Drug Traffickers Overload on Cartoon Network
July 1st, 2009 by RickBack in the day the only thing that looked like a Flintstone vitamin was a Flintstone vitamin. Nowadays the illegal drug traffickers and manufacturers within Missouri have come up with some ecstasy tabs that take the shape and appearance of certain cartoon characters like Snoopy, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and even one non-cartoon character in the form of U.S. President Barack Obama.
Authorities are concerned about children mistaking the drugs for candy or vitamins. The drugs are currently in Kansas City and reportedly on their way to St. Louis.
Doing Away with “Gateway” Semantics
June 3rd, 2009 by Russ
Anti-weed advocates are slowly being painted into a corner. Realizing that the good old modes of propaganda and fear mongering aren’t fooling teenagers anymore, crusaders are turning to circular logic in an attempt to confuse and disorient those still on the fence. Gateway Theory is an old standard, along these lines. If smoking pot makes you more likely to shoot pure anthrax into your left ventricle, then clearly it should be kept illegal, right?
This week, DRC.net’s Scott Morgan made a very compelling scientific case against any possible causality between smoking weed and trying harder drugs. He cites several studies, including a University of Pittsburgh paper that concluded:
…the likelihood that someone will transition to the use of illegal drugs is determined not by the preceding use of a particular drug but instead by the user’s individual tendencies and environmental circumstances.
While it appears that science comes down decisively against the side of Gatewayers, common sense does so even more powerfully. Think for a moment about the insanity that would be unleashed upon us if our Congress regularly decided to ban innocuous things that could potentially lead to illegal behavior later on.
- Bandannas and colored shirts lead to gang associations.
- Water gun fights seem a clear gateway to indiscriminate shootings.
- Unemployment would be made illegal for fear it would turn honest men into grifters and thieves.
- Cellphones and pagers are critical to drug dealing, so clearly they are gateway products.
- Computers and the Internet are responsible for the appearance of countless pedophiles, rapists, and other undesirables.
Clearly they would all have to go.
No lawmaker could ever productively act using Gateway Theory. We humans are pretty lousy at predicting causality. If we begin to ban things that could lead to harm, we’ll ban ourselves right out of existence.
Major Drug Busts of the Week
April 28th, 2009 by Rick
Trucker Busted, 600 Pounds of Pot Seized
On Thursday, a trucker from Texas was pulled over on Interstate 70 in Lafayette County in NW Missouri and after a search of his tractor trailer at a secondary location, police find 600 pounds of marijuana.
Two Arrested on Missouri Drug Bust
A drug raid was authorized in Neosho, Missouri which led to 2 arrests and the seizure of an undisclosed, but large amount of meth, individually packaged for resale, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and a large amount of cash.
Heroin Packed Iranian Books Seized
On Friday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers said that earlier in the week at a DHL center based in Wilmington, Ohio they intercepted a shipment of heroin, hidden in books that originally came from Iran.
Border Patrol Agents Score a Turkey
In 3 separate incidents, U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Tucson Center, stopped hidden compartment smuggler operations. All together 3,684 pounds of marijuana were seized. All together in the first 6 months of the fiscal period of 2009, the Tucson Center has seized about 600,000 pounds – a record for Border Patrol.
On Wednesday, at Border Patrol Checkpoint State Route 85, agents arrested 4 people when they found 1,000 pounds of marijuana ($800,000) within a hidden compartment in 2 vehicles’ trailers.
Also on Wednesday, at Interstate 19 Checkpoint, a man was arrested after a K-9 drug sniffing dog alerted agents to the presence of possible contraband in a vehicle and after a secondary inspection was conducted 127 pounds ($101,600) was discovered in a hidden compartment.
Agents from the same station on early Thursday chased a suspicious vehicle and stopped the vehicle 3,000 feet north of Mexico causing the driver to bail and like Speedy Gonzalez, haul ass back home, leaving behind 2,557 pounds (over $2,045,000) of marijuana, packaged in 105 bales.
