From Zest to Meth: Former Figure Skater Charged
July 9th, 2009 by Rick
Looks like this 1995 U.S. figure skating champion chose the wrong ice to make a career out of…
On Tuesday, Nicole Bobek, a former Olympic athlete, plead not guilty, via video from the Hudson county jail, to the charges of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Hudson County, New Jersey.
The 31-year old was arrested last week, at her house in Jupiter, FL, after a year long investigation into a drug ring. Bobek waived extradition rights and was sent to the Garden City. Nineteen people have also been arrested in connection with the drug ring.
Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said:
She played a significant role in this operation. [...] She was actively involved in the upper echelon of this ring.
Bobek is free on bond, more than likely heading back to her other home in Manhattan, which coincidentally is in the same state where the investigation into the drug ring first began. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years and a $150,000 fine.
Canadian Group Holds Meth Awareness School Assemblies
June 19th, 2009 by Russ
As a child of the 80s, I have vivid memories of a “Just Say No” campaign that introduced the dangers of crack-cocaine to a group of seven-year-olds in my second grade class. It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same. In response to a widely spreading crystal meth epidemic among street youth, British Columbia is taking its fight back into the classroom.
The Crystal Meth Society of British Columbia holds school assemblies for grade school children of various ages, and doesn’t pull many punches in doing so. One of the main features of their performance is a grizzly video entitled, Death by Jib.
According to one parent:
After watching Death by Jib I wanted to immediately take the video home to show my teenagers. There is something in this video for everyone.
That is, assuming your teenagers enjoy watching grizzly youth deaths brought on by inopportune abuse of a hallucinogen. It’s hard to look at Canada’s Drug Aware101 program and see anything markedly different from the D.A.R.E tactics that have been in American schools for decades.
As several studies have shown, most D.A.R.E programs either have a completely negligible effect on the children’s likeliness to try new drugs, or actually can cause them to be more likely to experiment with drugs. As many drug academics and former law enforcement have argued, it’s often much more effective to simply inform kids about the realities of the drug world, rather than trying ot inflate or exaggerate the dangerous in an attempt to scare them. American kids seem to be a great deal more discerning than these drug educational programs give them credit for. It remains to be seen whether the same can be said of young Canadiens.
In the meantime, The Crystal Meth Society of BC will endeavor to be “crystal clear” about the realities of a very dangerous substance.
Frozen Sharks Are the New Drug Mules, Mexico Cracks Down
June 18th, 2009 by RickArmed officers of the Mexican Navy patroling the Gulf coast port of Progreso in Yucatan state seized a ton of cocaine on board a freight ship. X-ray machines and drug sniffing dogs helped uncover the smuggling operation, which stashed “slabs” of cocaine within more than 20 frozen sharks.
Mexican Navy Commander Eduardo Villa said:
We are talking about more than a ton of cocaine that was inside the ship. [...] Those in charge of the shipment said it was a conserving agent but after checks we confirmed it was cocaine.
On Tuesday the Mexican Navy revealed the largest methamphetamine lab in Mexico. Initially thought to be used to water a marijuana plantation, a holding tank, in the remote part of the northern state of Sinaloa, was discovered to feed water into two huge sheds, which contained ephedrine (12,905 gallons), a chemical agent used to make methamphetamine.
Officials claim that it was enough to manufacture 40.2 tons of material, which could equate to 309 million individual hits. That’s enough to give everyone in the United States one dose and still have 3 million left over. That was from one source. How many other high level operations are scattered throughout the country that are under the radar? Too many.
For this reason, Mexican President Felipe Calderon sent 45,000 troops and federal police to wage war with the cartels to try and stop the drug violence in his country. This year alone 2,700 people have been killed due to drug related violence, while last year 6,300 were killed.
President Obama should take note because the cartels have already crossed the border in numerous ways, which has brought their violence and drugs into the states. However, Mexico realized that the problem was not just the organized crime element, they discovered that prohibition wasn’t working. They had the fortitude and sense to go ahead and legalize personal amounts of various recreational drugs and stop populating their prison system with drug related offenses.
Mexico was given $1.4 billion by the United States to fund their war on the cartels. That money allowed to purchase the mobile technology used by the Mexican Navy. Many high level bosses have been already captured and many more are now being hunted down. Corrupted officials connected to various cartels have been uncovered. Cartel operations have been uncovered in all of North America.
Drug Abuse Foundation CEO Busted
June 17th, 2009 by Russ
Master of Irony, Craig Farris, was arrested last Thursday afternoon when he attempted to sell meth and ecstasy to an undercover police officer. Farris, founder and CEO of the Over the Wall Foundation, made his initial fortune helping young people face and recover from addiction. Apparently he’s making a second fortune by re-establishing himself as their primary drug dealer in their Foundation Sponsored Relapse.
In an interesting twist, the drugs intercepted by police turned out not to be illicit drugs at all. Sly Craig Farris not only has got the best racket in town (dealing drugs to addicts inside their own treatment center), he’s pawning off Tylenol and oregano to do it. At least he’s consistent: he lacks scruples as a drug counselor and a drug dealer at the same time.
B.C. Smuggler Gets 12 Years Down Under
April 24th, 2009 by Rick
Two more men involved in an international drug smuggling ring led by imprisoned Yong Ye, were sentenced in an Australian court. Kin Fai Chan of Canada was given 12 years, while Chun Fung Lo, of Hong Kong received 7 and a half years, for a smaller role within the organization.
The charges from Australia, attempting to possess 15 kilos of methamphetamine, are from a December investigation by the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit in which Yong Ye pled guilty to being the head honcho of the ring.
After the B.C. Supreme Court sentenced Ye to 18 years in a Vancouver prison, investigators within the CFSE contacted the Australian Federal Police and informed them about an incoming shipment of modified suitcases from Vancouver coming into Australia.
Prenatal Meth Exposure Linked to Abnormal Brain Development
April 20th, 2009 by Tracii
A new study conducted by the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii found a link between prenatal methamphetamine exposure and brain development abnormalities.
The findings were based on brain scans from 29 three- and four-year olds who were exposed to the drug in utero versus 37 who were not. Abnormalities in white matter structure and brain maturation rates were found, with meth-exposed kids showing four percent less molecular diffusion in white matter.
Linda Chang, M.D., author of the study, had this to say:
Our findings suggest prenatal meth exposure accelerates brain development in an abnormal pattern. Such abnormal brain development may explain why some children with prenatal meth exposure reach developmental milestones later than others.
Of course the study doesn’t account for polydrug use, stress during pregnancy, poor diet, exposure to heavy metals or other possible contributing factors, but the meth connection is definitely there.
For those who don’t know, methamphetamine is the most potent in a class of drugs that includes the likes of crack cocaine, ephedrine and amphetamine, so these findings aren’t exactly unexpected.
Canadian Drug Dealer Gets 20 Years
December 22nd, 2008 by Perry
Vancouver drug kingpin Yong Long Ye recently plead guilty as leader of a cocaine and meth trafficking ring, receiving 20 years as part of his heal.
The charges also included laundering, and the Vancouver resident lost millions in properties and assets. The bust came from years of undercover work by a Canadian drug task force — which uncovered an international ring stretching from California to Australia.
The Vancouver Sun reported Ye had operations in the United States, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan, India and China. Ye’s associates would import ephedrine from Los Angeles and then export meth as a finished product to countries like Australia — where the market for the drug is several times more valuable.
