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Tag: war on drugs

  • 40 killed over weekend in Ciudad Jaurez

    In response, lawmakers in Mexico have called for the banning of… a video game.

    Meanwhile, the NRA kills a law aimed at limiting gun running to Mexico.

    If the rising death toll was a sign in 2009 that drug gangs were weakening, what does the rising death toll say about how weak the drug gangs must be in 2011? 40 deaths in one weekend in one city?! Victory must be very very near.

    For the victory party, I’ve already got my cervesa, my “misión cumplida” banner, and my Chapo Guzmán piñata all ready to go. You just bring the guacamole and tell me when to cue the mariachi band. Because man, we’re going to have ourselves one craaazy fiesta loca!

    Ay yi yi.

  • Non-violent drug offenders don’t end up in prison…

    …except when they do.

    Patricia Marilyn Spottedcrow, who is serving 10 years in prison, has been taken away from her four young children and husband, and has ended her work in nursing homes because of $31 in marijuana sales. On Dec. 31, 2009, Spottedcrow and her mother, Delita Starr, 50, sold a “dime bag” of marijuana to a police informant at Starr’s home.
    …
    [The now retired judge said:] “By not putting the grandmother in prison, she is able to help take care of the children.”

  • Another Drug Submarine Found

    This time in Colombia. 100 feet long. Homemade. It could carry 8 tones of cocaine. Here’s the story in the BBC. There’s video of it, too. I want one.

  • Heroin overdoses soar in Boston

    So says the Herald.

    Heroin overdoses have killed five people in Boston so far this year, said Rita Nieves, Substance Abuse Services Bureau director at the Boston Public Health Commission. There were 21 local fatal heroin overdoses in all of 2010 and 16 in 2009, Nieves said.

    By comparison, each month in the Netherlands there are fewer than 11 overdose deaths. And that’s for alldrugs (though I assume most are from heroin). The population of the Netherlands is 25 times Boston. You draw your own conclusion. Or maybe you just don’t care when junkies OD, and you just consider it collateral damage.

  • DEA Does Good

    I just wanted to write that headline… because I don’t think I ever has.

    But I’ll some give credit where credit is due. From the New York Times.

    A group of men agreed to assist the Taliban in a conspiracy to ship narcotics through West Africa to the United States and with the proceeds buy weapons for use against American forces in Afghanistan, federal prosecutors in Manhattan announced on Monday.

    The charges stemmed from a sting operation run by the Drug Enforcement Administration, in which paid informants posed as representatives of the Taliban and discussed arrangements for the proposed drugs and weapons deals with the accused conspirators in meetings in West Africa and Eastern Europe.
    …
    “This alleged effort to arm and enrich the Taliban,” [US Attorney] Mr. Bharara said, “is the latest example of the dangers of an interconnected world in which terrorists and drug runners can link up across continents to harm Americans.”

    I’m against people seeing weapons to kill US soldiers. There. How’s that for a non-controversial statement?

    Of course, and I guess it needs to be said once again: Drugs wouldn’t be supporting terrorists if these drugs were legal and regulated and taxed. It really is that simple. We can support terrorists and have drug prohibition; or we could legalize and regulate the drug trade and not give support to terrorists. That’s the choice we make. Personally, I’d pick the latter. Apparently, that makes me crazy.

  • No-knock raids

    This isn’t new news, but it’s worth re-mentioning: No-knock raids are “a tactic that has grown in use from 2,000 to 3,000 raids a year in the mid-1980s, to 70,000 to 80,000 annually.”

    Maybe that doesn’t bother you at all. But it should.

    A no-knock raid is when police simply bust down your door at 5AM in sort of police version of “shock and awe.”

    A lot of “knock” raids are basically the same, but the “entry team” (which sounds almost as benign as some Walmart “greeting team”) will shout “police, open the door!” as the battering ram goes into its backswing.

  • Police Officers and Free Speech

    Deputy Probation Officer Joe Miller signed a letter in support of California’s Proposition 19 (marijuana legalization). A disclaimer made it clear that he did not represent the viewpoint of the Mohave County Probation Department.

