The War on Drugs: They've Finally Arrested All the Kingpins...

[kornkob]

It all depends on how the DA wants to fight it. It's all politics, remember.

Yeah-- and I'll bet that ADA that let you off without a fight didn't have to read about the case in the paper an take a strong 'moral stand' so that the current administration could show that they were 'hard on crime'.


Civil forfieture is a corrupting influence. It seemed like such a good idea when they first implemented it "Use the drug dealer's asssets to fight the crime that surrounds their enterprises" but what it has become is a budgetary tool and THAT is where the corruption sets in.

One example out of many that makes total sense on the face of it turning out to be a horible idea once implemented.

 

[z987k]

The boys should all say that the "girl" who was probably much older with them, had sex with them or something and get her on statutory charges. You know, fire with fire.

 

[kornkob]

Setting aside the ethics of lying to implicate someone else in a crime in order to evade procecution for a crime you know you did, this presents problems.


If the undercover operation involved any sort of video tape or audio bug of conversations they had you could end up with obstruction, false report, etc added to your charges.

It's never a good idea to lie about your interactions with law enforcement and if you ARE going to, you need to keep your mouth shut until after your lawyer has recieved all the evidence in the case so you can make sure your lie isn't going to be exposed in the evidence.

In this case, the best things for these kids to do is get a lawyer and shut the hell up.

 

[Pugilist]

I am in law enforcement (nowhere near this!) and this is one hell of a mess they have here. It seems to me they had a problem with drugs at the local high school and sent this officer in. What amazes me is the resource of an officer going that deep undercover to nab a few kids selling dimebags and some ecstasy.

I would bet my bank account (not much) that someone is using these kids as a pawn to push their crap in the school. Why they wouldnt watch these kids for patterns and meeting with strange people with simple surveillance is beyond me. They could nab the REAL problem, the guy getting into the school through naive, and impressionable teenagers.

The only thing I will say is that ecstasy is becoming ever more popular with kids and it is VERY dangerous. I have heard too many stories of kids dehydrating, going into seizures, and ultimately dying from experimenting with the stuff.

The manner in which they are trying to protect the kids is IMO, absurd. Any judge worth his salt will toss this out. Hell, all they had to do was bring the kids into an interview, explain the penalties and say "give me the names" and they would have had the real problem link in the chain.

 

[noobrewer]

No one ever died from smoking marijuana. You can look on the FDA site and the only drug who's side effect does NOT include death is marijuana. These cops are going after small potatoes, so is this entire war on drugs. Maybe if people were allowed to see druggies in their true form (whacked out 24-7), would they ACTUALLY be deterred away from use, or over-use. People need to be given the autonomy to make decisions for themselves... to use or not to use.

PS. 1 semester shy of a Criminal Justice degree and I hate the field... the most backwards mentalities rule this field.

 

[Pugilist]

PS. 1 semester shy of a Criminal Justice degree and I hate the field... the most backwards mentalities rule this field.

Depending on where you live you might want to reconsider. If its a small town the politics will put you in the loonybin. If its a big city the politics will get you there, as well as the liberal media and anti-cop groups.

The field is fast becoming less attractive for prospects for these reasons. This is no way defends cops who break the law and abuse their power (we all know there are way too many). The media is just a heck of a lot faster jumping on a story where a cop did wrong instead of the old "cop saves child from burning house". People want to read the negatives, not the positives.

 

[zoebisch01]

Man we just got finished watching "American Gangster" and I was shocked at the end of the film. SHOCKED. I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen, although I suppose there are the historical accounts which I would imagine probably aren't far from the truth.

My buddy in school, his dad's girlfriend was a Park Ranger. Guess where she got her weed? From the other Park Ranger 'Pharmacy', confiscated from all those 'criminals'

 

[cd2448]

it's all a bit shaky, true enough. but the one kid who had $3,500, presumably in cash, at his home - he's on a nice allowance, there.

