Drug WarRant

That’s the title of an excellent post by xxdr zombiexx over at Daily Kos.
It’s a good read on its own, but what makes is particularly nice to see is the extensive recommendations and massive comment section — almost unanimously supportive of the post.
Maybe there’s some hope for those lib’rul types.

“bullet” On her radio show, Diane Rehm fellated drug warrior Joseph Califano, the guy whose so-called statistics have made him the laughing stock of the scientific community. Julian Sanchez discusses the on-air debacle. If you wish, you can listen to the segment here. Favorite moment — when a caller gets Joe’s number and Califano is forced to spout inanities about how marijuana is as dangerous as cocaine and heroin, Rehm goes down on him thusly:

… it sounds as though Mr. Califano, having been in this field for as long as he has, and involved with this issue for as long as he has, probably has the correct information.

Journamalism at its finest.

“bullet” Moving briskly from fellatio to masturbation, we have DEA head Karen Tandy:

“Plan Colombia is working.”

Oh, yeah. Work it, Karen.

For more fantasies, see Drug war keeps stability alive, terror in check.
“bullet” Oops. Turns out medical marijuana doesn’t destroy the fabric of civilization after all.
“bullet” More brilliance! Heroin laced with fentanyl? Outlaw fentanyl precursers. Except that it’s possible that most of the fentany-laced heroin arrived in this country already laced. So nothing is really accomplished, and the real problem (putting drug distribution in the hands of criminals) is left un-addressed.
“bullet” Now that’s a letter to the editor!

With respect to drug testing in the workplace, I suggest that managers or supervisors who can’t evaluate their staff’s performance by observing them or examining their work are far more suitable candidates for drug testing than the employees. -George Kosinski

“bullet” Truth via Venezuela:

Carreöo dismissed any possibility of permitting the intervention of US authorities in Venezuela to fight drug trafficking and accused the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) of forming its own ‹drug cartel.Š According to the Carreöo, when Venezuela ended its cooperation with the DEA two years ago, they observed that the US agency was trafficking drugs through the country.
“They were making a large quantity of drug shipments under the pretense of monitoring them, and they didn’t carry out arrests or breakup the cartels,” explained Carreöo. “We were able to determine the presence of a new drug cartel in which the United States Drug Enforcement Agency was monopolizing the shipment of drugs,” he said.

Sounds like the DEA to me.
“bullet” Marsha Rosenbaum teaches USA Today a little truth about drug testing.

Check out this new Jim Jones video on the 34th anniversary of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, via Drug Policy Alliance

Dr. Bronner (of the Magic Soaps) has come up with an amusing solution regarding what to do with those worthless field drug testing kits that police actually use as proof to lock you up — use them as a test to check for real soap!

What a great way to turn a bad arrest into a marketing gimmick!

The length that politians will go to control our lives and to try to prevent us from even thinking about drugs (which, of course, has the absolute opposite effect) is surreal.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has joined in the fray in the fight to prevent us from drinking an energy drink called “Cocaine.”

“This is a product that glamorizes illegal drug use and it is highly irresponsible and reckless,” Attorney General Lisa Madigan said. “The State of Illinois will not tolerate its sale, especially to children.”
Madigan threatened legal action. She said marketing and sale of the product violates the state’s Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act because it promotes the illegal use of drugs. […]
Madigan said she has successfully stopped similar products from being sold, including, two years ago, Chronic Candy Pops, commonly called “pot suckers.”

Yes, that’s what our Attorney General does. And apparently we pay her a salary.
She also was instrumental in stripping away some of our 4th Amendement rights nationally, by pushing the Caballes case to the Supreme Court (allowing the “word” of a dog to determine sufficient cause for a vehicle search even when there was no suspicion).
Well, it sure is good to know that Lisa Madigan is watching out to make sure we don’t consume a product that has the same name as an illegal substance.
I am puzzled, however. I was just at the store, and Coca-Cola was still on the shelves. Odd.
I do hope that she’ll go after another blatant attempt to glamorize illegal drug use.

As we all know, one of the main street names for smokable methamphetamine is “Ice.” Unfortunately, unscrupulous gas station attendants all over the state have been selling crystalized water under that same name. And they even let children as young as six years old purchase and consume it. They will certainly all grow up to be meth addicts and lose their teeth. And look how blatantly it is marketed to children! Disgusting.

All of this has given me the idea for a great product. Pot Brownies. I’d really like to see if someone could get away with commercial sales of this product…

POT BROWNIES

Made from the best part of the plant*
Ingredients imported from Central America
and lovingly stirred in a pot

*cacao, that is

If you stir the ingredients in a pot, then you can call them Pot Brownies, can’t you?
Lisa? What do you think?
Update: Cocaine, the energy drink, has been pulled from shelves nationwide.

