The crackdown began just days ago not only here in Pocatello, but all across the United States as federal agents bullied their way into towns and cities across the country in what has been called "Operation Pipe Dream," a massive collaborative effort to stop the sales of glass pipes and other smoking devices. It's a sad state of affairs in this country when we will spend millions of taxpayers' dollars to stop the legal and legitimate operations of business, they themselves paying taxes to our government, while at the same time cutting local education and other important expenditures. We've got money for bombs but no money for books! We've got money to harass and ruin the lives of our citizens, but no money for decent health care or a Social Security system that provides a decent quality of life for our elderly. [continues 219 words]
As we prepare to go to war with Iraq and continue fighting terrorism at home, it is appalling that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has chosen to step up the attacks on businesspeople by going after pipe- and bong-makers and sellers ("U.S. raids firms selling items used by pot smokers," Feb. 25). Where are the government's priorities? Let's waste some more resources on "Operation Pipe Dreams"! The message the DEA and Office of National Drug Control Policy send by going after "paraphernalia" (pipe) sellers is that the drug warriors have too much time on their hands and too much money to spend. [continues 585 words]
Attorney General John Ashcroft says the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has invaded our homes. The invasion apparently occurred without our knowledge. One of the investigations has been named "Pipe Dreams," which describes Ashcroft's behavior even before he was appointed to office. The next logical step in Ashcroft's drug war will be to go after the manufacturers of stick matches. Presumably stick match paraphernalia has been implicated in the business of smoking drugs, and those match manufacturers should be jailed immediately and all their match boxes hauled away as evidence of criminality. [continues 56 words]
"People Selling Drug Paraphernalia Are In Essence No Different Than Drug Dealers. They Are As Much A Part Of Drug Trafficking As Silencers Are A Part Of Criminal Homicide." -- John Brown, Acting DEA Chief I'd like to direct Mr. Brown to the Web site of revelationarms.com of Aloha, Oregon. Not only will they sell me a gun silencer, there is an entire page devoted to explicit directions on how to obtain the necessary paperwork and background check in order to allow me to purchase a silencer online. I have to be at least 21 and innocent of any felony crime. One credit card payment and a little paperwork and I can blow someone's head off with a minimum of personal hearing damage. [continues 646 words]
I thought I was listening to a joke when I heard about federal authorities arresting 55 people for manufacturing/distributing drug paraphernalia in "Operation Pipe Dreams" ("Pittsburgh probe nets 55 in national head-shop bust," Feb. 25). This is a stupid, pathetic waste of taxpayer dollars. If I were the feds, I would keep quiet about this farce of drug-law enforcement; instead, they are grandstanding. They are basing their success as enforcers of drug law on arrests that are marginally unconstitutional. These are pipes, folks. Yes, they are primarily for drug use, but they are not drugs. [continues 128 words]
Federal drug enforcement agents served three search warrants and made three arrests in Arcata Monday as part of a nationwide operation targeting distributors and manufacturers of drug paraphernalia. The owners of 101 North Glass and the Glass House at 550 S. G St. were arrested on federal indictments around 6 a.m. The three arrests were part of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's "Operation Pipe Dreams," in which 55 people were charged across the country in various operations. In all, nearly three dozen indictments were issued. [continues 539 words]
Grand jury indicts 17 from Idaho, eastern Oregon Seventeen owners and employees of "head shops" in Idaho and Eastern Oregon were arrested Monday as part of Operation Pipe Dream, a nationwide crackdown on the trafficking of illegal drug paraphernalia sold in traditional stores and on the Internet. The arrests netted the operators of stores such as the Red Eye Hut, which has locations in Boise, Nampa and Ontario, Ore. In all, 55 people were arrested and charged in at least 10 states by federal, state and local authorities for alleged involvement in the sale of products intended for the use of illegal drugs, including bongs, marijuana pipes, miniature spoons and scales. [continues 484 words]
An entrepreneur in Saskatoon has asked the city for permission to set up a "Dutch-style" cannabis cafe where pot is freely toked. The letter writer asked Mayor Jim Maddin for first crack at a licence if the government weeds out the current federal laws prohibiting it. "There would have to be a lot of laws changed and repealed in Saskatoon but, hey, maybe we could be the first in the country to have this," Maddin said Wednesday. "I'm sure marijuana usage is much more widespread than the average person might think. And I have no difficulty believing its use is quite common across a variety of socio-economic strata," he said, then added, "I mean, I don't know, I'm not part of the crowd." [continues 418 words]
