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…
Tag: war on drugs
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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.…