Posts filed under ‘Drugs’
About All Those Dirty Mexicans Running Drugs Across the U.S. Border
Uh oh. Now here’s an inconvenient fact:
(Image via NewsTalk870.am)
Who are the drug smugglers running illicit contraband across the US-Mexico border? According to a new study of by the Center for Investigative Reporting, they’re mostly Americans.
CIR combed arrest records surrounding over 80,000 drug seizures from 2005 to 2011 and found that a full 80 percent of the arrests in which there was data available involved at least one American citizen.
Memo to Government Officials Everywhere: Want Your Sons to Have Malformed Genitals and Small Penises?
Insofar as most government officials around the world are men, maybe this will get their attention when it comes to dealing with water pollution and food additives:
(Image via nj1015.com)
A new study in Wales has uncovered a disturbing connection between pollution and shrinking penis size in otters. The report, from the Cardiff University Otter Project and Chemicals Health and Environment Department, found that chemicals present in both the environment and the food chain could be altering the hormones of the water mammal, causing a smaller penis bone. Aside from affecting the future spawn of otters, the scientists also worry that these ever-present chemicals could have serious effects on other mammals.
[...]
The health of otters is not the only concern in this study, but of male sexual health across the species. The presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals in the water and environment will affect humans as well, and the study questions the link with EDCs and the increasing number of human males with undescended testicles, low sperm count and malformed genitals.
Here We Go: THC University
Last November voters in Colorado (where I live) legalized growing and possessing up to one ounce of marijuana by people 21 and over.
As someone who grew up under laws that could land a person in prison for as much as ten years for possessing one ounce of pot, I’m watching this whole legalized-weed thing with delight and a sense of humor. In my opinion, it’s about time we quit spending untold millions of dollars busting, prosecuting and imprisoning people for using it.
So I cracked up this morning when I saw this article in our local newspaper:
(Image via THCUniversity.com)
Class Offers Basics on Pot Growing
A healthy marijuana plant should have lots of shoots, healthy roots and plenty of leaves.
But the more than 20 people Saturday who attended THC University’s first class, Growing Marijuana 101, learned that growing a healthy and fruitful marijuana plant is far from easy.
The sold-out class offered students the basics of growing marijuana at home, including information about watering, proper lighting, different containers and optional accessories. At the end of the five-hour class, students had the option of touring the growing operation at the Denver dispensary Karmaceuticals.
THC University co-founders Matt Jones, 24, and Freeman LaFleur, 25, said they had been looking for a way to enter the industry for the past couple of years.
“When Amendment 64 passed, we saw this industry that is going to go boom and no education to go with it,” Jones said.
Under Amendment 64, people 21 and older in Colorado can legally use and possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana and grow up to six marijuana plants.
Check out THC University’s website. It bills itself as “Colorado’s Premier Cannabis Certification Destination.” They offer a “Budtender Certification,” an “Indoor Grower Certification” and a “Master Indoor Grower Certification.” Wow. I never thought it’d see such a thing.
Hilarious.
Republicans in Washington State Hard at Work on Bills That Will Kill Humans and Animals
It’s just amazing what Republicans think is important:
During their first three weeks in power, Senate Republicans [in Washington state] have introduced bills to require parental notification for abortions, allow ranchers to kill wolves and let people ride motorcycles without a helmet.
Also on the list: plans to revamp [read, cut] workers’ compensation benefits, repeal the state’s family leave act [that, among other things, gives new parents five weeks off after the birth of a child] and assign A-F grades to public schools. There’s also talk of dumping the state employee pension system in favor of a less-expensive, 401(k)-type plan.
So, they want supposedly want to protect unborn fetuses but for people who are already born they want to increase traffic deaths and health care costs by letting people ride motorcycles without a helmet; kill wolves; cut workers’ compensation benefits; make it so folks don’t have a guaranteed leave plan so they can take time off when they or a family member needs help due to a medical problem; deprive new parents of bonding time with a new baby and make it harder for people to make ends meet in retirement.
What a vicious, hateful crowd.
Good Thinking Obama
As a resident of Colorado and one who voted in favor of legalizing marijuana, I say wise move Obama. If his Justice Department had gone against the will of the voters here, and in Washington state, there would have been hell to pay:
Obama Will Not Go After States Where Pot is Legal
President Barack Obama says he won’t go after Washington state and Colorado for legalizing marijuana.
In a Barbara Walters interview airing Friday on ABC, Obama is asked whether he supports making pot legal. He says — quote — “I wouldn’t go that far.”
But the president won’t pursue the issue in the states where voters legalized the use of marijuana in the November elections. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.
Obama says — quote — “It does not make sense from a prioritization point of view” to focus on drug use in states where it is now legal.
Now stick to it.
50,000 Brown People Died Over the Last 6 Years Due to America’s Drug Addiction
I am shocked. I had no idea 50,000 — 50,000! — of our neighbors to the south have died in the last six years in the fight to supply the United States with the drugs it craves.
Here is a haunting photo essay from The Atlantic:
Thousands of guns are destroyed in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua State, on February 16, 2012. At least 6,000 rifles and pistols seized from drugs cartels were destroyed by members of the Mexican Army. (Jesus Alcazar/AFP/Getty Images)
Where did those guns come from? The United States.
● ● ● ● ● ●
young man lies dead next to a skateboard and a bicycle after unknown gunmen opened fire in the eastern part of Saltillo, Mexico, on December 7, 2011. According to the state attorney general, three young men were killed in the attack. (AP Photo/Alberto Puente)
More images here.
Instead of building bases (yes, we’re doing that too) and joining counternarcotics efforts in Honduras, killing civilians, pissing off the people and arming the Mexican government, we might want to take a look at why so many people in the U.S. feel the need to get high. Ya think? Unemployment comes to mind. Debt comes to mind. The cost of medical treatment comes to mind. Mental illness comes to mind. Over-stressed parents and families come to mind. Seniors who are freaked out about being able to live with dignity until they die come to mind. Hello!
But no. I guess the thinking is that 50,000 dead brown people (and counting) is preferable to the USA! USA! USA! facing what’s going on at home.