Movie: Next Day Air
April 24th, 2009 by RickThink inside the box!
Next Day Air is an action packed comedy about a drug deal gone bad. A package is mistakenly delivered to the wrong address. When the two criminals, Brody & Guch (Mike Epps & Wood Harris) who received the package, open it and find concealed bricks of cocaine, they come up with a plan to flip it and make some easy cash. When the intended recipient of the package, Jesus (Cisco Reyes) is contacted by the dealer, Bodega (Emilio Rivera) and he tells him he hasn’t received the drugs, the hunt for the cocaine begins, starting with the two delivery men Leo & Eric (Donald Faison & Mos Def).
Next Day Air is set to be released on May 8th.
Germany Outlaws New Drug ‘Spice’
January 22nd, 2009 by Alex
Nope, I’m not talking about Sporty, Posh, Scary, Baby or Ginger – instead, Germany has outlawed anything having to do with the synthetic drug Spice. That means the production, sale and possession of this marijuana-like drug.
Marketed as a herbal room-freshener, Spice grew in popularity because the substance doesn’t contain cannabis and was unaffected by German anti-drug laws. Of course, anything the public can get legally that will cause pot-like effects is going to see a growth in sales.
Germany’s Drug Commissioner Sabine Baetzing announced her intentions to ban this drug in late 2008 due to the negative health effects studies have shown it to cause. Now it’s official.
Baetzing said:
Tests have shown that smoking the drug can cause undesirable side affects on the heart, circulation and nervous system, in some cases leading to unconsciousness. There is also a danger of addiction.
Let’s make it clear, any synthetic street drug is going to damage your body. In this case, Spice was found to contain the synthetic substance JHW-018, which can be up to 4 times more powerful than THC.
This ban is a modification to the Controlled Substances Act, and Germany has now joined Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands in regulating the use of Spice.
10 Leaders Who Liked to Indulge
January 13th, 2009 by Perry
Probably part apocryphal story and part truth, this little list talks about famous leaders throughout history who liked to let loose – whether it was with pills, bottles or needles.
Fun fact: Stalin, Russia’s feared leader for more than 30 years, was allegedly a boozehound, who could drink a hollowed-out buffalo horn’s worth of booze according to a firsthand account. For those who don’t measure their booze in animal horns, that’s about three to four bottles of wine.
The article attributes drug and alcohol binges for some of history’s most important battles and reactions. Ah, the sordid history of substance abuse, affecting more than most people realize.
Nanotechnology Applied to War on Drugs
November 24th, 2008 by Perry
Drug users beware.
Dutch company Royal Philips Electronics has developed a handheld device which uses nanotechnology to detect marijuana, cocaine, speed and other drugs in a user’s saliva within a couple of minutes.
The company unveiled its initiative to transform the rapid diagnosis sector of the in-vitro diagnostics market at Medica 2008, where the 40th World Forum for Medicine took place (Düsseldorf, Germany, November 19 – 22).
Currently, Royal Philips Electronics is already working with the largest British drug-testing company to market the product across Europe.
Chile Joins Fear-Based Drug Education Model
November 3rd, 2008 by Perry
In response to a study that showed a growing perception among its teenagers that marijauna is harmless, the Chile is nationalizing a plan to “open up reflection on marijuana and its effects, above all with respect to the fact that it’s addictive, just like other drugs,” said the campaign’s director.
Personally, I don’t know if I’ve seen conclusive proof that that’s true or habit forming, (eh maybe,) but not addictive, and right there’s the definitive difference.
The campaign’s director cited the fact that “70 percent of the people in treatment for problematic use of drugs began their drug use with marijuana,” as indisputable proof of it being a gateway drug. One may argue the fact that it’s only considered a gateway to illegal drug usage, because it is itself, considered illegal. However, if you wanted to make coffee, wine, beer, liquor or ciggarettes illegal, then they might be considered “gateways” also. Perhaps.
But who can argue with a great slogan like the one the Chilean anti-drug people came up with…
Be intelligent again. Don’t smoke marijuana.
Brilliant.