Step in Right Direction, Head Shop Owners Say Ottawa Looks To Decriminalize Marijuana Use Call it a mild case of Reefer Gladness. That's the reaction at area head shops and high-end "cannabis culture shops" to news from Ottawa that laws against personal puffing of marijuana could soon be decriminalized, and punishable only by a ticket. "It's a small step in the right direction," says Dominic Cramer, president of the Toronto Hemp Company at Yonge and Charles Sts. "It's a good step, but not going far enough," echoes Robin Ellins, proprietor of the Friendly Stranger cannabis culture shop on Queen St. W. [continues 753 words]
Sunday's Forum column "Marijuana policy reform crossroads" (Commentary) should have been headlined "Marijuana policy reform dead end." Rob Kampia (chairman of the Marijuana Policy Project), Peter Lewis (the millionaire founder of Progressive Auto Insurance who bankrolled the Nevada legalization effort) and their band of drug legalizers met the ultimate obstacle in Nevada: public education. After parents, grandparents and law enforcement members networked to help the public understand the dangers of marijuana use and began carrying around 3-ounce containers of parsley to show what 3 ounces of marijuana would look like (3 ounces of parsley fills a 1-gallon Ziploc bag), the legalizers' initiative took a dive. [continues 492 words]
Easing of Marijuana Laws Heats Up Debate Over Drugs A proposed mellowing of Canadian marijuana laws has sparked a heated debate between friends and foes of the illicit weed. "It's encouraging that they are talking about it, but I still say we need full legalization," said long-time cannabis advocate Ron McInnes. The recommendation that possession of small amounts of pot no longer result in criminal charges was among several released Thursday by a Special Parliamentary Committee tasked with studying illegal drugs. [continues 823 words]
Criminalization A Mistake From Start: Legalizing Marijuana Re: "Police chief slams legal pot plan," Journal, Sept. 5. I can't believe it! An intelligent approach to marijuana and from our senators of all people. I have never used pot but over the years (I'm a senior) I've known many people who did so I'm familiar with the product and its effects. It's readily available, used by young and old, and if it has a bad side it is not as vicious as alcohol or tobacco, or VLTs for that matter. [continues 182 words]
I cannot believe that a Senate committee has recommended that marijuana be made legal for anyone aged 16 and over. In case they haven't noticed, you cannot buy cigarettes under the age of 19, and for good reason. I think it's time to stop paying senseless people envious wages to come up with inane ideas like this. Were these people wearing tie-dyed T-shirts and sandals? Anna O'Brien Kitchener [end]
We've all heard about how some Canadian senators have been caught sleeping on the job or not showing up at all -- for years. Now we think we know the reason for such lethargy and truancy. It must be something they're smoking. How else to explain the conclusions drawn by a special Senate committee report released yesterday recommending that marijuana be legalized. That's right, the upper chamber of (cough, cough) sober second thought isn't recommending decriminalizing marijuana. It is recommending making it completely legal. [continues 314 words]
Three Americans living in British Columbia, who were being prosecuted in the U.S. for various crimes associated with the trafficking and cultivation of marijuana when they fled, have filed refugee claims. They maintain they were growing pot for medical purposes, and were being prosecuted unfairly. "It's a political war against people who are sick," said Renee Boje, who fled Los Angeles where she was charged with growing and possession with the intent to traffic. But observers say their refugee claims will likely be denied, because upholding them would invite a flood of claims from Americans facing drug charges. [end]
What sad creatures we are. We live in an age in which we pay $35 for half a roasted onion in an Italian restaurant staffed by Dominican immigrants, and congratulate ourselves on our expertise and good taste. We distinguish ourselves from the masses by slurping rancid grape juice and raving over its delicate scent of "sweet cassis, chocolate, violets, tobacco and sweet vanillin oak." But thank goodness for Nick Tosches, who won't be cheated out of his life just because his compatriots have forgotten how to suck the marrow out of it. Sick of the numbing comforts of New York, he sets off in search of something everyone tells him no longer exists: an opium den. [continues 982 words]
Relaxation Of Soft Drug Laws Has Police Looking The Other Way STOCKPORT, England - It seems at first like an ordinary coffee house. Customers linger over lattes, chatting, reading newspapers, playing cards or chess. Hip music pulses from the sound system. A haze of smoke dances in the air. But take a deep breath, and you realize that many customers are smoking marijuana or hashish. Opened last September in the unremarkable northern town of Stockport, the shop, Dutch Experience, is the first so-called "cannabis cafe" in Britain. This month, a similar establishment opened in the coastal city of Bournemouth. [continues 1093 words]