“Of course, we intended for Cocaine energy drink to be a legal alternative the same way that celibacy is an alternative to premarital sex,” [Redux Beverages partner Clegg] Ivey said. “It’s not the same thing and no one thinks it is. Our product doesn’t have any cocaine in it. No one thinks that it does. We think it is most likely legal in the United States to ship our product.” […]
What we would like to do is continue to fight to keep the name because it’s clearly the name that’s the problem,” Ivey said. “What we can’t do is distribute our product when regulators in the states and the FDA are saying that if you do this, you could go to jail.”

This is the absurdity that happens when you declare war on a plant.

Moscow police on Saturday suppressed a rally for the legalization of marijuana, detaining 30 people and beating many more. Participants of the Marijuana March were fined and sentenced to 15 days in jail.
The Marijuana Legalization League attempted to stage a rally in downtown Moscow on Saturday to demand the legalization of marijuana in Russia. Police detained the demonstrators, beating several people with truncheons. […]
City authorities have turned down an application to organize the rally as “propagandizing drug abuse”. The Federal Drug Control Federation earlier urged Moscow to crack down on the possible gathering “as tough as possible”.

Photos: here, here, here, here.

Earlier this week, I noted a blatant and pathetic attempt by the State of Kentucky to use drug enforcement to lobby for more money.
David Borden follows up in this post, noting that this is a common tactic around the country, and may reflect a kind of national coordinated lobbying effort.

“bullet” DrugSense Weekly
“bullet”

“bullet” And don’t forget: today is national no-pants day.

Parts of England and Ireland apparently have an archaic coroner’s inquest system, which seems to involve the use of some kind of local witch doctor who just makes shit up.
Cannabis Can Trigger Fatal Heart Conditions

The inquest was told that Mr Kelly, who was very health-conscious, collapsed and died in front of his girlfriend, Stephanie.
He was an occasional user of cannabis and a post mortem found tiny traces of the drug in his system.
He was rushed to the Mercy University Hospital ( MUH ) but he died despite frantic efforts by doctors to save him.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster said David died because the rhythmic electrical pulse in his heart misfired, causing it to stop beating almost immediately. She pointed to a growing body of medical evidence which shows links between the triggering of similar heart conditions and the use of drugs like cannabis and cocaine.

Drugs like cannabis and cocaine?
Witchdoctor Bolster then pointed to a series of scratches on a victim and said that they were from probably caused by animals like chipmunks and elephants.
[Note: A couple of previous coroner’s inquest stories I’ve reported on are here and here.]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a blatant and pathetic effort to justify drug war funding…
From the State of Kentucky (as in the state government) comes this press release:

State police, local law enforcement, sheriff‰s offices, HIDTA and multi-jurisdictional drug task forces throughout the nation collectively conducted undercover investigations, search warrants, consent searches, marijuana eradication efforts, drug interdiction and arrest warrants for a period of one week. This collective effort, Operation Byrne Drugs II, was conducted from April 23-29 to highlight the need and effectiveness of the Byrne grant funding and the impact cuts to this funding could have on local and statewide drug enforcement. [emphasis added]

That’s right. They’re admitting that they put together a week of drug arrests for the sole purpose of making a case for getting money.

Statewide, last week’s operation resulted in 491 arrests, 30 search warrants and the seizure of 287 marijuana plants, approximately 965 pounds of marijuana, approximately 12 pounds of cocaine, 266 hydrocodone tablets, 950 other prescription tablets, 467 grams of methamphetamine, six meth labs, four drug endangered children, 26 guns, 14 vehicles and $148,201 in cash. Cabinet for Health and Family Services also removed 12 children from homes during arrests and a female was charged with Wanton Endangerment First Degree when she and her newborn tested positive for Cocaine.
‹The number of arrests and seizures that each drug task force made is representative of what Kentucky‰s law enforcement can accomplish when resources are pulled together to take illegal drugs off the streets,Š stated Tommy Loving, executive director of the Bowling Green/Warren County Drug Task Force and president of Kentucky Narcotics Officers Association. ‹As a statewide organization, KNOA is hopeful that congress will see the value of intensive drug enforcement efforts like this one, and consider the benefits that could be derived by reinstating previous funding levels in the future.Š

Again, the appeal to Congress: “Look at us! We got some drugs. Give us money.”
Do they really think that that mix of crap they seized and the small-time busts is going to have any real effect? They want us to put more tax payer money into that?

Laurie Dudgeon, the executive director of the Office of Drug Control Policy, said statistics from the one-week sweep ‹is symbolic to the dangers and hard work that these units and agents do all year.Š

Do you have any idea what you’re saying Laurie? Because it doesn’t make a bit of sense — in grammar or content. Perhaps in addition to eliminating the Byrne grant program, we should be eliminating the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, since all you seem to know how to do is beg for money poorly.