New DEA agent in Maine champions drug war teamwork
Via PPH (January 25, 2010).
The “War on Drugs” is a prime example where the state legislature could exercise authority under the 10th amendment to the US Constitution.
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Entries Tagged as 'War on Drugs'
Drug Sweep Held At Hermon High School
This article seems to be describing a place more accurately called a prison than a school. Prisoners locked in rooms for 30 minutes while cops carry out one gigantic warrantless search and seizure operation based on the whim of a superintendent? Disgusting. Why isn’t this called kidnapping?
Via WCSH 6 (1026/2009):
Several local and state law enforcement agencies were at Hermon High School Monday morning with drug sniffing dogs for a scheduled drug sweep.
Units from the Bangor and Brewer Police Departments, Maine Wardens Service, Maine State Police, the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Department and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office participated.
Authorities say the entire operation lasted about two hours, but students were only told to stay in their classrooms for about 30 minutes during the actual sweep.
Sergeant Michael Burgess of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office says one student was cited for possession of marijauna, and another student was cited for possession of alcohol, which are both civil violations. He says the drugs and alcohol were found in the students’ vehicles in the parking lot and not in the school.
Authorities say they periodically do these sort of sweeps when they get a request from a school superintendent.
GAO: FDA Doesn’t Investigate Unproven Drugs
Via WMTW (10/26/2009):
The Food and Drug Administration has allowed drugs for cancer and other diseases to stay on the market even when follow-up studies showed they didn’t extend patients’ lives, say congressional investigators.
A report due out Monday from the Government Accountability Office also shows that the FDA has never pulled a drug off the market due to a lack of required follow-up about its actual benefits — even when such information is more than a decade overdue.
Report: Feds Won’t Enforce Pot Laws Locally
Via WMTW (10/19/2009):
The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors Monday.
Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws.
The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.
Fourteen states allow some use of marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
California is unique among those for the presence of dispensaries — businesses that sell marijuana and even advertise their services.
Attorney General Eric Holder said in March that he wanted federal law enforcement officials to pursue those who violate both federal and state law, but it has not been clear how that goal would be put into practice.
A 3-page memo spelling out the policy is expected to be sent Monday to federal prosecutors in the 14 states, and also to top officials at the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The memo, the officials said, emphasizes that prosecutors have wide discretion in choosing which cases to pursue, and says it is not a good use of federal manpower to prosecute those who are without a doubt in compliance with state law.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the legal guidance before it is issued.
At the same time, the officials said, the government will still prosecute those who use medical marijuana as a cover for other illegal activity. The memo particularly warns that some suspects may hide old-fashioned drug dealing or other crimes behind a medical marijuana business.
In particular, the memo urges prosecutors to pursue marijuana cases which involve violence, the illegal use of firearms, selling pot to minors, money laundering or other crimes.
And while the policy memo describes a change in priorities away from prosecuting medical marijuana cases, it does not rule out the possibility that the federal government could still prosecute someone whose activities are allowed under state law.
The memo, officials said, is designed to give a sense of prosecutorial priorities to U.S. Attorneys in the states that allow medical marijuana. It notes that pot sales in the United States are the largest source of money for violent Mexican drug cartels, but adds that federal law enforcement agencies have limited resources.
Medical marijuana advocates have been anxious to see exactly how the administration would implement candidate Barack Obama’s repeated promises to change the policy in situations in which state laws allow the use of medical marijuana.
Shortly after Obama took office, DEA agents raided four dispensaries in Los Angeles, prompting confusion about the government’s plans.
Two Nabbed In Waterville Cocaine Bust
Via WCSH (10/15/09):
Officers from seven local, county, and state police agencies met with the media to discuss the details of a major drug bust in central Maine. “I personally cannot remember such a large seizure of cocaine in the central Maine area, going back to 1989 when we arrested an individual from Alaska in a local motel that had a kilo of cocaine,” said Waterville Police Chief Joseph Massey. “It is a very large quantity of cocaine that was in our area and it was certainly nice to get that off our streets.”
On Friday October 9th, police executed a traffic stop on Hospital Street in Augusta, pulling over a van. Inside were Eric Prevost and Tabitha Waddell, whom police suspected of dealing drugs in the area. Police officers found just over a pound of cocaine and about a thousand dollars in cash on the pair. Police then searched their home, where they found a digital scale and other drug paraphernalia that leads them to believe drugs were being packaged and sold from the home.