Candidate Pushes His 'Reeferendum' Gary Reams' "grass" roots push to reform marijuana laws isn't about winning the lieutenant governor's race Nov. 6: He knows he won't. But running a single-issue campaign is the only way voters will get the chance to protest what he calls "egregious and inhumane" laws that hog-tie doctors and punish recreational users, he said. "There's a growing constituency that aren't being listened to," the Libertarian said Thursday. "Marijuana laws have gone too far." [continues 526 words]
The Supreme Court's Ruling Against Medicinal Marijuana Isn't Chilling A British Drugmaker's Plans To Test An Oral Spray In The U.s. That Supreme Court ruling against the medical use of marijuana wasn't a total downer for those who want the weed made legal for treating pain and other ailments. GW Pharmaceuticals, a British company that's developing medications derived from marijuana, says it's pushing ahead with plans to start clinical trials in the U.S., with an eye toward bringing the world's first cannabis-based prescription drug onto the market as early as 2003. In fact, the company announced plans for an initial public offering on May 14, only hours before the high court issued its decision. [continues 580 words]
They say there's no more strident a prohibitionist than an ex-drunk. What that says about George W. Bush's attempt to tighten the thumbscrews in the war on drugs is entirely up for debate. What isn't, according to the April 17 Wall Street Journal, is that the administration is bucking for an 8.3 percent hike in federal funds for the Bureau of Prisons. Such an increase would bring the allocation for federal pens to $4.66 billion, making it the biggest pig in the Justice Department sty. [continues 929 words]
Medical marijuana use boosts commercial possibilities, as well as legal quandaries. Quaint Victorian bed-and-breakfasts that cater to medical marijuana users. A "plant factory" that produces 400 varieties of marijuana seeds. Hidden greenhouses with high-tech security cameras and alarms where high-grade marijuana is grown and transformed into pharmaceuticals. E-commerce sites that deliver marijuana to your door. Welcome to a growing business enterprise that is evolving in some states and around the world, where entrepreneurs believe that supplying marijuana to chronically ill patients - and others - is more than a mere pipe dream. [continues 1978 words]
(Miami) -- For decades, the hard part for drug agents stalking Florida's marijuana growers was finding their crop. The growers weave their plants among corn stalks and even tomato vines to foil aerial searches. In swamps, growers make berms out of muck and chicken wire and plant their crop, leaving fat, black water moccasins to stand guard. Hidden in Florida's lush landscape, the camouflaged marijuana plants often foiled the small army of law officers, helicopters and drug-sniffing dogs. Now, the new head of the state's Office of Drug Control hopes to kill Florida's lucrative marijuana business in the very ground in which it thrives, by someday dusting suspected areas with a marijuana-eating, soil-borne fungus called Fusarium oxysporum. [continues 492 words]
MUANG SING, Laos -- The dealers hang around the edge of an open-air restaurant bustling with backpacking tourists, most of whom spent two days getting here over barely passable mountain roads. They know why the foreigners have come. Opium, at 75 cents a dose. One by one, the tourists -- Americans, Canadians, Europeans, Australians, Japanese -- head off to smoke their fill through a bamboo pipe under a tree or at a makeshift den. "I'm doing a drug tour of Southeast Asia," said Gareth, a 21-year-old Australian whose T-shirt is stained ochre from road dust. "I've been to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, but so far, Laos is tops." [continues 720 words]
President Clinton should be hailed by his AIDS advisers for his refusal to fund "needle exchange" programs. Instead, they allege, he lacks "courage and political will." Providing drug addicts with clean syringes in exchange for dirty ones will reduce the risky behavior associated with injecting dangerous drugs, they argue, and thus reduce HIV infections. This "feelgood" solution makes sense to sober people, but drug addicts are a unique population to which logic does not apply. This is why the president should continue to resist the AIDS lobby: Recent results of epidemiological studies in Baltimore, Montreal and Vancouver, British Columbia, show a tremendous increase in new HIV and AIDS cases among participants in needle exchange programs. "Injecting Drug Use Associated With More AIDS Cases in Maryland Than Nationally" is the title of the report published in October by the Center for Substance Abuse Research at the University of Maryland. Its findings are alarming: While injecting drugs accounts for 26 percent of AIDS cases nationally, in Maryland it accounts for 42 percent, of which the majority (52 percent) are in Baltimore. [continues 804 words]
Rob and Gretchen Harris have a vision. Some day, in the not too distant future, they picture a house where the concrete steps leading to the front door are made with the same material used in the walls of the house. That material also is used to make the dining room table, the sofa and the pipes used in the plumbing. At the table, breakfast consists of pancakes and coffee, both of which include the same material used in the concrete and the walls. [continues 832 words]
