Posts Tagged ‘DEA’
More states say its time for the Feds to rethink medical marijuana
Medical marijuana advocates are hoping state governments can succeed where their efforts have failed by asking federal authorities to reclassify pot as a drug with medical use.
Shortly before Christmas, Colorado became the fourth state to ask the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana as a narcotic in the same league as heavyweight painkillers including oxycodone. The governors of Washington and Rhode Island filed a formal petition with the agency in November, and Vermont signed onto that request shortly afterward.
All four are among the sixteen states and the District of Columbia that have laws on the books that allow the medical use of marijuana, even though the drug remains illegal under federal law. Meanwhile, federal authorities have asserted their power by raiding dispensaries in states including California and Washington.
Supporters say the public is on their side, and the state requests show the feds are increasingly isolated on the issue. But they acknowledge it’s still an uphill battle…
Insert appropriate smartass remark about “Change” here.
In their November petition, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire and Rhode Island’s Lincoln Chafee argued that “the vast majority of modern research” has found marijuana useful for treating patients with glaucoma, for relieving the nausea suffered by cancer patients in chemotherapy and for relieving symptoms of degenerative nerve diseases…
Critics call medical marijuana a “Trojan horse” for legalizing the drug entirely, and federal authorities mounted a string of high-profile raids in California, Washington and Montana in 2011…
Which further convinces social conservatives that their backwardness has at least an opportunist ally in the White House.
Morgan Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project said the states’ requests to reclassify the drug “could and certainly should” give the states some breathing room, “but I really don’t think it will…I think that it’s not going to provide any real tangible benefits immediately,” he said. But it if succeeds, “It will definitely bring the federal government more in line with currently accepted science.”
In the meantime, “There’s no reason for the federal government to be wasting resources going after medical marijuana providers,” he said.
Yup.
Adderall shortage + 2 wrong ideologies = useless drug policies
A shortage of Adderall, which is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, shows little sign of easing as manufacturers struggle to get enough active ingredient to make the drug and demand climbs.
Adderall, a stimulant, is a controlled substance, meaning it is addictive and has the potential to be abused. The Drug Enforcement Administration tightly regulates how much of the drug’s active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) can be distributed to manufacturers each year…
Increasingly that estimate is coming into conflict with what companies themselves say they need to meet demand for the drug, which is reaching all-time highs. In 2010, more than 18 million prescriptions were written for Adderall, up 13.4 percent from 2009, according to IMS Health, which tracks prescription data…
‘All-time highs” – A deliberate choice of words?
ADHD is one of the most common childhood disorders. An average of 9 percent of children between the ages of five and 17 are diagnosed with ADHD per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms include difficulty staying focused, hyperactivity and difficulty controlling behavior. If they are not properly medicated, children with ADHD may act out and be held back in class; adolescents might engage in impulsive, risky behavior; adults are at greater risk of being fired from their jobs…
And living in a nation that chooses symptomatic treatment over any other, we are all required to nod our bobbleheads and worry about a shortage of drugs for the next generation of junkies.
Detroit airport Delta baggage handlers drug ring busted
Federal agents toppled two separate drug rings today run by baggage handlers who allegedly imported marijuana and cocaine from Jamaica and Houston while working at Detroit Metro Airport.
Twelve people — including 10 baggage handlers — were arrested early today in an investigation dubbed “Operation Excess Baggage” and accused of exploiting weaknesses at several airports to run drug-smuggling pipelines since at least 2009.
Complaints filed in federal court in Detroit — where nine defendants were ordered held behind bars until at least Friday — describe intricate drug-smuggling rings that used crude tactics, an exotic locale and employee access to bypass security and transport hundreds of pounds of illegal drugs to Detroit’s streets…
The Jamaica case dates to January 2010 when a federal agent in Jamaica contacted another agent locally about the seizure of about 53 pounds of marijuana discovered inside a suitcase that was about to be placed on Northwest Airlines flight No. 2321 bound for Detroit.
The suitcase had a seemingly legitimate baggage tag bearing the name of an unidentified person who was an unwitting participant in the smuggling attempt, according to court records.
Federal agents let the plane depart for Detroit.
While in the air, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and the Homeland Security Department decided to intercept all baggage once the plane landed in Detroit before baggage handlers could touch them.
Investigators focused on five suitcases. Inside, agents found approximately 35 pounds of cocaine and almost 284 pounds of marijuana, according to court records…
The Jamaica case relied on several handlers in Detroit who were born in Jamaica.
The Houston pipeline used similar methods and operated separately, but simultaneously, according to prosecutors…[It] relied on two baggage handlers who transferred from Detroit to Texas so they could arrange the drug shipments, according to court records.
Not the toughest bit of analytics in the world. What was required was the staff and motivation. The opportunity to catch crooks like this ain’t going away anytime soon.
Thugs shoot robbery victim, flee with dough. Pizza dough.
