Conservapedia: We assume our points are true!

Due to school and other commitments, I haven't been able to blog as much as I had been. But Conservapedia decided to make an ass of themselves yet again over ideology.

In the "In The News" section, which has become "Rants and tidbits about how bad liberals and the rest of the world is, and insights into how extreme conservativism is right," the following was posted:

Deaths from cocaine and ecstacy abuse in England and Wales rose by 1,274% between 1993 and 2007, from 23 to 293, while total Illegal drug poisoning cases rose by almost 3% 2006-2007 to total 2,640. Drugs experts say the rise in cocaine abuse is caused by the influence of drug-taking celebrities such as singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, musician Pete Doherty and "supermodel" Kate Moss. Liberals still deny the toxic effects of Hollywood Values.

The link offered goes to a Mail Online article written by Charlotte Gill. The article has this quote:

Clare McNeil, of drug treatment charity Addaction, said: 'Cocaine is seen as a middle-class drug associated with success and money.

'People think they can copy celebrities and do a quick line because it doesn't have the same stigma as other class As but it's actually just as destructive.

'People are often ignorant of the risks of combining alcohol with cocaine for example, which can increase the risk of liver and heart disease, strokes and epilepsy.

'The increase in deaths among men in their 30s and 40s is worrying. It suggests that more people are continuing to experiment with drugs well into adulthood.

'At one time young people would dabble then stop as they settled down but these kind of figures suggest an epidemic."

Sounds pretty damning. Until someone visits Addaction's website, that is.

A recent news wire report concerning figures from the Office of National Statistics on deaths related to drug poisoning inaccurately quoted Addaction on its response to the figures.

Several parts of the quote as it appeared in the news story and as subsequently repeated in a number of national newspapers were incorrect.

The charity does not believe that cocaine use has risen because ‘people think they can copy celebrities’. There is no clear evidence to suggest a link between young people’s behaviour and celebrity drug use.

Addaction has also not said that the recent increase in drug-related deaths involving cocaine suggests an ‘epidemic’. Drug-related deaths involving cocaine have steadily risen since figures were collected and are now at their highest level since 1993. This is very concerning and much more needs to be done to reduce what are largely avoidable deaths. However, it cannot be inferred from these figures that more people are using cocaine and or that the problems has reached ‘epidemic’ proportions.

In fact, the report offered by Addaction never mentions, blames nor even relates anything in connection with celebrities, Hollywood or such.

Since the Gill article reaffirms Conservapedia's ideology that Hollywood is bad (i.e. "Hollywood values are characterized by decadence, narcissism, rampant drug use, extramarital sex, sexually-transmitted disease, lawlessness and death"), goes to show how bad liberals and Hollywood are for the world, doesn't it?