DEA Splits, Bolivia Hits
July 7th, 2009 by RickA factory converted into a cocaine laboratory in Bolivia, that could produce up to 100kg (220 lbs) of cocaine per day, was raided by Drug Enforcement officers of the Bolivian government. According to senior Bolivian anti-narcotics officer, Oscar Nina, five Colombians were arrested.
The factory was the 4th largest raided since early 2009. Bolivian Interior Minister Alfredo Rada blames U.S. anti-narcotics officials for not locating the factory, that they estimate has been running for a year.
Previously in 2008, Bolivia booted the DEA from it’s borders and accused Washington with conspiring against the left wing government of President Evo Morales.
As a reward for doing and finding what the DEA could not, the U.S. announced last week that they were cutting trade benefits for Bolivia and reimposing duties on some imported Bolivian goods.
MPP Reveals Pro-Marijuana TV Commercial in CA
July 7th, 2009 by RickThe Marijuana Policy Project Foundation is stepping up their game and launching a commercial in California that aims to help the state budget crisis by advocating the legalization of marijuana through taxation and regulation. The commercial will air Wednesday July 8th, on cable news networks:
- CNN
- CNN Headline News
- MSNBC
- CNBC
A couple of TV stations in Los Angeles (KABC) and San Francisco (KGO) refused to air the ad stating in an e-mail that “standards rejected the spot” and they were “not comfortable.”
Aaron Smith, MPP California policy director said:
We are astonished that three major California TV stations chose to censor a discussion that Governor Schwarzenegger has said our state should have on an issue supported by 56 percent of voters, according to the Field poll. [...] The 2 million Californians who use marijuana in a given month deserve to have their voices heard — and their tax dollars should help solve the fiscal emergency that threatens our schools, police and parks.
It is odd why two TV stations in two major cities in California that are pro medical marijuana would censor a commercial like this, but then again that could very well be the reason.
Party’s Over for Party Drugs
July 7th, 2009 by Rick
More bad news for the land down under in form of tainted ecstasy. The Crime and Misconduct Commission in Australia is planning on releasing a report saying that ecstasy cooks are spiking their drugs with:
- Painkillers
- Anti depressants
- Methamphetamine
- Ketamine
CMC intelligence director Chris Keen said:
Whereas previously a tablet may have mainly contained ecstasy as the active drug there is now an increased incidence of tablets containing other types of drugs within one tablet. [...] A person who believes they have overdosed from ecstasy may be shown from a toxicology perspective to be from anti-depressive drugs because that was major content of the tablet. [...] To meet the high market demand tablets are being sold as ecstasy that contain no ecstasy at all. [...] Another result of lower purity tablets is that consumers are on average swallowing more tablets in a session (from one to two) than they were five to six years ago, possibly this is to seek achieving the same high. [...] This type of behaviour creates a greater risk for adverse reactions and overdoses.
According to a report by the Australian Crime Commission, Australia has the highest use of ecstasy per capita in the world.
Teddy Bears Resort to Life of Crime
July 7th, 2009 by Russ
DEA agents and New York City’s finest were shocked last weekend to find yet another segment of society corrupted by the War on Drugs — Teddy Bears. In a raid on a Bronx safehouse, police and federal agents uncovered over 44 lbs of heroin and $150,000 in cash trafficked by the customizable bedtime friends known as Build-A-Bears.
According to one onlooking neighbor at the raid site:
My daughter has one of those toys. I’m very surprised something like that was going on right here and I’m especially surprised it was a Build-A-Bear.
While the news certainly comes as a shock to the community that calls the bears home, one wonders whether we might have seen this coming earlier. After all, these bears are so diverse in the way they choose to live their lives. There are firefighter bears, surgeon bears, even subprime mortgage-lending bears. Is it any wonder that some of these bears turned to the high-risk, high-reward lifestyle of smack trafficking?
In this economy, trying to eek out a living as a high school musical bear or a bear on a military pension just isn’t possible the way that it was in the halcyon days of beardom. A bear has got to make ends meet, just like anyone else.