 

[APendejo]

Bored cops, too much time on their hands.
We have a problem here where the city council has been forced by the police into allowing them to be enforcers of federal law. California legalized Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in 1996, yet the weeeeeeed is still illegal acording to the feds. So the city coucil just voted to not allow the MMD's in our fair city.
I say if the feds are so smart, let them sniff out the criminals, don't turn our local cops into your lackies. The cops presented such a bogus one sided bunch of garbage at the city council meeting last week that it bordered on hilarious, Something right out of the old movie Reefer Madness. Yet the council bought it.
It is sad state of affairs when the police dictate policy.
JMHO
AP

 

[mrfocus]

Wow. That's just wrong.

You know what else is bad. About 5 years ago, Canada decided to decriminalize small amounts of Marijuana. As soon as the Conservative (similar to the Republicans) came in, they said that they wanted to change the law back to the way it was. I have no doubt that Mr. Bush (well, probably not him but the DEA) sent out a nice report saying how both countries should use cross-border enforcement of drug laws.

In case some of you were unaware (and good thing if you previously knew), the US Government is, in the "War on Drugs", spending billions ($12 Billion in 2005) doing such things as spraying fields of coca plants with herbicides to destroy the crops. The farmers who own those fields only accept to grow coca for two reasons: 1) they are so poor and coca is a good crop offering decent revenue (when they can get it sold) 2) they are sometimes (often times) threatened to grow it. There will always be someone in Colombia willing to grow the crop, so spraying current crops only moves the problem to another region of Colombia.

 

[APendejo]

I am in no way advocating the use of drugs, I have never smoked weeeeeeed, thats my story and I am sticking with it for now, but, if it helps just one person for medical reasons then I say let them get their 'scrip filled legally.
No reason for cops to be out "creating" crimes.
AP

 

[cubbies]

Maybe if people were allowed to see druggies in their true form (whacked out 24-7),

I've seen plenty of "druggies" in their true form and they are nothing like you describe. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of them are good, wholesome, tax paying Americans who work hard and take very good care of themselves and their families.

 

[MikeFlynn74]

noobrewer
Maybe if people were allowed to see druggies in their true form (whacked out 24-7),

Just like you are an alcoholic always drunk and beating your wife?

 

[Evan!]

No one ever died from smoking marijuana. You can look on the FDA site and the only drug who's side effect does NOT include death is marijuana. These cops are going after small potatoes, so is this entire war on drugs. Maybe if people were allowed to see druggies in their true form (whacked out 24-7), would they ACTUALLY be deterred away from use, or over-use. People need to be given the autonomy to make decisions for themselves... to use or not to use.

PS. 1 semester shy of a Criminal Justice degree and I hate the field... the most backwards mentalities rule this field.

How do you define "druggy"? The ONDCP defines it as "anyone who even thinks about doing drugs". We all know that's not true, their hideous propaganda machine notwithstanding.

People can and do see hard addicts in their "true form". Like right here.
But...those are generally the exception, especially with lighter drugs like weed...so along with the scary spectre of a hard addict, people should also be exposed to the millions of people who are responsible adults and also do drugs recreationally. You can't just show someone a clip of a cracked-out meth fiend and say "see, kids, don't do drugs".

 

[PseudoChef]

How do you define "druggy"? The ONDCP defines it as "anyone who even thinks about doing drugs". We all know that's not true, their hideous propaganda machine notwithstanding.

People can and do see hard addicts in their "true form". Like right here.
But...those are generally the exception, especially with lighter drugs like weed...so along with the scary spectre of a hard addict, people should also be exposed to the millions of people who are responsible adults and also do drugs recreationally. You can't just show someone a clip of a cracked-out meth fiend and say "see, kids, don't do drugs".

I love Intervention. I honestly admit I can't turn away from the train wrecks. The best was the one with the son from one of the guys from Three Dog Night. He goes to rehab and finds God within 2 weeks or something silly like that. Taped show ends, then they do the update. He gets kicked out and steals a car the same day. 2 years in the slammer. Good job, dude.

