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Operation Pipe Dreams

09:49 / 25.02.03

Does the US Government have nothing better to do with its time than tackle the drug paraphernalia web sites?

"With the advent of the Internet, the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has exploded," Ashcroft said. "The drug paraphernalia business now thrives not only in small shops but it is now accessible in anyone's home with a computer and Internet access... Quite simply, the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has invaded the homes of families across the country without their knowledge."

Yes, and the Bush administration has such a good personal track record when it comes to using drugs...

And ironically, on Yahoo today there's a story that states that tobacco is the number one killer drug in the world (accounts for 71% of all deaths), with alcohol coming behind it as number two (26% of deaths). And what's the figure for deaths caused by "Illicit drugs": 3%. And I doubt any of them were caused by weed.

Does it strike anyone else besides me that the US Government (like many other governments around the world) has its priorities screwed up?

13:22 / 25.02.03

It has from the very beginning ever since Ashcroft decided that battling extremism was less important than his moral crusading.

17:33 / 25.02.03

The whole episode just seems bizarre...

I find it odd that someone can be charged for selling bongs and whatnot. Doesn't every head shop have little signs saying 'for tabacco use only' in front of every pipe? (maybe that's just in Canada)

Like one of the people in the article said, this won't actually hurt anyone or stop drug use. It's not hard to make any of these things. Didn't Dennis Leary say "the only thing marijuana leads to is carpentry."? Why bother with the costs of this? Odd...

See here for a great Doonesbury on the subject

18:28 / 25.02.03

From Yahoo news:

"This is a great victory for the DEA," Ashcroft said.

Have standards really gotten that low? For the love of...

19:43 / 25.02.03

Fucking hell, what's next? A crusade against Rizlas? A crackdown on lava lamps? Prohibition of all-night garages? Holy war against Nightmares on Wax?

Then again, as long as tilting at bongs stops Ashcroft and co blowing up the earth, I'm all for it.

Yeah, John, you go - get those evil pipe-sellers!

Brigade du jour

20:53 / 25.02.03

I've never taken an illegal drug in my life, and even I think Bush and his cronies could do with a shot of something to chill them out. Like a heroin overdose. Fuckers. Sorry, going off-thread ...

15:11 / 26.02.03

While I hate Ashcroft's filthy guts, velvet, he really hasn't got much to do with blowing people up. Bush basically appointed him to assure the extreme right that the DoJ is no longer interested in their gunrunning operations or their right to blow up abortion clinics; anything else he does is not that meaningful in the long run. Ashcroft is probably just trying to keep busy now that the Homeland Security people are taking over the domestic surveillance portfolio.

02:20 / 14.05.03

Tommy Chong pleads guilty

Tommy Chong pleaded guilty in federal court today to conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia. Chong also pleaded guilty on behalf of his business, Nice Dreams Enterprises, which made a line of marijuana bongs and pipes. Doing business as Chong Glass, Nice Dreams Enterprises sold glass pipes and bongs that Chong acknowledged were used to smoke marijuana.

Chong's plea came after federal Drug Enforcement Agency agents purchased his paraphernalia and had them shipped to an undercover business. Agents also confiscated his company's paraphernalia during raids of "head shops" in numerous states and confiscated "thousands of marijuana bongs and pipes" in a raid of his Gardena, Calif., business.

The raids were part of a series by the DEA in which at least 55 people were charged with trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia. Officials said the investigation targeted the nation's biggest Internet distributors of paraphernalia. Chong is the first person to plead guilty in the raids.