Public officials and the media have exaggerated the incidence of methamphetamine abuse in the United States, according to a 41-page report issued last week by the Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C. think tank. "The Next Big Thing: Methamphetamine in the United States" (available as a PDF here) references Willamette Week's "Meth Madness," in which reporter Angela Valdez argued that Portland's daily paper had "sacrificed accuracy" in order to campaign against meth. "The Oregonian series repeatedly referred to a 'meth epidemic' in Oregon without providing any statistical support, mischaracterized the significance of the growth in methamphetamine treatment admissions, and suggested a link between Oregon property crime rates and methamphetamine use that has been generally refuted by empirical research," the report says.

Continue ReadingNew Study Debunking Meth ‘Epidemic’ Credits Willamette Week

Erik Wemple's coworkers at Washington City Paper had been "excited about the opportunity" for him to become editor of the Village Voice, he tells Mediabistro's FishbowlDC a week after changing his mind about taking the position. That doesn't mean they were anxious for him to leave: "Proof of Wemple's worth to the City Paper can be found in the fact that you'll be hard pressed -- and trust us, we've tried -- to find a CityPaper employee who's not pleased to have Wemple back in the saddle," FishbowlDC Editor Patrick W. Gavin writes. Wemple does acknowledge that "there are clearly legitimate questions about whether my head is in the game at this stage" -- questions that he intends to answer by doing solid work.

Continue ReadingWemple: Job of Making Washington City Paper Better ‘Is an Ongoing One’