maybe getting in trouble for the alcohol underage). So I think his parents killed him because of their hate for weed. Its all so clear!

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Buzzby

You probably don't have any children. What, exactly, would you do with a 14-year-old with apparent psychiatric, drug, and alcohol problems? It's easy to point fingers. Much harder to come up with viable alternatives.


If you'd read the story you'd know he killed himself three days after he got home. It's definitely hell having concerned parents. He'd have been much better off living on the streets.


If weed were legal he still would not have been able to smoke legally. No responsible person would consider allowing 14-year-olds to smoke weed any more than they would consider allowing them to buy booze. None of the pro-legalization organizations would advocate it..


Except for the fact that he was suicidally depressed and had bad relationships with drugs and alcohol. Depressed people often try to escape their painful lives through drugs and alcohol. Also through suicide.


An interesting conclusion. Total bullshît, but interesting. I fault his parents for buying into all the prohibitionist propaganda but not for being very concerned that their child was in serious trouble. Depression killed Christopher Skaggs.

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WNB

A viable alternative is to not make their lives a living hell. The kid had obvious problems, and if his parents were not retards (check their quotes in the article if you don't believe this), the kid would still be alive.

TNTMagicHerb

Yea, I do apologize. At times I can get very biased about what I believe and forget about the point at hand. I believe the parents sucked at their aproach to the whole situation. I do believe parents should have the right to know what their kids are doing. But that comes with good parenting. If they were always there for him and talked openly about problems and the "real" effects of drugs and alcohol there would have never been a situation in the first place. Marijuana was simply their scapegoat for being poor parents. When you become a parent you accept the responsibility to put your social life and all other non factors aside and to become a nuturing parent while still allowing them to grow and learn for themselves and not to punish bad behaviors but to speak openly about them as to teach the reasons why not to and that experimenting and addiction are two seperate fields and where to draw the line. But just because you are bad parents doesnt give you the right to give a misleading message with no factual evidence to support the claims. Mainstream media floods to stories like this because of the "Scare Factor". What parent in their right mind would want their kid to commit suicide? So they will take the bull**** message to mean that every kid who smokes weed will go out and kill themselves which I believe is the whole reason our society has labeled weed a "hard drug". Im stickin to my message though his parents and severe depression killed him, not the weed.

Buzzby

How did you learn so much about Christopher Skaggs home life? Again, if you had a 14-year-old with serious psychiatric, drug, and alcohol problems what would you do? I am anxious to receive your wisdom.


Being ignorant about marijuana doesn't make you a poor parent. It makes you like most parents. Depression is something that happens to some people with no relation to bad parenting, alcohol, or drugs. Some people just have a genetic predisposition towards depression.

The worst thing in the world happened to these poor people. They lost a child. The mind requires an explanation for something like that. Not understanding the nature of depression, marijuana was the next easy thing to blame.

What's unfortunate is that an organ of the US government has stooped to Jerry Springer tactics to throw a scare into parents. They're getting desperate. All the old lies have been debunked, 80% of the the American populace believes in medical marijuana, and states are seriously considering complete legalization. The new old lie, that marijuana causes mental illnesses, is not being believed. This was just another dog-and-pony show to push the new message.

fight4rights

I would find it hard to believe that marijuana actually caused someone to commit suicide. My mom is a counselor. I went to a class with her and learned that it is common knowledge among professionals that most of the time drug use means that there is an underlying problem. Depressed people turn to drugs because there is something already wrong with their life. Alcohol and marijuana may have perpetuated a problem, but I doubt they are the main reason for this boys death.

Can you give me links to any articles about this? Especially any about California. Thanks

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