The Inquisitr » drugs

Feds ease up on cancer-stricken tokers

Kim LaCapria — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:08:11 +0000

Medical marijuana has evolved into a state vs. federal law argument, with the notable example of a thriving medical marijuana industry in California.

Aside from California, 13 other states allow use of marijuana for medical reasons ranging from anxiety and insomnia to glaucoma and cancer- Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Colorado is also notable for the presence of dispensaries, and Rhode Island and New Mexico are working on licensing providers for medical marijuana.

Attorney General Eric Holder stated in March that feds should pursue medical marijuana users that violate federal laws, but a memo was expected to be sent to states advising that prosecuting medical marijuana cases is not a prudent usage of law enforcement manpower. While those who are operating within state guidelines can breathe a little more easily, feds acknowldge they will be just as aggressive in pursuing parties that use medical marijuana as a cover for other illegal activity.

Holder clarified the change of heart and policy in a statement:

“It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana, but we will not tolerate drug traffickers who hide behind claims of compliance with state law to mask activities that are clearly illegal,” Holder said in a statement accompanying the new guidelines. “This balanced policy formalizes a sensible approach that the Department has been following since January: effectively focus our resources on serious drug traffickers while taking into account state and local laws.”

Grandmother could go to jail for buying cough medicine

Steven Hodson — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:42:55 +0000

Four months ago grandmother Sally Harpold went to a drugstore and bought one box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband and then less than seven days later at a different drugstore she bought a box of Mucinex-D cold medicine for her adult daughter. This meant she had purchased 3.6 grams of pseudoephedrine in less than a week’s time.

Then on July 30 she was arrested by by the police on a Vermillion County warrant for a class-C misdemeanor, which carries a sentence of 60 days in jail and up to a $500 fine.

Her crime?

She had broken a law that is designed to stop people buying large quantities of drugs that can be used to make methamphetamines – of which pseudoephedrine is one of the ingredients. As a result of being arrested her mug shot ran on the front page of her local paper with a headline of “17 Arrested in Drug Sweep”.

Vermillion County Prosecutor Nina Alexander quite proudly says that the law doesn’t make any distinction when it comes to who is buying cough medicine, whether they be a drug dealer or a grandmother taking care of their family. Alexander states that she is just enforcing the law as it was written and that if you take these products you should know what is in them.

Part of the excuse for continuing with the charges of Sally Harpold are as pharmacist Ron Vencel, JR Pharmacies in Terre Haute, is that many drug manufacturers are getting family members to go out and do the buying of the ingredients that they need. It should be noted as well that Sally Harpold works at the Rockville Correctional Institute for women.

The morning she was arrested, Harpold and her husband were awakened by police officers banging on the front door of their home at Midway along U.S. 36. She was allowed to get dressed, and was then taken in handcuffs to the Clinton Police Department, where she was questioned about her cold medicine purchases. She was later booked into jail, and her husband had to pay $300 bail to get her released.

Harpold said she did go talk to the prosecutor about the situation, and Alexander offered her the deferral program, in which Harpold is required to pay the court costs, abide by all laws and not be arrested for 30 days. At the end of 30 days, the class-C misdemeanor will be erased from her record.

Alexander said she is working with Harpold about the charge, but the prosecutor asserts that Harpold did break the law with her purchases and is being held accountable.

Source: TribStar.com – Wabash Valley woman didn’t realize second cold medicine purchase violated drug laws

hat tip to Boing Boing and The Agititor

Before and after: what happened to Maia Campbell?

Kim LaCapria — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:06:53 +0000

Maia Campbell is most well-known for her role on the TV show In The House.

But Campbell, 32, appears to have experienced somewhat of a downward spiral over the past few years. Seen below in a YouTube video, Campbell appears strung out, confused, and combative. Blogosphere gossipers have long speculated that the actress has gotten heavily involved with drugs and even prostitution, leading to her relatively rough appearance.

Here’s a pic of Campbell before not too long ago:

And this is the YouTube video (warning: extensive profanity and racial slurs) posted today that is drawing much attention and hand-wringing over a promising young star:

Whatever is going on in the video, it doesn’t look like a positive development for her life or her career.

