‘Doobies Make Boobies’? Canadian Cops Apologize for Error-Laden Student Presentation
A Canadian police force has conceded that one of its officers misspoke when they suggested that cannabis consumption leads to breast growth in men—or, as the York Regional Police officer told an assembly of high-school students, “Doobies make boobies.”
“We’re finding 60% of 14-year-olds are developing ‘boobies’.”
The comment—made last week during a panel presented by the York Catholic District School Board—was among a slew of head-turning comments made by police and captured by news outlet YorkRegion.com.
“There are studies to suggest that marijuana lowers your testosterone,” said an officer, before delivering his the now-infamous three-word rhyme. As evidence of the “doobies make boobies” claim, the officer offered this mysterious statistic: “We’re finding 60% of 14-year-olds are developing ‘boobies’.”
The officer’s inadvertent master class in alternative facts eventually took up matters beyond the bosom, with the officer declaring that street marijuana is “almost always laced with something else—increasingly fentanyl” (a complete fabrication; no fentanyl-laced cannabis has ever been found in Canada) ) and proclaiming that the impairment brought on by half a joint is equivalent to seven alcoholic drinks.
Dana Larsen, a cannabis activist from British Columbia, tweeted out images of the quotes on Monday, exclaiming that “this is 1930s level reefer madness!” Larsen’s barbs soon retweeted over 100 times, and what began as a way to inform citizens on the dangers of cannabis had resulted in a PR nightmare for the police service, prompting the YRP to issue an apology through its Twitter account:
We’re no health experts, but we’re pretty sure getting high does not cause enhanced mammary growth in men. We are aware of the misinformation about cannabis that was unfortunately provided to the community by our officers. We’re working to address it.
— York Regional Police (@YRP) February 20, 2018
What began as a way to inform citizens on the dangers of cannabis resulted in a PR nightmare for the police.
As the apology was posted on Tuesday, the YorkRegion.com story was edited to remove the part about breast growth and the cannabis equivalence to alcoholic drinks. In an editor’s note, the outlet noted that the story was edited from an earlier version “to remove information supplied during the panel discussion that has since been retracted.”
Larsen thanked the York Regional Police for its response, but questioned why the police and the outlet didn’t retract the claim the claim that marijuana is “increasingly” being laced with fentanyl. As mentioned earlier, there’s just no reality to the claim that fentanyl has ever actually been found in cannabis.
More by Harrison Jordan
Harrison Jordan is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and enjoys reading and writing about the regulatory affairs of cannabis in Canada and around the world.
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