V magazine pulls edition over drug-related article
The free magazine “V” is censoring themselves over a recent article on drug use… (download the article here, hat tip to Antti for the link!)
The free-distribution magazine V was withdrawn from circulation on Wednesday. “The main article of the issue dealt with drug use in a manner and tone which is not acceptable for a responsible medium”, said Janne Kaijärvi, the magazine’s editor-in-chief.
The article included interviews with young people using drugs, and there were captions stating that the recreational use of drugs is part of everyday partying in Finland. The magazine had been in distrubition for a short time in the centre of Helsinki before Kaijärvi recalled the edition. “As the target readership of the magazine are young city-dwellers, it is not possible to give the impression that the use of drugs is sophisticated, and that there are no risks involved”, he explains.
A shame they want to censor open and honest talk about recreational drug use, cause it appears to be quite common in the Helsinki area…
As many as five per cent of drug tests mandated by employers indicate use of an illegal substance. The most commonly detected drugs are cannabis, amphetamines, and opiates.
I’d love to know what percentage of those positive tests only found marijuana.
http://ihku.org/~jesse/v.pdf
Comment by Antti — Thu, Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 4:48 pm
And those tests are absolute bullshit, had a friend who showed up positive even though he has never touched anything, but he got into all kinds of problems…
Comment by Reko — Thu, Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 5:03 pm
I refused a job in the US because the company required drug testing. I nothing to hide, since I wasn’t high on drugs, but I felt that allowing an employer to ‘analyze’ my private self, is akin to prostitution. So, I declined…..but only after lengthy contract negotiations, paid dinners, etc.
It would have been a good job, but it was more fun to see their expressions of shock
Comment by Kristian (in Espoo) — Thu, Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 5:51 pm
Didn’t City-lehti publish a quite similar story few years ago?
Comment by Anni — Fri, Feb 23rd, 2007 @ 5:31 am
Going to answer my own question. Yes it did, actually at least few times.
First in 2004 it wrote about so called design drugs.
http://www.city.fi/artikkeli/Design-huumeet/1194/
And later in 2005 more generally about drug use in Finland.
http://www.city.fi/artikkeli/Suuri+huumeraportti/1543/
In the later article they also comment on the attitude at Helsingin Sanomat and describe it as “umpimielinen” (~reserved, uncommunicative). And still Magazine in the same group with HS can’t publish article about drugs, even if it much less controversial than for example the one about design drugs.
Comment by Anni — Fri, Feb 23rd, 2007 @ 5:49 am
withdrawn from circulation on Wednesday…
Oh, so I got a copy off a full stack in Myyrmanni…
Comment by Hank W. — Fri, Feb 23rd, 2007 @ 5:42 pm
Drugs are bad.
Comment by Jyväskyläinen — Fri, Feb 23rd, 2007 @ 6:11 pm
#7 Censorship is worse.
Comment by Kimmo W. — Fri, Feb 23rd, 2007 @ 7:14 pm
I’m actually glad they pulled it off the shelves. I mean, presenting illegal drug use as a sophisticated yuppie pastime is so extremely 90s.
They probably interviewed some 20-something bozo in a suit (probably works in finance) who boasts how all his suave friends are recreational drug users and how they can handle it.
And all the wind suits gasp in amazement: You mean that there are drug users out there who work???
(What did you think employee drug tests are for, schmuck?)
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Fri, Feb 23rd, 2007 @ 8:53 pm
I’d love to know what percentage of those positive tests only found marijuana.
Probably around 99%. Only an occasional pot smoker is naive enough to get caught in these toy tests, especially as it stays detectable for weeks after a single use. In the rare occasion that something else is found, it might indicate an actual drug problem. Opiates and cocaine wash away to undetectable levels in a matter of days, cocaine being the faster of the two.
Not to mention false positives. If a piss test is ever imposed on me, I’ll make sure to eat loads of poppyseed bagels and hempseed tofu, plus get a prescription for pseudoephedrine nasal decongestants (if the job is in the Greatest Democracy and the Beacon of Freedom in the Universe, I’ll get some Sudafed from effin Wal-Mart), so that their dream employee turns out to be a heroin addict speed freak pothead (until a real GC/MS screen is made, that is)
That, or then I’ll loudly exclaim: “What? You expect me to work at this loser company straight? I need a raise!”
