And this month's Sloppy Reporting Award goes to...

Daniel Barbarisi of the Providence Journal, for mindlessly perpetuating the myth that prescription drug addiction is inherently different than illicit drug addiction:

Prescription drug addiction is usually nothing like the addictions we see in the movies, where with a drug like cocaine, the user is constantly looking for the next high. According to Alan Gordon, director of drug and alcohol treatment services at Providence's Butler Hospital, a prescription drug addict is just trying to drag himself back to normalcy.

Daniel, are you suggesting that movies accurately portray cocaine addiction? Riiight, because all cocaine addicts are clearly those chapped-lipped, long-nailed prowlers who would kill their own mother for a better euphoria, while prescription drug addicts are poor, helpless politicians, talk-show hosts, and the like, simply trying to drag themselves back to normalcy. Surely, there are no prescription pill poppers who pop pills just to get high, just as there can't be any cocaine addicts trying to maintain normal lives.

Why not? Because the moving-picture-box told me so.

Tomorrow, I'm putting in my application for a Staff Writer position at the Journal. Here's a sample of the exposè I'm preparing:

Real journalists are usually nothing like the journalists we see in the movies, where with a value like journalistic integrity, the writer is constantly looking for the truth. According to Albert Jordan, director of distorted media at the Truth in Recovery clinic, a sloppy reporter compares real life to the movies as he tries to drag himself back to reality.

After first learning that Chuck Norris cannot, in fact, do three slow-motion roundhouse kicks in a row, the withdrawal symptoms can be "devastating", Jordan said.

Link to the Journal article