Autism and marijuana

ENQUIRY
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Autism and marijuana
Sunday, 04 18, 2010

The denigrators of presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino Jr. claim that he is autistic. Of course, they would; that’s their role in the current political exercise. But what is alarming is that the Liberal Party (LP) never made any real effort to convince the public that its standard bearer is not mentally-challenged.

Thus, in my column of February 21, 2010 entitled “Those whom the gods wish to destroy,” I wrote: “It was methodical madness for the LP to make a limp denial of the autism issue and to give one columnist hell just because he had asked Noynoy if he felt alluded to. The autism issue will not die with the kind of answer that the LP has given; it could engender far worse and more personal issues that could irreparably hurt Noynoy’s campaign.”

Now comes the “Psychiatric Report” on Noynoy’s alleged mental disorder and use of marijuana, whose authenticity and contents have since been denied. The trouble with denials, however, is that they are easy to verify to an acceptable extent, even for non-specialists. The Report, even if fake, cannot be perfunctorily dismissed: it is replete with details of his character and personality, which Noynoy is reported to have exhibited, from which anyone can make an uneducated conclusion.

Even before the Report came out, Noynoy’s image has been a curious kaleidoscope of constantly changing personas: an individual alternating between fits of anger and goodnaturedness; a person indecisive on many issues, including his handling of the furor over Hacienda Luisita; a latent dictator who threatens not to recognize whoever is appointed chief justice before June 30; a doting father-figure to a son of his sister; a starry-eyed politico with a furious cigarette smoking habit and unconscious frothing in the mouth as he grapples with the realities of a situation.

The Report does lend some basis for questions to pile up since talk started about the mental state of Noynoy.

For starters, let’s zero in on the use of marijuana.

The case is made that autism is assuaged by an infusion of marijuana. Stated otherwise, marijuana cures autism. Is there really such a connection?

Google “marijuana and autism” and you will get a full edification that marijuana, indeed, is a cure for autism. From the Autism Research Institute at www.autism.com: “Some families have found marijuana to be nothing short of miraculous. Some of the symptoms marijuana has ameliorated include anxiety, aggression, panic disorder, generalized rage, tantrums, property destruction and self-injurious behavior.”

In the news item from the online edition of television network ABC on November 29, 2009, at www.abcnews.go.com, a mother makes the following claim: “’Marijuana balanced my son. My son had self-injurious behaviors. He was extremely aggressive, he would run out of our house. He was a danger to himself and others. But just hours after I gave him one of the pot-infused brownies, I could see a change - both in his appetite and demeanor.” And at www.righthardia.blogspot.com is this entry: “It seems to me if one is going to need to use drugs, one ought to consider a relatively safe drug, like marijuana, if research bears out the good results that a number of parents have reported.”

There are thousands of entries and testimonials in Google on the benefits of marijuana use in the cure of autism.

Barack Obama, in his autobiography “Dreams of My Father” released before the campaign for the US presidency in 2008, jumped the gun by saying: “Ok, look, you know, when I was a kid, I inhaled frequently.” It paid that he made the admission well before somebody else made any disclosure that could have wrecked his campaign.

In the case of Noynoy, any admission or denial he makes would not exculpate him either way, now that the (in)famous “Psychiatric Report” has pre-empted whatever he may pose as a defense against the allegation that he used marijuana in his youth.

Any admission (to his use of marijuana) would necessarily lead one to entertain the thought that there is some truth to the insinuation that he is suffering from some mental problem for which cannabis would be an appropriate cure. On the other hand, any denial that he stayed away from marijuana will not necessarily disabuse the existence of the many verifiable acts and personality traits he has exhibited.

It did not help any when Noynoy declined to submit himself to a psychiatric test. Indeed, if there are no bats in his belfry, why should he not welcome the bat catchers?

Worse, he has instead challenged his political opponents to a lie detector test. What he has overlooked is that the questions in such a test could very well fit the same mold of the questions that would be asked in a psychiatric test. What will his answers be, for instance, if he is asked whether he was ever administered a psychiatric test, or if he had ever smoked marijuana in his entire life?

Whoever made the “Psychiatric Report” had it all figured out, but I still put that blame on Noynoy and the LP who have been less than transparent about the nature of his mental condition. And whoever counselled Noynoy to pose the challenge of a lie detector test must be the Trojan Horse in the LP.

By all means, let us condemn - or shoot - the ones responsible for the “Psychiatric Report.” But, then again, this is the endgame of the political war: everyone is fair game and no one is going to be spared.

Whichever way the debate on Noynoy’s mental state goes, there is a lesson learned: Candidates for national public office must be forthright with the voting public early on. There are no secrets that the public will not get to know or just speculate about, eventually.

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