Instapundit has more analysis of the flawed study mentioned here a couple of days ago. He points to an article by Mark Kleiman critiquing the study:
It is hard to escape the thought that many of the people involved were less cautious than they might have been because the results seemed to support their already strongly-held beliefs.
Recreational drugs are bad. Our study shows these drugs to be harmful. Therefore our study must be correct.
More Kleiman:
Even before the retraction, then, Ricaurte's work was under a cloud. One very senior figure in the field had said in an open scientific meeting "I will believe any result George Ricaurte comes up with as soon as it has been independently confirmed."
Yet our government is basing drug policy in Ricaurte's research.
I'm glad to see the Instapundit, 800 lb gorilla of the internet, is taking an interest in the story. Of course regular readers know Walter in Denver was on the story a good 15 hours before. (It matters! No, really!)
Posted by Walter at September 9, 2003 08:52 PMOur government has consistently pushed for, promoted, and funded one-sided bad science, particularly in the war on drugs.
Since the DEA and NIDA control much of the authorization for illicit drug research, they have often screened studies based on the results the researchers "intend" to find.
Even with decades of skewed research, drug warriors still have to distort and misrepresent the research they have in order to justify what they do.
Posted by: Pete Guither at September 9, 2003 09:41 PM