    Officer Miller was fired. Maybe you think a police officer should never have an opinion on anything. I can understand saying a police officer should not advocate breaking the law. But that is something else. All people, police included, should be able to express their personal opinion about public referendums without fear of retribution.

    One can only wonder… actually, no: one doesn’t have to wonder at all. Nothing would would have happened to Officer Miller if he had signed a letter in support of less restrictive gun laws. Or even gay marriage, pro or con. But he thinks drugs laws should be (gasp) changed.

    Whether or not you agree with Miller’s (or my) position, stand up for workers’ rights and free speech. Sign a petition in his support.

    So what it is with drugs? Yes, drug use is a crime. But it’s justa crime. There are lots of crimes. Why is law enforcement so obsessed with drugs? I didn’t get it before I was a cop; I didn’t get it when I was cop; and, Heavens to Betsy, I still don’t get it!

  • Weed Menace Grows in New York City–NYPD Responds

    Your Attention Please: Marijuana has now been found in all five boroughs. Luckily, in response to this plague, the NYPD has cracked down and arrested more people than ever for the crime of possessing marijuana. In 2010, 50,383 were arrested (86 percent of these are black or Latino). Noble drug warriors estimate that a continued focus on locking up low-level drug users will eradicate the evil weed by 2014. Currently, thanks to massive police presence, a entire 6-block area in East New York has been declared “marijuana free.”

    The number of marijuana arrests last year was greater than the number of marijuana arrests during entire 19-year period from 1978 to 1996.

    Of course that makes sense, since marijuana didn’t hit The Bronx until 1995. And the first “bud” wasn’t confirmed on Staten Island until 2002.

    But seriously, I know marijuana is illegal. And I know that some low-level drug offenders are more serious criminals. If you’re arresting some violent drug dealer and all you can get him on is smoking a joint, fine. But most of these arrests are for nothing more than small-scale marijuana possession, a non-arrestable offense in New York State! Not only are many of these arrests wrong, they’re expensive, counter-productive, and only happen because officers face crazy pressure to produce numbers for Compstat.

    Meanwhile, back in NYPD recruiting, they’re scratching their heads trying to figure out why it’s so hard to find young New York-raised black and Latino men with a clean record. You reap what you sow.

  • Smoker-free worker

    Ahhh, I hear the immortal if overused words of Martin Niemöller… then they started drug testing at work. But I did not complain, because I was not a drug user. Actually, just for the record, I’ve complained every time I’ve taken (and passed) a drug test.

    Well it seems that now there are more places that are drug-testing for cigarettes. That’s right. It’s not that you can’t smoke at work. It’s that you can’t work and be a smoker.

    That ain’t right. My work and my home life (even when I work from home) are separate. I don’t want my boss telling me what I can and can’t do when I’m not getting paid.

    More worrisome is the precedent. This is exactly what people warned about when drug tests were first allowed, thanks to Ronald Reagan’s getting tough on drugs. We’re the only country that tests people for what they do outside of workplace.

    First they test for illegal drugs. Then they test for legal drugs. If we don’t draw the line, they’ll test for fatty foods, kinky sex, and political conformity. It’s not right.

    People are up in arms with real and perceived government abuse of power. Where are the right-wing protesters when big corporations usurp the same power?

  • LA Jury

    My mom just got off of an L.A. jury. It happened to be the same courtroom as the OJ Simpson trial.

    The accused was pulled over in South L.A. for a traffic violation and had an outstanding warrant (for what, naturally, she doesn’t know). Search incident to arrest found cocaine.

    Seems open and shut… but not for a city jury. The vote was nine-to-three guilty and a hung jury.

    Three of the 12 simply wouldn’t believe the police. My mom argued that (but didn’t tell them her son was a police officer). One said the guy was being picked on because he had cornrows.

    I told my mom about jury nullification. She didn’t like the idea, even though she thinks that cocaine possession shouldn’t be a crime.