Washington Post coverage of illicit drugs still is under attack by Slate.com media critic Jack Shafer. He criticized the newspaper six weeks ago over a story with a headline about meth use growing in the Washington, D.C., area, although the story itself said there were no “reliable statistics” on meth use. Shafer says the Post “extended its losing streak on the drug beat” this week with a “naive and poorly sourced piece about the psychedelic properties of morning glory seeds.”
The story quotes only “the father of a teen who knows another teen who consumed morning glory seeds” as a direct source on its use, Shafer says. The story implies that the morning glory high is some sort of arcane practice known only to ’60s survivors and teenagers who “rediscovered” it. Concludes Shafer: “Search the story for evidence of lasting harm done by morning glory seeds and you’ll come up empty.”