Heroin’s Low Cost Creating Buyer’s Market
October 28th, 2008 by Perry
The low cost of the drug and its growing availability in the Northeastern region of the country, is making heroin the new meth of the 2000s, according to Drug Enforcement Administration officials.
A bag of heroin costs less than a pack of cigarettes, and that’s one of the main reasons more local teenagers are trying the narcotic.
What’s more, the reputation of heroin is becoming more and more acceptable among an increasingly younger crowd, boosting the drug’s appeal. One of the problems is the growing misconception that the drug is less dangerous when snorted than injected, which is not true according to DEA sources.
Part of the problem, which the DEA fails to acknowledge, is that the DEA is a huge part of the problem. If they didn’t lie to America’s youth and tell them how dangerous marijuana is, after kids tried it and found out the lie; they are more likely to want to see what else people have been lying to them about.
DEA Continues to Violate State’s Rights
October 13th, 2008 by Perry
Despite the state’s top prosecutor Attorney General Jerry Brown’s specific instructions to obey local and state, (not federal guidelines regarding medical marijuana laws,) several local law enforcement agencies participated in federal raids of several southern Californian dispensaries.
I would like to thank Brown personally for his efforts, but he really needs to put a leash on those pesky pigs or do something else that’s slightly more effective.
Those dispensaries that were raided are listed below:
Patients Protest LA Dispensary Raids
January 29th, 2007 by Alex
With the LA dispensary raids still fresh in memory, I was able to locate a photoset of the protests that followed.
Medical marijuana patients brought signs and pill bottles to the downtown Federal Building on Monday, January 22nd. Even West Hollywood officials, where the majority of the raids took place, were disappointed that the DEA chose to execute search warrants instead of contact them directly.
More than 500 people demonstrated outside the federal building and later walked to the City Hall to thank the mayor for his support of patients rights so far. Let’s hope the protest has a lasting effect and will discourage the DEA from making a repeat visit anytime soon.
Two more pics after the jump.
Aftermath: Los Angeles DEA Dispensary Raids
January 22nd, 2007 by Alex
As many people in the Los Angeles are aware, the DEA raided 11 Los Angeles dispensaries on Wednesday, January 17th. Despite these co-operatives being legal in California under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, they are not legal under federal law. This creates a see-saw of struggles between co-ops to stay open and the DEA to shut them down.
How exactly the DEA chooses it’s victims is still a mystery. Maybe they go after dispensaries with too large a client base, maybe they infiltrate all dispensaries and raid the ones they believe are breaking the law. We just don’t know. An anonymous patient who walked into a dispensary during the raids had this to say:
I went by H.I.P Sherman Oaks. They buzzed me in and I was greeted by a federal agent. He was in FULL GEAR, freaking mask and everything. He told me I could turn around and leave or come in and join them, what do think I did.This sucks…
After talking with one of the raided dispensaries, I learned that the DEA has Ok’d them to continue selling medical marijuana. The catch is that they can’t sell hash, pipes or pieces. Looks like the DEA believes just the plant is good enough and all the extras like edibles, hash and others aren’t part of the deal.
Dispensaries are now taking steps to increase their safety measures. In Van Nuys, one co-op has beefed up security with 2 full-time armed guards. Other effects of the raids are increased marijuana pricing across the board. Premium is now going for up to $85 an 1/8th while regs are hovering around the $60 - $65 mark. This is going to make it much harder for patients to afford their medicine.
Overall, these raids have delivered a serious blow to the Los Angeles medical marijuana community. I expect it will take at least a few months for everything to return to normal. In the meantime, let’s hope that attitudes and laws continue to progress so that this doesn’t happen again.
Read on to see more pictures from the DEA raids…
DEA: 2006 - A Year in Pictures
January 3rd, 2007 by Tim
“Not for Hide & Go Seek.”
“That tickles!”
With the New Year already upon us, plenty of organizations are looking back to the year of 2006. One of those organizations (that we especially like to keep tabs on) is the DEA.
They have just released ‘The Year in Pictures 2006‘ and it gives some pretty interesting views into the many different areas of drug trafficking.
From Tickle-Me-Elmo’s to homemade submarines, the DEA encounters strange happenings on a consistent basis.
[via Crime Sift]
Flickr User: DEA Man
December 23rd, 2006 by Alex
Here’s some photos from a Flickr user called DEA Man.
His user profile says, “DEA Superman, keeping drugs out of our high schools… you’re welcome.” I guess a thanks is in order?
Above are some choice photos of pot that was confiscated from a Hawaiian medical marijuana clinic.
Or, you can check out his photo sets - here, here and here.
MarijuanaBusiness.com
December 12th, 2006 by Alex
Is this a future Fortune 500 CEO?
Even though it’s guaranteed to make you a local celebrity, landing in the tFS Arrests section isn’t as fun as it sounds. Everyone knows growing pot can be one dangerous occupation. Still, with the risk comes the profit, and that will always attract people to try their hand at cultivating weed.
MarijuanaBusiness.com, if you believe everything written on their site, is a company dedicated to teaching people how to grow & sell marijuana. They’ll also instruct you how to avoid getting arrested, hide your money from the IRS and do plenty of other things that will really piss off the US government.
Let’s check out some choice items from the ‘Table of Contents’:
- Step-by-step plans to starting a marijuana business
- How to establish grower/dealer relationships
- Local and federal POLICE/FBI/DEA investigation tactics
- How and where to set-up a distribution network
- How to hide your new found profits and make them work for you
- Liberal schools that are dealer friendly
- Conversations that will help you initiate a sale
Basically, this is a guide on how not to become a law-abiding citizen. If all the 42+ topics covered in the Table of Contents are accurate, MarijuanaBusiness.com might actually be one of the best available sources for a home grown pot business.
One downside is how unbelievably shady that guy on the cover of the CD looks. Also, their website fits into all the usual stoner cliches with weed green coloring and a tiled, marijuana background image.
Overall, this site only leaves me with one unanswered question - does MarijuanaBusiness.com have a chapter on how to avoid the FBI/DEA tracking who purchases their CD’s online? Let’s hope so, because that’s data someone from Uncle Sam will be very interested in seeing.
Whosarat.com - Informant Database
December 1st, 2006 by Alex
Mr. Orange was the ultimate rat.
Are you a paranoid drug dealer or perhaps a syndicated crime member? Worried that the guy next to you might be giving info to the feds? Well, I have the product for you. It’s called whosarat.com and it’s a website that allows you to access information about people who are undercover agents or suspected witnesses for the prosecution.
Here’s a pretty amazing quote from the site’s so-called spokesperson:
If people got hurt or killed, it’s kind of on them. They knew the dangers of becoming an informant. We’d feel bad, don’t get me wrong, but things happen to people. If they decide to become an informant, with or without the Web site, that’s a possibility.
Wow, sounds like a lot of deep thought and legal research went into that statement. The ‘kind of on them’ defense is almost as impenetrable as the Chewbacca Defense.
The site was started in 2004 by a Boston DJ named Sean Bucci. At first it was free, but now charges people a small fee to become a member. It is responsible for blowing the cover of atleast 1 documented undercover DEA agent and probably responsible for countless more false assertions.
Interestingly enough, while doing some research, it appears the site gets re-directed to a suspended landing page. Looks like law enforcement officials might have finally won the battle to take the site down after all.
Update 12-3-06: The website is up and working properly.
[via CrimeSift]
