thanks for the tip, Kari. I should say--for proper direction of both applause and boos--that I wrote that piece, mistakenly under Carla's handle (it's a long story).

Just to be clear, what was printed doesn't appear to be inaccurate--there are some definite concerns in some areas--but to a) play up the near-meaningless scare item that "kids smoke pot more than cigarettes" and b) ignore the fact that tobacco use has plummeted, is very weird. Why is DHS choosing to be so alarmist in their presentation, without a word to the great achievements from their tobacco control dept? I used to work in tobacco control in VA's Health dept, and they would have killed for these numbers--and shouted them to whoever would listen if they had gotten them.

There may be a contributing factor to the headlines--I'm not confident that many reporters can look at data and draw appropriate conclusions. It is an interpretive art in any case, but some basic facility with trends, correlations, and causality would improve the quality of a lot of reporting.

How's that for a tepid defense?

Tepid. :) If you can't see that 23% to 9% is a big deal in 10 years, maybe journalism just isn't your thing.

I think the truth is not so much difficult material, as it is the desire to work from what you're given rather than what you might have to interpret...

Yeah, it sure does look like all the media coverage is based on the press release - not the report itself. So DHS gets the blame for ignoring the big (good) news in their own report, and the media get the blame for ignoring the report and just cranking out stories based on the press release.

Ugh.

It's part of the mass-media/conservative, anti-reality world-view, where down really is up, as a simple glance at the charts prove. Loaded Orygun bit on this and pointed out how screwed up the reporting was yesterday and glad to see it get some further coverage here.

the DHS press release is here: http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/news/2007news/2007-0529.shtml

DHS really messed this one up.

Yeah, that press release is an astonishing exercise in providing a flurry of minor points -- all there to obscure the major point.

* Oregonians, who consume more alcohol than the national average, rank fourth nationally in alcohol-related deaths. The rate of such deaths rose by more than 50 percent over five years. * More than one in 20 Oregon adults can be classified as heavy drinkers, with males ages 21 to 29 most likely to be heavy users. * The rate of Oregon eighth-graders reporting having consumed alcohol during the past 30 days is 76 percent higher than the national rate. * Oregon eighth- and 11th-graders are more likely to light up a marijuana cigarette than one containing tobacco. * For the first time since 1998, the rate of Oregon 18- to 24-year-olds who report smoking tobacco every day exceeds the national rate. Adult deaths from lung cancer, emphysema and chronic lower respiratory disease exceeded the nation's rate for five straight years. * Indicating that methamphetamine use is spreading across the state are data showing that although half of Oregon's 2002 meth-related deaths occurred in metropolitan Portland, by 2005 only 25 percent did. * Oregon's rate of youthful use of inhalants, which like alcohol often are easily obtainable at home, was 50 percent higher than that of the nation. * Although the state's smoking rates have declined during the past decade, the use of smokeless tobacco, whose health hazards are less well known, has remained at about 6 percent.

Yeah, all that and the use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use among 8th and 11th graders is plummeting like a rock.

I did, at their health dept. If there was substantial Phillip Morris pressure to keep us from getting anything done, I didn't see it (but then again, reduction efforts weren't amazingly successfuly either). While it's true that the rural areas are still pretty much as Old South as ever, in Richmond and NoVa they've actually been climbing out of the primordial ooze and joining the ranks of the rational.

I also worked to stop teen prostitution in Thailand, poppy production in Afghanistan, gambling in Las Vegas and sunburn in Phoenix. But my toughest job ever was trying to boost IQ scores within the Beltway.

:)

As an addendum, I spoke with three people at DHS yesterday evening; I'll be posting a followup later today.

The absence of analysis of Oregon internal trends in the press and discussion in the DHS press release is a major problem.

But are the national comparisons and Oregon's standing in them, that DHS stresses, completely unimportant? We didn't seem to think so when we were worst or close to on hunger...

What I'd like to know is how Oregon's rates of decline compare nationally. Faster than average or average would be good, and cause to criticize DHS, slower than average would justify the DHS approach to me a bit more.