 

[Pugilist]

I love Intervention. I honestly admit I can't turn away from the train wrecks. The best was the one with the son from one of the guys from Three Dog Night. He goes to rehab and finds God within 2 weeks or something silly like that. Taped show ends, then they do the update. He gets kicked out and steals a car the same day. 2 years in the slammer. Good job, dude.

That is a good show but to see humor in someone sinking so tragically low is not right. +1 to Evan about casual pot smokers, and teenagers smoking a bong. They are hardly "meth-heads".

 

[cubbies]

That is a good show but to see humor in someone sinking so tragically low is not right. +1 to Evan about casual pot smokers, and teenagers smoking a bong. They are hardly "meth-heads".

It may not be right, but I admit that I get a kick out of it too.

However, I also enjoy it when they actually get themselves better.

 

[TxBrew]

We won't see a change in our draconian drug laws. Our prison system is really fast becoming privatized. These corporations hire lobbyists to make sure these laws remain in tact else their customer base will decline.

 

[beta pleated sheet]

I can finally sleep easy knowing that gullible teenage boys are behind bars where they belong.

 

[noobrewer]

I would say druggies are anyone that let drugs rule their life. If you can smoke (or drink and make booze ) while still taking care of your responsibilities (wife, kids, work, money, food, etc) then the govt. should not be there to tell you your activities are wrong. So when I say druggies, I mean the homeless hippies in downtown seattle that beg for a joint or your spare change.

 

[rattler_mt]

if you take the smoking part out of it.....pot is safer than alcohol. as you are always in control of you body. anyone who has ever blacked out from over indulging knows that. the active ingredients in pot are readily absorbed in to the blood stream via the stomach and intestinal walls.....no need to smoke it so you get rid of the lung cancer risks....actually its a longer and more intense high aswell, however you need more material to start with to either eat it or dissolve it in something like Bacardi 151 or vodka.

i smoked pot heavily through high school and up until 6 years ago when my wife, then girlfriend, informed me it was the pot or her cause she didnt want it around her and her kids. went from smoking heavily to none at all overnight with no side effects.........tried doing that with the pain meds the docs gave me for my knees and wound up with a 3 day hangover from hell coming of of opiates(i hate opiate "highs" BTW)

i smoked heavily in high school while taking college prep type classes and had no issues, infact i was better at doing some parts of the calculus equations in my head better than most of the valedictorian types. had no problems. infact the only way i kept one of my jobs as long as i did in high school was by getting stoned before work....couldnt stand my boss but jobs were in short supply so i would leave school, get stoned, go to work, chef it up at the pizza joint enjoying the hell out of myself and not having a care in the world about my boss being a jerk(she was formerly married to my uncle and seemed to not like me for the family connection)

pot worked better as a sleep aid than any of the sleeping pills the doc has given me. so far ive tried 4 types of sleep meds, lost most of a month cause one made it impossible for my short term memory to be transfered into long term memory........i have no clue what happened last Oct/Nov because of damn doctor prescribed sleep meds...........never had these issues with pot........

all in all on the scale of things pot isnt that bad. i have no problems with someone sitting in their basement and smoking a bowl, so long as they are holding down a job and not bumming off welfair.......i went to school full time graduated with a 3.5 and always had a job when i was smoking.............would rather have the money spent on the War on (some) Drugs be spent on honestly educating kids rather than tossing them in jail for a lil pot...........so long as kids sit and spin on their lawns to get dizzy and fall over people will be doing drugs, aint going to stop it no matter what yah do........give the kids an honest no bull **** education on all the drugs out there(some like meth and PCP are really nasty **** that should be avoided at all costs) and let them fend for themselves.......unless yah want to pay to wrap them in bubble wrap, throw a helmet on them so they dont ever get hurt by anything...........everyone makes mistakes, how they pick themselves up and deal with the consequences matter, not the mistake itself....for the most part

 

[noobrewer]

Sounds like my life. Also very well put, I agree with 100% of everything you said. Education is the key, always has been. The problem is that education (information) can be manipulated just like everything else in the world. These are the days we live in. But oh well, just have a home brew. Cheers!

