“Believe it or not, as a high school teenager, [heroine] was easier for us to get than alcohol,” he said. “It’s cheaper than anything out there.” That’s because alcohol is legal and restricted and heroin is prohibited and unrestricted. But I guess it’s only newsworthy when rich white kids get hooked. Here’s the story in the New York Times.
Tag: war on drugs
More from Mexico
The BBC has a good video reportage on the latest gun battles between the drug mob and police. This time in the port city of Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacán. The complete disrespect the drug people have for law enforcement is shocking. They engage in gun battles with heavily armed police and expect to win. Sometimes they do.
PATRIOT Act used for drugs, not terrorists
Ryan Grim reportsin the Huffington Post that only 3 of 763 “sneak and peek” requests involved terrorism cases. A sneak and peak is when the government searches your home or office without telling you. It was supposed to keep us safe from terrorists. But most sneak and peaks, not surprisingly, were for drugs. Also worrisome, only three requests were denied.
Everybody must get stoned
Raționalitate asks a very good question: How much marijuana is consumed in the US? Of course, thanks to drug prohibition, we really have no idea. Some 100 million Americans would admit to having smoked marijuana, but that is most certainly a low estimate. The New York Timescites a congressional report stating that Mexico seized around 9.3 million pounds of marijuana…
Officers Down
Four officers shot, one very seriously. In a “no-knock” drug raid in New Jersey. Wayne Parry of the A.P. reports: Lakewood Patrolman Jonathan Wilson was shot in the face during the raid, and was in critical but stable condition at a local hospital. Authorities said they were cautiously optimistic he would survive despite being grievously wounded. … As soon as…
Dirty money
Cops stealing from a drug house. Too bad the FBI was watching. Now one is going to the Federal Penn for a couple decades. Such cases are inevitable with the war on drugs. All drug cops are not corrupt. But almost all corrupt cops deal with drugs. It’s just too easy to rationalize stealing dirty money. 26 pending major-felony cases…
The Day the Police Came Crashing Through His Door
In the Washington Post, Cheye Calvo, the mayor of Berwyn Heights, MD, writes about his experience: I remember thinking, as I kneeled at gunpoint with my hands bound on my living room floor, that there had been a terrible, terrible mistake. … In the words of Prince George’s County Sheriff Michael Jackson, whose deputies carried out the assault, “the guys…
Cost of Incarceration: NYC
In 2008, New York’s Department of Correction’s budget was $978 million ($939 million of which is paid for city tax dollars). “In Fiscal 2007, the Department handled over 100,000 admissions, managed an average daily population of 13,987 and transported 326,735 individuals to court.” The average length of stay is 47 days. That’s $70,000 per inmate per year. Or $190 per…
1.7 Million Drug Arrests in 2008
LEAP says: A group of police and judges who want to legalize drugs pointed to new FBI numbers released today as evidence that the “war on drugs” is a failure that can never be won. The data, from the FBI’s “Crime in the United States” report, shows that in 2008 there were 1,702,537 arrests for drug law violations, or one…
What Will Mexico’s New Drug Law Do?
Read a few perspectives in the New York Time