Some will argue that these bears, as couriers, were just bit players; pawns in a game played by weathered New York City drug traffickers. And every single Build-A-Bear caught up in this mess will have his day in court. But before they go out and summon their fancy lawyer bears and publicity bears, they’ll have to own up to the part they had to play in this operation. Yes, these bears were built for a purpose. They were designed and raised as heroin mule bears. But does your build determine your fate? Does not every bear ultimately choose his or her own destiny?
Perhaps the most famous bear of all, Winnie the Pooh, once said:
People who don’t Think probably don’t have Brains; rather, they have grey fluff that’s blown into their heads by mistake.
Even bears with grey fluff upstairs should have known better on this one. Thanks, Pooh.
Oklahoma Attempts to Extradite Medical Grower
July 7th, 2009 by Russ
Oklahoma officials are set to extradite a California prisoner who has already served his allotted sentence for growing marijuana plants over a decade ago. Will Foster, arrested in 1998 for growing marijuana in his home, was originally sentenced to an unfathomable 93-year sentence in an Oklahoma State Court.
After the Oklahoma Supreme Court found that the unfathomable sentence was also unconstitutional (it represented cruel and highly unusual punishment), it reduced his sentence to 20 years which Foster served. Upon earning his parole, Foster was allowed to relocate to California.
And so Will Foster met with his parole officer, and demonstrated that he was living the life of the law-abiding, and even started a new family with girlfriend Susie Mueller and her three daughters. But Oklahoma apparently was not satisfied with his California-approved parole term, and attempted to extradite him.
Even after having the new warrant dismissed by filing a writ of habeus corpus, Oklahoma persisted and successfully lobbied the Governator to sign an extradition order to send Foster back to Oklahoma.
And so Oklahoma officials are spending millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars because it feels that a man with a garden in his home needs to be punished more severely than he already has.
If ever the American populace decides to adopt a measure of compassion and rationality and put an end to the political and legal morass known as the War on Drugs, the entire state of Oklahoma may just spontaneously combust. It’s difficult to envision a role for Oklahoma that isn’t the one of mustache-twirling villain, ruining lives and displacing families with its draconian legal code and archaic notions of justice.
Will Foster still has some time before the extradition order is carried out. For information on how to participate in the campaign for his release, you can find useful contact info on Ed Rosenthal’s blog.
What Happens When Drugs Are Legalized
July 6th, 2009 by RickFinally!
Above is some video footage from a mainstream news organization, BBC, reporting the overall result of the legalization and decriminalization of drugs in Portugal. Where many experts said that drug use would go up in the country and it would become a drug safe haven for tourists, the exact opposite has occurred.
Drug use in the country has gone down and there has been no influx of drug users seeking to abuse the system. As usual, there are those that are against the policy and feel nothing has changed, but the statistics speak for themselves. Is it time for other countries to start their own experiments with legalization?
Teen Sells Fake Shrooms, Faces Real Time
July 6th, 2009 by Rick
Long story short.
Dumbass in New Hampshire and two accomplices come up with the brilliant idea of selling store bought shiitake mushrooms, mixed with blue food coloring, as a hallucinogenic drug for $900. Unfortunately for them, the person buying the mushroom was a CI (cooperating individual or confidential informant,) who gladly told the police about the deal. The Police used serial trackable money and staked out the “drug” buy.
The result lead the seller directly to jail and trial, where he was sentenced 1-3 years in a state prison for selling a controlled substance and conspiracy to sell a controlled substance. His other two buddies are facing charges as well. Only in America.
Acetaminophen Drug Linked to Liver Failure
July 6th, 2009 by Rick
Via MPP, we learn that on last Tuesday that a Food and Drug Administration panel voted on the fate of Acetaminophen, commonly found in Tylenol, Excedrin and other medication:
- 21-16 to lower the current maximum daily dose of nonprescription Acetaminophen.
- 24-13 to limit the maximum single dose of the drug to 650 milligrams.
- 1,000-milligram dose should only be available by prescription.
- 24-13 to keep the products on the market.
According to the FDA, Acetaminophen is the leading cause of liver failure, having sent around 56,000 people to the hospital every year. It is also linked to acute renal failure. Total sales of Acetaminophen drugs reached $2.6b, with 80% not having to be prescribed.
