A family called police to their home to report a fight and ended up being arrested on drug charges.

Police said they went to the Roehl family home on Monday after getting a call about a fight, possibly involving baseball bats.

They said that when 17-year-old Karl Roehl was showing them a large clock that had been damaged, they noticed two potted marijuana plants.

Officers said Roehl was arrested when he tried to hide the plants and that his mother, Lee Ann Roehl was arrested after ripping a plant from its pot and throwing it into the yard.

Police returned with a search warrant and said they found more pot and a growing room, so they added more charges to the mother and son and arrested the father, also on drug charges.

{ AP/WTOP | Continue reading }

related { The number of people arrested for small amounts of marijuana in New York City has increased tenfold in the past decade, making NYC the world leader in marijuana arrests }

Just how good would drug legalization be? (…)

Under one model, local gangs have a more or less fixed ability to terrorize a neighborhood. Even if everything is legalized, the gangs will continue local monopolies to maximize tribute, subject of course to constraints from other gangs and the police. In this model, legalizing drugs doesn’t do much good. The local gang either shifts its monopoly to another area (milk and sugar, if need be), or de facto the gang’s local monopoly on the drug trade continues. The gang busts you if you try to get your supply of crack cocaine from Merck.

Under a second model, the ability of a local gang to monopolize and terrorize depends on the availability of drug trade revenue. Take away illegal drugs and the gang collapses — Merck outcompetes them — and the neighborhood revitalizes.

Libertarian arguments for legalization typically envision the second model rather than the first. I expect something in between. So I don’t favor the War on Drugs but I believe the benefits from stopping that war are often exaggerated. Note that whether the first or second scenario holds may depend on just how easy drugs are to get legally.

One claim was that current drug suppliers don’t reap huge rents, so legalizing drugs won’t much discourage them.

{ Marginal Revolution }

Leroy Antonio “Nicky” Barnes (born October 15, 1933) is a former Harlem, New York drug dealer who at one time, along with Frank Lucas and Guy Fisher, was one of the biggest heroin dealers in New York. He was eventually prosecuted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. After several years in prison, Barnes turned State’s evidence and testified against others in his criminal organization in order to reduce his sentence.

On June 5, 1977 The New York Times magazine released an article titled, Mr Untouchable with Barnes posing on the front cover. The Times told Barnes that they were going to use a mug shot of Barnes unless Barnes came and posed for the cameras. Barnes, who hated mugshots, agreed and took the infamous shot.

{ Wikipedia | Continue reading }

The 74-year-old man who used to be Leroy Nicholas Barnes, owner of 60 pairs of custom-made shoes, 27 full-length leather coats and more than one Mercedes-Benz, wears baggy Lee dungarees these days and drives to work in a used car he bought five years ago.

{ NY Times | Continue reading | Audio: Sam Roberts interviews Leroy Nicholas “Nicky” Barnes }

During the Harlem heroin plague of the seventies, few dealers were bigger than Frank Lucas and Leroy “Nicky” Barnes. Both made millions selling dope, lived the wide-brimmed-hat high life, enabled the addiction of whole neighborhoods, and, eventually, got caught. (…)

NICKY BARNES: Hey, hey, what’s up, playa?
FRANK LUCAS: Hey, Nick.
NB: I heard you’re in a wheelchair. What’s going on?
FL: Broke a leg, Nick. Two places.
NB: Damn.
FL: So what’s with you, man?
NB: Chilling, dude.

{ A conversation between Frank Lucas and Nicky Barnes | NY mag | Continue reading }

image { 12ozprophet }

A San Rafael man is facing felony drug and traffic charges after ramming other vehicles in what he called a secret government experiment for Area 51.

Antonio Patrinostro, 43, was charged Tuesday with driving while intoxicated and causing injuries, reckless driving and hit-and-run with injuries. He was arrested Sunday evening after his car bumped into three other vehicles in 55-mph traffic, said Officer Mary Ziegenbein of the California Highway Patrol.

