Drugs on the Rez. It's a hell of a life going from utter poverty, where your mom gets you drunk so you'll stop complaining about being hungry, to being able to buy your kids toys with $100 accessories and sending them to private schools, to going back to literally not having a quarter to call your dad. In this case, the money came from Canadian
oxycontin. It's not just Native Americans who are targeted by the authorities. It's also
Indians. There's a pretty good newish book on the subject of black markets,
Illicit. Laos' opium market is apparently gone -- in favor of
meth and Afghanistan's
market is black in name only, so why keep up the
facade?
posted by raaka
on Feb 20, 2006 -
14 comments
Drug War Roundup V. "It's the most horrible mistake I've ever made," says a juror who helped
convict Ed "Guru of Ganja" Rosenthal of marijuana production. The judge in Ed's case didn't consider him a flight risk, but may have after reading "
The Drug War Refugees" (reg. req.), about Americans fleeing to Canada. The entire drug trade is
approximately "the size of the Spanish economy and about 8 percent of world trade." And, of course, is responsible for hippo
migration to Columbia.
posted by raaka
on Feb 4, 2003 -
22 comments
Drug War Roundup IV. An athlete who refused a drug test was stripped of her awards. She plays
bridge. American Indians who honed their skills tracking drug smugglers recently
trained Baltic border guards in the hopes of preventing nuclear weapon proliferation. Another chapter was written in the ongoing "
is ecstasy all that dangerous?" debate. Salvatore Gravano is on his way back to prison for running an
ecstasy ring. Nevada is edging closer to
legalizing up to three ounces of marijuana, to the disdain of Bush's Drug Policy director and Nevada's biggest police group. A Canadian right wing party and cops came out
against their government's recent pro-legalization report. I see a pattern, but maybe it's just the
pudding.
posted by raaka
on Sep 7, 2002 -
30 comments
Drug War Roundup II. An Indian in South Dakota tried to grow hemp on the rez for the last two years. The DEA comes around harvest time with the
weed whackers. He’s going to try again. A Colorado Supreme Court
ruling issued Monday gives booksellers the toughest First Amendment rights in the country. The case started when
Tattered Cover fliers were found at a meth lab. Also on Monday, the San Francisco appeals court heard a government lawyer argue that "
there’s no way of knowing" if someone can get high eating foods containg hemp oil, like potato chips and soda. NORML is using a Mike Bloomberg quote about smoking marijuana, "
You bet I did. And I enjoyed it," in a campaign to legalize the weed, man.
posted by raaka
on Apr 9, 2002 -
24 comments
Drug War roundup. The US will end
drug-related sanctions against Afghanistan and Haiti. Neither country stopped producing drugs, they need loans sanctions stop them from receiving. A British journalist compares the
drug policies of Holland to Britain. Noteworthy: despite heroin being half the price, there are 25% fewer Dutch addicts. The FARC and Columbia are openly warring again. So far, only
civilians have been killed. The California Medical Association voted to lobby the state government to
raise the smoking age from 18 to 21.
posted by raaka
on Feb 25, 2002 -
22 comments