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I'm not a big fan of drugs/drug habits, and I don't advocate the legalization of drugs. I don't bring that up in order to argue with anyone here, and I don't want this thread to take an ugly turn on that topic. I just think it's important to note that I'm a bit of a "tee-totaler" when it comes to drug use because the following statement has more impact if you know my stance:

WHAT THEY DID TO THOSE KIDS IS F'ING ABSURD!!!

What a horrible thing to do to a bunch of kids who are as likely to experiment with drugs as they are to go on to college and fantastic careers. If they wanted to impact the drug market in that area, and they wanted a "really cool" undercover operation including having a cop pose as a student, they should have gone after the source and left all the petty "criminals" alone.

 

[5 Is Not Enough]

Ennnnnnnnnntrapment!!!

I believe the term in this situation would be 'honeypot'
One of the oldest tricks in the book. In this situation - way fkd up...

 

[MikeFlynn74]

5 Is Not Enough

A good lawyer can def get them off- Its is enticement as well as entrapment especially for minors.

Waste of resources and time and the DA needs to be fired as well as those cops.

 

[Klainmeister]

Is it just me or between the police and IRS, we seem to have more revenue officers than actual policing unites protecting people's liberties...

 

[zoebisch01]

We won't see a change in our draconian drug laws. Our prison system is really fast becoming privatized. These corporations hire lobbyists to make sure these laws remain in tact else their customer base will decline.

My friend, who is now a police officer was arrested in New Orleans a few years back. Basically wasn't told why he was being arrested, thrown in jail for several days. He failed to appear in court for the charges, well because they had him locked up (!). So he finally gets to court and they charge him with public drunkeness. So he pleads not guilty and they set the court date for a month later, so basically he would have had to spend a month in jail (they set the bail up to 2k after he 'missed' his first court appearance). So he plead guilty. But that's not my story really, when he was in there one homeless guy had been picked up for the 5th time that week. Basically it all hinges on what you are saying there. They get money to have him in jail.

 

[zoebisch01]

So on another note, whatcha all gonna do when they make Homebrewing illegal ? I mean, after all we can just allow anybody to make an alcoholic beverage!

 

[Thirdeye]

The whole "war" is freaking unnecessary. I am not saying that every drug in the world should be legal and available at the local gas station, but putting otherwise law abiding citizens in jail for stuff like this is ridiculous.

Amen brother.

 

[paulthenurse]

OK, I am short on time here and have to go but I just saw this thread for the first time and felt a huge need to post the contrarian view. I lived in Falmouth for 20 years until I got divorced. My ex and two dtrs still live there. Both my dtrs went to Falmouth High. I'm pretty familiar with the story.

Personally, I'm thrilled to death that the local PD is being proactive and making an effort to clean up FHS. My kids are both really straight shooters, they didn't smoke, drink or do drugs of any sort while in HS. They are both in their 20's now and occasionally drink. They would regularly tell me about the stuff that was going on in that school while they went there. It was pretty much how I remembered HS, if you wanted it, you could get it.

If the local PD makes it harder to get, I'm ok with that. If a few punks get thier dicks slapped in the process, I'm ok with that. I'm not a virgin. I smoked a bale or two of weed in my youth. It's totally different when it's your kids. You might not get that yet. Someday you will. And when you do, you'll be calling up your local PD and telling the Chief that you are glad he's taking things seriously. Cause if it's easy to get a bag of grass in study hall, it's easy to get anything else. As a father, I all for making it really freakin' hard to get any of it in the local schools.

PTN