I recall that in the early 90s, at the height of Bush Sr’s drug war, companies were given tax breaks for giving their employees drug tests. So, owners of large corporations bought shares in companies manufacturing the tests and tested their every employee three times a week. To them, it was like printing money.
The origin of this piece of info was a rumour on the internets, so take it with a grain of your salt of choice.
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Fri, Feb 23rd, 2007 @ 9:52 pm
About censorship… the Germans are pushing for a EU-wide ban on ‘violent’ video games. Everybody, including Finland, has jumped on the bandwagon without a second thought, or ANY public discussion whatsoever. I find this extremely disturbing. Why should this media be handled so differently from the others? I mean it’s ok to kill people gruesomely on film, but not on the computer screen? Or is this just the first step towards a general censorship ‘to protect our children’? Is that not the responsibility of the parent(s), even if it’s not always convenient? What I mean is that after casually supporting dangerous thing like this the parents can re-forget their kids and what they’re doing when left home alone.
Comment by aet75 — Sat, Feb 24th, 2007 @ 3:51 am
#9 “I’m actually glad they pulled it off the shelves. I mean, presenting illegal drug use as a sophisticated yuppie pastime is so extremely 90s… They probably interviewed some 20-something bozo in a suit (probably works in finance) who boasts how all his suave friends are recreational drug users and how they can handle it.”
So you’re justifying censorship based on what you think they might have done? Really classy.
The first posting up there actually has a link to the article itself.
Comment by Kimmo W. — Sat, Feb 24th, 2007 @ 3:21 pm
I haven’t read the whole article, but I dig the masked superhero with the bong. Party-on dude
Seriously, if ‘drugs’ like marijuana divert Finns from ‘drugs’ like alcohol, then I fully support it.
There would be health benefits: Maybe a few less livers to replace in the future.
Comment by Kristian (in Espoo) — Sat, Feb 24th, 2007 @ 4:42 pm
So you’re justifying censorship based on what you think they might have done? Really classy.
I do not support censorship. I don’t order Pravda and never will.
The first posting up there actually has a link to the article itself.
Oh, I see. Well, it wasn’t as bad as I thought, but lacked any new information, so I wouldn’t say there was a huge loss. Perhaps we need a fresher approach than this kind of social porn to bring about any real changes in drug policy. For instance, the transition from well-adjusted recreational use to drug addiction could be discussed. But maybe that would be too bold for hip and trendy journalists.
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Sat, Feb 24th, 2007 @ 5:12 pm
#14 “…but lacked any new information, so I wouldn’t say there was a huge loss…”
Certainly not - considering that the uproar over the trashing of thousands of magazines that were already printed has attracted so much attention that the article will probably end up having more readers on the Internet than it ever would have if it had just been in that one free-distribution magazine.
Comment by Kimmo W. — Sat, Feb 24th, 2007 @ 7:43 pm
Certainly not - considering that the uproar over the trashing of thousands of magazines that were already printed has attracted so much attention
If anything, it tells us that Sanoma continues to be the purveyor of the sole acceptable truth in this country, whether we need to control “anti-Soviet agitation”, convince everyone that Finland needs to join NATO yesterday or that drugs are bad, m’kay.
I think that it is everyone’s civic duty to boycott that rag. It’s a real threat to freedom of the press.
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Sat, Feb 24th, 2007 @ 8:29 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSNLc8-gYtA
Comment by Kristian (in Espoo) — Sat, Feb 24th, 2007 @ 9:08 pm
Congrats, self destructive drug use is one thing , one must question would it be easy for drug dealers then to enter the childrens publishing industry if no one asked any questions?
Comment by Jared — Sun, Feb 25th, 2007 @ 1:31 am
I was just going through the V-magazine website and I found an interesting column, which apparently had no problem making it past the publication’s censor:
http://www.vee.fi/ilmio/artikkeli/ihanasta_viinasta/
The writer takes a very casual attitude toward binge drinking, which causes more overdose deaths in Finland in a month in Finland alone than cannabis has in recorded history.
Comment by Kimmo W. — Sun, Feb 25th, 2007 @ 4:50 pm