Patrinostro “told the officer that the vehicle could fly if he went fast enough, and basically just started bouncing off of cars,” Ziegenbein said. “He was under the influence of cocaine, Valium and marijuana and stated that it was a top secret experiment with his doctor for Area 51 and the government. He also stated that he was working for a cure for AIDS by taking the drugs.”

Area 51 is a secretive military base in southern Nevada thought by UFO buffs to be a hub of extraterrestrial activity.

{ Marin Independant Journal }

{ Camel and Winston smoking areas at Zürich airport, Switzerland | photos: SDP/nswd }

{ related: dead men (alleged world cigarette smoking record) }

The ban on smoking in cafés and restaurants in Holland will not apply to the smoking of pure marijuana or cannabis, said health minister Ab Klink.

The ban falls under the tobacco laws and does not apply to tobacco-free products. The minister confirmed that mixing tobacco with soft drugs in ‘coffee shops’ (where cannabis products can be bought over the counter) will not be permitted from July 1.

{ Dutch News | Continue reading }

related { Patriot Act used in drug case, lawyer riled }

photo { Mary Ellen Mark }

{ more | spotted by Rachel }

Kern County Sheriff’s deputies rescued four teenagers who had been stranded for days in the Mojave Desert after they fled from a rave party that was busted on Saturday.

The group of teens were found Monday after deputies said they broke into a travel trailer and took Gatorade, soda and water.

{ KERO 23 | Continue reading }

related { Unknown forces cause large groups of people to dance hysterically until dropping from exhaustion in multiple incidents in Europe from the 13th to 17th centuries. }

photo { Klaus Thymann | S Magazine, 3 }

A pregnant mother of three is facing charges after police said she concealed drugs inside of her, putting her unborn baby at risk.

Police were granted permission for a female officer to perform a strip search on Keller, during which they said an open plastic bag with 14 Ecstasy pills was found inside her vagina.

{ WFSB | Continue reading }

An American in Costa Rica was caught smuggling nearly a pound of cocaine (0.4 kg) in his stomach after he went into convulsions on a plane bound for Miami, police said on Friday.

The 22-year-old man swallowed dozens of capsules stuffed with the drug before boarding a plane on Thursday in the Costa Rican capital, San Jose.

Police said he started to vomit and convulse before the plane took off and was rushed to a hospital where he was still recovering on Friday.

“They had to open him up too remove the capsules,” said police spokeswoman Marielos Barbosa.

{ Reuters | Continue reading }

Tiny plastic bags used to sell small quantities of heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and other drugs would be banned in Chicago, under a crackdown advanced Tuesday by a City Council committee.

Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) persuaded the Health Committee to ban possession of “self-sealing plastic bags under two inches in either height or width,” after picking up 15 of the bags on a recent Sunday afternoon stroll through a West Side park.

Lt. Kevin Navarro, commanding officer of the Chicago Police Department’s Narcotics and Gang Unit, said the ordinance will be an “important tool” to go after grocery stores, health food stores and other businesses. The bags are used by the thousand to sell small quantities of drugs at $10 or $20 a bag.

{ Chicago Sun Times | Continue reading }

{ Music fans’ favorite drugs don’t quite match the stereotype }

{ Colombian traffickers moving drugs in submarines }

Lyrics about drugs, alcohol and tobacco pervade popular music in the United States, according to a new study.

The report calculated that Americans from ages 15 to 18 listening to 2.4 hours of music a day hear 84 references to substances daily and more than 30,000 annually. About two-thirds of the references put drugs, alcohol and tobacco in a positive light by associating them with sex, partying and humor, the study said.

Some genres, like rap and country in comparison with pop, have more references than others.

The team used Billboard charts to identify the most popular songs of 2005, based on sales and airplay. They selected the 279 most popular from country, pop, R&B, rap and rock to examine for references to drugs, alcohol and tobacco. One third had explicit references; 42 percent had some kind of substance abuse reference.

Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the RIAA, said, “While we have not had the opportunity to thoroughly assess the study, it’s important to note that music is generally a reflection of society.” He noted that albums carry parental advisory logos.

{ NY Times }