Edit: An enterprising blogger has uncovered misdemeanor arrest reports for Maia Campbell in Inglewood for June and July of this year.

Coke dealers think of post office jobs if recession doesn’t lift

Steven Hodson — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:40:00 +0000

You know things are bad when the high-end coke dealers have to resort to cold calling their old clients. Clients who where once the high rollers of Wall Street and real estate. This was a time when coke dealers could be picky about who they did business with and had nothing but A-List names in their phonebooks.

My how things have changed since the market crashed and no-one is paying their inflated mortgages. As Adina Wise at the Daily Intel things are getting rough for these poor old coke dealers.

Then the stock market crashed, and people started losing Sammy’s number. But he didn’t lose theirs. "It was a 646 number," says Nate, 26, who works at an investment bank; he got three calls from Sammy in one week. (Sammy’s contacts — five years’ worth — are stored in a small black notebook with cross streets, physical descriptors, and even sketches corresponding to each name.) When Nate called back, Sammy picked up right away: "He was like, Hey Nate, it’s me, Sammy, where ya been?" Last November, Nate was forced to switch jobs, and took a notable pay cut. "It’s not all fun and games anymore. I told him thanks but no thanks."

Not only that but it seems that the class division among dealers is causing more than its share of problems as well.

Having to reach out to customers isn’t the worst of it. "I see high-end guys hawking in parks now," says Sammy. "And these are guys that used to sell to Paris Hilton’s crowd." For Tim C., a longtime street dealer whose headquarters are in Washington Square Park, the problem has trickled down. He’s now competing with those guys who used to do deliveries only: "They come in like they own the place, and take all my business." Things have been made worse by the fact that NYU freshman and other passersby are more resistant to his pitch. "These kids are clean," Tim says. "It sucks. You’re gonna find me at the post office if this goes on for much longer."

Somehow I don’t think too many people are feeling sorry for these guys.

Billy Mays’ heart attack likely due in part to cocaine

Kim LaCapria — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:28:11 +0000

Celebrity pitchman Billy Mays, who died suddenly of heart failure in his sleep on June 28th, was just shy of his 51st birthday when his wife found him unresponsive early that Sunday morning.

His relative youth and apparent good health made his sudden and unexpected death all the more sad for many people, including those who had grown newly fond of the exuberant sales guru on his Discovery Channel show Pitchmen. Many initially speculated that Mays had died due to the “hard landing” he’d tweeted about the previous morning at a Miami airport, but initial autopsy reports indicated that there was no head truama present.

Toxicology reports have come back in the case and it appears Mays’ tragic death may not have been so unsurprising. Cocaine, sometimes a factor in cardiac arrest, was present in Mays’ system. It was concluded that Mays used the substance in the days leading up to his death, although not immediately prior to it. “cocaine use” is listed as an official contributing factor on his death certificate.

According to TMZ, cocaine was not the only substance noted in the toxicology reports:

Official documents show the following drugs were in Mays’ system — hydrocodone (Vicodin), oxycodone (painkiller), alprazolam (Xanax), nordiazepam (Valium), benzoylecgonine (byproduct of cocaine) and temazepam (anti-anxiety). Ethanol — alcohol — was also in Mays’ system.

Obliviously mixing ’shrooms and being naked on your rooftop isn’t a good idea

Steven Hodson — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:58:07 +0000

Don’t get me wrong, the proper use of mushrooms is okay, or at least I’ve been told, but deciding to climb up to your rooftop at six in the morning, remove your boxer shorts and start preaching isn’t what I would call a good plan. It also isn’t a good way to make friends with your neighbors or the police as professional skateboarder Jereme Rogers found out.

While Rogers apologized to his Redondo Beach for his ‘bugged out’ behavior he also said that it obviously wasn’t and everyday experience. The 24-year-old skateboarder, who attributes his skills to god, decided that this was indeed the perfect time to preach to his neighbors about God.

Redondo Beach police Lt. Jim Acquarelli climbed about 20 to 30 feet to the roof, where he found Rogers yelling and screaming. Acquarelli said Rogers’ roommates told him that he had ingested the hallucinogenic drug.