“To disrupt this drug-trafficking group is a significant accomplishment,” said MDEA Director Roy McKinney. “Cooperation, coordination and collaboration is so important because the drug dealers do not know or do not recognize city and town boundaries.”
Waterville Police received a tip that the pair had been selling drugs throughout the area. They contacted other agencies and quickly set-up surveillance on the pair. The information they got aided the investigation greatly according to McKinney. “It is so important for citizens to provide information to the police. Information comes to us and we act upon it and as a result you see a seizure that takes place here and seizures that take place everyday across the state,” said McKinney.
Police estimate the street value of the drugs at about $50,000. Eric Prevost and Tabitha Waddell are both charged with Class A trafficking, which carries with it a penalty of up to 30 years in jail and fines up to $50,000. Waddell has been released on bail. Prevost is being held at the Kennebec County Jail in lieu of $100,000 cash bail. Both are scheduled to appear in Kennebec County Superior Court on December 8th.
How is this a success?
I saw a story on Wool Blitzer’s “Propaganda Room” show today about some California State police officer (wearing full fatigues) who was proudly recounting a tale about a major crop of pot his unit discovered and will (has already?) destroyed the crops. Searching for that story lead me to this from San Francisco/Oakland NBC affiliate:
It used to be that marijuana came to the Bay Area from the legendary back country of Humboldt County or the desert fields beyond Tijuana.
Now the fields are in the Bay Area, and everywhere else in the state. Marijuana is one of the top cash crops in California, NBC Bay Area’s Mike Luery reported.
Many of the fields are located next to popular trails and in the middle of state parks.
A fierce battle is being waged in our own back yard to remove the pot groves. They are hidden in brush so thick that specially trained officers must dangle dangerously from ropes tied to helicopters or hike miles just to get in.
“If you grow it, we will come,” said one agent.
“We’ve recovered assault weapons, rifles and hand guns from those that we’ve arrested,” said another agent.
Last year, the state’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting eradicated nearly 3 million pot plants. Most of them, about 75 percent, were found on public land.
“They’re basically stealing the land from what it was intended for, which is recreation and hiking and hunting,” said Ryan Pontecorvo, Eradication Team Commander.
One pot grove that Luery visited in the Napa Valley is located on federal land owned by the Bureau of Land Management. However, Luery said, typically agents find farms in state and national parks.
Wherever people go, drug traffickers have chopped down trees and hijacked the water supply.
They lay hundreds of yards of plastic tubing to irrigate their plants with stolen water, while leaving behind mounds of fertilizer and trash that brings chemical pollution.
Let’s review. Innocent taxpayers are forced to pay for police officers who scavenge public lands looking for a plant illegal to grow only because other people supposedly hired by those same taxpayers have declared it to be so. On top of that, every plant seized and destroyed means those that survive have a higher value, thus making drug trafficking a more lucrative business, in turn causing increased violence among dealers and various gangs who profit from the sale of this plant which is deemed illegal for absolutely no legitimate reason.
In the end, there is absolutely no way to “win” the “war on drugs” with armed men lawlessly seizing people’s property and throwing non-violent people into prison. Ending this farce would save untold sums of money, and taking marijuana off the black-market would reduce real crimes committed by gang bangers desperate to stake their turf in the market place.
Ironically, it seems even the most wonderful of all humans, government bureaucrats, those treasured “servants” to whom we are all supposed to thank and worship, are not immune from the profitable lure of drug dealing.
360 and counting…
MDEA Director Roy McKinney reports that his agents made 360 drug arrests during the first six months of the year.
McKinney said 130 of those arrests involve cocaine and crack, and another 129 arrests were for prescription drugs.
360 arrests, including several detailed in the linked article. And not a single victim identified or even mentioned.
Russell Edward Coughlin, of 21 Peabody Pond Road, was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs.
Coughlin had been on probation after being previously convicted of drug trafficking. A spot home visit by a parole officer on Wednesday night revealed that Coughlin was actively trafficking in narcotics, namely cocaine and marijuana, according to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities also seized money, drugs and a loaded firearm from his home.
No victim here either.
Victimless “crime”
PPH:
Police arrested a man Friday as part of a new effort focused on the drug trade.
Frederick Saucier, 45, was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor.
I feel much safer now.