How did the mugger botch the robbery of a Staten Island pizza man? He grabbed the wrong bag of dough, of course…
Salvatore LaRosa and an unidentified accomplice allegedly followed the owners of Brother’s Pizzeria home on June 30, 2008. They put on masks and confronted the victims at gunpoint in their driveway, according to a complaint unsealed Monday in Brooklyn Federal Court.
The assailants demanded one of the shopkeepers hand over a bag – thinking it contained the day’s proceeds, officials said. “The bag that was stolen contained pizza dough,” Drug Enforcement Administration agent Kristie Osswald stated in the complaint.
Even though it wasn’t cash, the robbery victim resisted and was shot twice in the legs.
This creep managed a get-out-of-jail card by fronting a $1 million bail order from the Federal Court. Poisonally, I think they should lock him up and throw away the key. He shot the poor bugger he robbed.
Aside from being stupid, he’s still a danger to society.
Easy disposal of your old meds on September 25, 2010.
Gather up your expired meds. Saturday’s the day.
Less than a month into the Drug Enforcement Administration’s prescription drug “Take-Back” campaign, over 3,400 sites nationwide have joined the effort that seeks to prevent increased pill abuse and theft. Government, community, public health and law enforcement partners will be collecting potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs for destruction at these sites all across the nation o n Saturday, September 25 th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked…
This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Many Americans are not aware that medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are increasing at alarming rates, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, many Americans do not know how to properly dispose of their unused medicine, often flushing them down the toilet or throwing them away – both potential safety and health hazards.
“The National Prescription Drug Take-Back campaign will provide a safe way for Americans to dispose of their unwanted prescription drugs,” said Michele M. Leonhart, Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
It’s always pleasant to find a new avenue for disposal of all things which tend to accumulate and gain a life of their own.
You can find a location in your neck of the woods here: Collection Sites Search
Ponzi schemer untouchable because of DEA connection?
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
Evidence has emerged that the Texan who bankrolled English cricket may have been a US government informer.
Sir Allen Stanford, who is accused of bank fraud, is the subject of an investigation by the BBC’s Panorama.
Sources told Panorama that if he was a paid anti-drug agency informer, that could explain why a 2006 probe into his financial dealings was quietly dropped.
Sir Allen vigorously denies allegations of financial wrongdoing, despite a massive shortfall in his bank’s assets. Of the $7.2bn in deposits claimed by the bank, only $500m has been traced.
Secret documents seen by Panorama show both governments knew in 1990 that the Texan was a former bankrupt and his first bank was suspected of involvement with Latin American money-launderers.
In 1999, both the British and the Americans were aware of the facts surrounding a cheque for $3.1m that Sir Allen paid to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). It was drug money originally paid in to Stanford International Bank by agents acting for a feared Mexican drug lord known as the ‘Lord of the Heavens’.
On 17 February of this year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Sir Allen of running a multi-billion dollar Ponzi fraud…civil charges he has denied.
Two and a half months after the SEC filing, the Texan has not yet faced criminal charges.
He was initially investigated by the SEC for running a possible Ponzi fraud in the summer of 2006, but by the winter of that year the inquiry was stopped.
Panorama understands that the decision was taken because of a request by another government agency.
In recent years – actually going all the way back to Ollie North and CIA drugs involvement – the U.S. government has dabbled in chasing vs. partnering with drug lords as the wind blew one way or another in the absolutely useless War on Drugs.
I trust all of these clowns about as far as I can throw them uphill into a heavy wind. Unprincipled thugs no different from their officially-criminal buddies.
Mexican organized crimefighters infiltrated by – organized crime!
A major drug cartel has infiltrated the Mexican attorney general’s office, and one cartel worker says he even spied on DEA operations from inside the U.S. Embassy, said Mexican prosecutors.
Five officials of the Attorney General’s Organized Crime unit were arrested on allegations they served as informants for the Beltran Leyva cartel, Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said, adding there are indications that other spies still work inside his agency.
The embassy employee, who also worked for Interpol at the Mexico City airport, is a protected witness after telling Mexican officials in Washington that he leaked details of DEA operations. U.S. Embassy officials had no immediate comment, saying they generally avoid discussing internal operating or security issues.
President Calderon himself has long acknowledged corruption is widespread in police forces. Monday’s case represents the most serious known infiltration of anti-crime agencies since the 1997 arrest of Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, then head of Mexico’s anti-drug agency. Gutierrez Rebollo later was convicted of aiding drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes…
Assistant Attorney General Marisela Morales said two top employees of her organized-crime unit and at least three federal police agents assigned to it may have been passing information on surveillance targets and potential raids for at least four years.
The agents and officials each received payments of between $150,000 and $450,000 per month for the information, Morales said.
Does it ever end? Will there ever be a long enough concerted effort by the Mexican government that roots out root and stem of corruption?
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