Rogers ran back and forth around the roof’s perimeter, sitting down at the edge with his back to the street.

"He would have fragmented, interrupted conversations with people that weren’t there," Acquarelli said.

Rogers never tried to jump or talked of suicide, but he came very close to falling.

"He never lost his balance," the lieutenant said. "The potential was there for it. If he had taken a few negligible steps to the right, that would have impeded his balance and would have led to his demise."

Source: Daily Breeze

[photo courtesy of Skaters Cafe]

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This is what happens when you mix Christianity and Ecstasy

Duncan Riley — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 06:00:20 +0000

Meet 18 year old Clair, who describes herself as a “sold out, fully consumed, hungry, thirsty, desperate Jesus freak!”

According to Clair, Jesus is all that matters to her: “I want to get soooo close to Him, that His Heartbeat becomes mine, His Thoughts become my thoughts, His Actions are my actions. Oh how desperate I am for more of Him, all of Him and none of me!” Her interests and hobbies include “spending time with Jesus, Holy Ghost intimacy, ecstatic experiences, revival, glowray realm, deliverances, salvations, signs + wonders + miracles!”

Oh, and we forget to mention she likes drugs, specifically Ecstasy.

This is what happens when you mix Christianity and Ecstasy:

(via)

Coolio taking crack in his gansta paradise

Duncan Riley — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 10:51:05 +0000

Rapper Coolio was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport Friday for drug possession,

According to reports, Coolio was found with crack cocaine while going through security to board a flight. He has been released on $10,000 bail.

Since hitting the charts with hit “Gangsta’s Paradise” in 1995, Coolio has become an occasional TV celebrity show participant, and even hosted a cooking show.

Even during the Super Bowl, you can’t hide from the law

Duncan Riley — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:21:10 +0000

Some police may be lazy, eating doughnuts and watching football, but presuming that’s true of all of them can be a grave mistake, particularly if you deal drugs.

29 year old Jonah M. Simoneau was arrested in York Country, PA. during the third quarter of the Super Bowl with $17,000 worth of cocaine, according to Pennsylvania Police.

But it’s why he was dealing during the big game that makes an otherwise random drug arrest more interesting: Simoneau told police that he thought he’d be less likely to encounter police during the Super Bowl.

The York Daily Record quotes a spokesman for the police saying “Not the brightest tactic,…We’re always working.

Blake’s Back! (In Jail, That Is)

Meieli Sawyer — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:27:54 +0000

We’re back to “Blake Incarcerated,” it seems, since Amy Winehouse’s husband failed a drug test and has returned to the slammer. Blake Fielder-Civil’s early release was dependent on two things, one of which was being clean/passing the tests, so Blake’s looking at staying in jail until 2010.

A source told The Sun that “If [Blake] had stayed in prison last month rather than taking the rehab option he was set to be released at the end of this month. He’s blown it.”

From the sound of it, Amy Winehouse is back in the hospital, too, because that’s where Blake dashed to tell her the news before turning himself in. After admitting that he “introduced [Amy] to heroin, crack cocaine and self-harming,” maybe it’s better that Blake lays low for a while.

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Amy Winehouse Hospitalized Again

Meieli Sawyer — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:52:34 +0000

Amy Winehouse had a seizure yesterday. According to The Sun, Amy “‘just totally lost it’” when Blake broke the break to her, and a source added that “‘Amy’s row over the phone on Saturday was followed by a bender that lasted until the next day.’”

Amy’s spokesperson said that she had “a bad reaction to the combination of medication she has currently been prescribed.” While she most likely flipped out over her hot hot Blake and ended up a little too heavy-handed in the “medication” department (if you know what I mean), she’s been through a round of rigorous round of tests regardless.

At this rate, one of these seizures could be her last. Do you have hope that Amy will improve?

Heather Locklear Charged with Crime

Samantha DeWitt — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:19:30 +0000

TMZ is reporting that Heather Locklear has been charged with crime, and no it isn’t crimes against acting. She can’t help the fact she only has one facial expression, its the botox. Locklear was charged for driving under the influence of prescription medicines.

Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Lee Carter told TMZ that “they believe the prescription medications found in her system could have impaired her ability to safely drive a motor vehicle.”

SHe was busted on 27 September, after police found her blocking a freeway lane. She may have been emotional about the incident, but because of the whole botox one facial expression, police were unable to tell.

Courtney Love Blogs Furiously

Meieli Sawyer — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:35:38 +0000

What was Courtney Love doing this weekend, you ask? I just happen to have the answer for you, and it’s kind of like what we do at The Inquisitr except, erm, she’s almost entirely incoherent: blogging 60+ posts in under a few hours. And guess what? Love’s actually got a reason to do so, or at least she thinks she does.

Courtney is blaming her housekeeper Miriam Torres of ripping off a bunch of her designer clothes, which she has detailed for us complete with links from Style.com on her MySpace blog.

They go something like this:

http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/slideshow/F2008RTW-LANVIN

(lucinda williams playing) i snt this top back, maybe im getting plump, everyones saying how proud they are of me for putting on weight, but i hate it, i know that size 4 isnt fat, i know thata t size 10 i was a sexbeast, but this top didnt hang off me at all, it was pedestrian on me, i guess the corpulence of my bastard dna is unriddable

I started reading, and I ended up with a headache, but if anyone can handle this, I’m sure it’s worth a giggle. You can almost feel her dip in and out of sanity as she typed. Ouch.

Steve-O’s Going to Rehab

Meieli Sawyer — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:57:14 +0000

Stephen Glover– or Steve-O as we all know him– has pled guilty to cocaine possession and has been sentenced to two years in rehab. It all started in March when Steve-O was arrested on suspicion of vandalism and drug possession after wigging out at his neighbor over a fence. His lawyer Barry Gerald Sands stated:

Steve is doing great – he has been sober for 85 days. His probation is set for 18 months, but it may be shorter depending on his good behavior and continuation with the program he is in. He is currently living in a sober house and has straightened up.

I feel so bad for the people he’s living with in rehab. He might be working on his drug problems, but he’ll always be annoying.

Get Caught With Pot? Claim Religious Persecution

Duncan Riley — Sat, 17 May 2008 03:10:28 +0000

A man who was arrested for allegedly distributing marijuana says he and his wife are members of a cannabis ministry and have a religious right to use pot. But police aren’t buying it.

Not the first time religion has been used as an excuse with pot, but check out the official looking documents in the clip that support this guys case.

Making Drugs From Your Printer

JR — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:44:47 +0000

Inkjet, laserjet…drugjet? Microsoft says it may not be long before your printer can spit out prescription medications.

The IDG News Service reported the prediction by a top executive at a speech in Indonesia today.

The so-called “drugstore-in-a-box” would let you play pharmacist and put various ingredients into your printer. Then, presto chango! Push a button, wait a minute, and you’ve got your dose — in the boldest and brightest colors available.

The exec also talked about the possibility of a cell phone that could diagnose you by your breath. He said you’d blow into it, like a breathalyzer, and get an analysis of your troubles. You’d then take those results into a clinic, where — I’m not making this up — he says a computerized nurse would print out a sheet of tablets that you’d “peel…off like mailing labels” and “dissolve into [your] mouth.”

Local pranksters may or may not have spiked this man’s morning coffee with LSD.

So Amy Winehouse Gets Arrested. . . Again.

Meieli Sawyer — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:05:57 +0000

The celeb news world is buzzing with reports of Amy Winehouse’s arrest, but apparently the law moves at a snail’s pace. Amy was scooped off of the streets today in relation to the possible crack smoking vid released in January, which turned out to be the same that got Peaches Geldof in a mess o’ trouble. I’m not positive how news of Amy’s footage got leaked so far before Geldof’s, considering that they were on the same memory stick, but Amy’s finally been hauled in to explain herself regardless.

The singer’s spokesperson confirmed that “Amy Winehouse voluntarily attended a London police station today by appointment. She was arrested in order to be interviewed and is co-operating fully with inquiries. The interview relates to a video handed to police earlier this year.”

Is Amy doing the first-name basis thing with the staff in the police station yet? It was just April 25th that she spent a night in jail for common assault.

Someone needs to take a looong vacation, way the hell out of Camden, and preferably away from all of us.

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