Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were “the only liquid investment capital” available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result.
All I Can Say is WTF is He Smokin ?
cause it sho ain’t that domestic mess. that must be some super duper dynamic chronic Blazam Purple Haze or somethin; cause to make a statement like this he has to have facts.
there are three other parts to this video and you’ll be able to see them if you click the video to go to YouTube.
we’ve already talked about the cocaine on money these days, being the reason we choose to use plastic, instead of paper. as well we’ve talked about the money that the drug lords had worked into the real estate market. apparently we were hot on the trail, since this report is so fresh the ink smeared when the observer touched it.
Could this be the reality of what is making the worlds’ financial markets solvent again ? because just last week we talked about the reality of why the troops are in afghanistan. there is no-one who doubts now, that we are wrong. the body count is mounting, as the dope becomes stronger and more easily obtained globally.
Why is the US Funding This Drug War for President Hamid Karzi’s Brother – Walid Karzi.
Did you realize that Iran has more Heroin Addicts than the USA ? and that the highest numbers for new addicts are in the close surrounding golden triangle region of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. Absolutely unheard of just ten years ago, at the begining of the Iraq conflict build-up.
There is nothing about this situation that can make us feel good. more drugs, more drug money being pumped into the financial system; and more addicts created to endure this pointless war against humanity.
Drugs money worth billions of dollars kept the financial system afloat at the height of the global crisis, the United Nations‘ drugs and crime tsar has told the Observer.
Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were “the only liquid investment capital” available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result.
This will raise questions about crime’s influence on the economic system at times of crisis. It will also prompt further examination of the banking sector as world leaders, including Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, call for new International Monetary Fund regulations. Speaking from his office in Vienna, Costa said evidence that illegal money was being absorbed into the financial system was first drawn to his attention by intelligence agencies and prosecutors around 18 months ago. “In many instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system’s main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor,” he said.
Some of the evidence put before his office indicated that gang money was used to save some banks from collapse when lending seized up, he said.
“Inter-bank loans were funded by money that originated from the drugs trade and other illegal activities… There were signs that some banks were rescued that way.” Costa declined to identify countries or banks that may have received any drugs money, saying that would be inappropriate because his office is supposed to address the problem, not apportion blame. But he said the money is now a part of the official system and had been effectively laundered.
This is How The Drug Problem Rebloomed – Watch it and Scratch Your Head because this is your US Tax Dollar at Work;
Now that we know how messed up the IMF Has Our Money Situation, why not pass that dro to Barack; Brotha Tony. He, Nick the dick; and Gordy Brown can take a big ass bong hit and get their minds straight – because this proves, only the drug barons understand the calamity of the economy and how to fix it.
Oh Golly Gee – Isn’t it time we all said “Puff Puff, Pass the Damn Bill Barack“, we need jobs and cash flowin everywhere – not just in Afghanistan
– Confidential sources reveal exclusively to SodaHead new details regarding Michael Jackson’s autopsy results! It’s been reported that prescription drugs were involved in the singer’s death, but our source says an illegal drug – allegedly heroin – was found in Jackson’s system. This explains the search of Jackson’s rented mansion for needles, despite the family’s attempts to attribute it to prescribed drugs administered by injection.
According to our source, other autopsy findings which will be exposed when the report goes public include red wine and pills in his body, an enlarged liver and kidneys, and new injection marks on the inner right arm. Those close to the Jackson team suspect suicide.
More as this develops, including some very disturbing cover-ups within the Jackson clan.
Jermaine Jackson ‘hurt’ over drug reports
Jermaine Jackson described the moment he arrived at the hospital and saw his brother Michael’s body
Jermaine Jackson “would be hurt” if he found out that reports about his brother Michael’s drug use were true, he has said in an interview.
Unconfirmed reports following the star’s death last week have suggested he was taking the painkiller Demerol and that he abused prescription drugs.
Jermaine told US TV that Michael had been “against anything like that”.
“But in this business, the pressure, and things that you go through – you never know what people might turn to.”
“I’m not saying it’s right, because it’s not right,” he added.
To hear my mother say, ‘Michael is dead,’ to feel and hear the tone in her voice to say her child is dead, is nothing that anyone can ever imagine
Jermaine Jackson
Toxicology tests
Following an autopsy on Friday, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office said there was no evidence of foul play, but gave no cause for Jackson’s death.
It said the results of toxicology tests could take weeks to come back.
A spokesman said Jackson had taken “some prescription medication”, without specifying which.
Jermaine, who confirmed his brother’s death to journalists last Thursday, was interviewed for NBC’s Today programme in the grounds of the sprawling Neverland ranch, 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Fighting back tears, the 54-year-old described how his mother, Katherine, had called him to break the news.
“She was crying, saying he was dead.”
He added: “To hear my mother say, ‘Michael is dead,’ to feel and hear the tone in her voice to say her child is dead, is nothing that anyone can ever imagine.”
When he arrived at the UCLA medical centre, he had seen his brother’s body, he said.
“To see him there lifeless and breathless was very emotional for me.
Jackson had been due to stage comeback concerts in London
“But I held myself together because I knew he’s very much alive in his spirit, and that was just a shell.
“I kissed him on his forehead, and I hugged him, and I touched him and, I said, ‘Michael, I’ll never leave you – you’ll never leave me’.”
He said he was his younger brother’s “backbone” and wished he could have died instead.
“I wanted to be there for him – I was there and he was sort of like Moses.
“Things he couldn’t say, I would say them – during trials, during everything.”
‘No viewing’
Jermaine, who appeared on UK reality series Big Brother in 2007, asserted that Neverland should be his younger sibling’s final resting place.
“He created this,” he said. “Why wouldn’t he be here? I feel his presence.”
People will be hearing a lot of that unreleased material for the first time ever. There’s just some genius and brilliance in there
Tommy Mottola
Former Sony Music chairman
The Jackson family, who have ruled out a “public or private viewing” of Michael’s body at the ranch, are due to announce a public memorial soon.
Meanwhile, Tommy Mottola, former chairman of Sony Music – which owns distribution rights to Jackson’s music – has said new releases of unheard tracks “could go on for years and years”.
“There are dozens and dozens of songs that did not end up on his albums,” said Mottola, who was in charge of Sony from 1998 to 2003.
“People will be hearing a lot of that unreleased material for the first time ever. There’s just some genius and brilliance in there.”
The material includes unused tracks from sessions for some his classic albums as well as new songs recorded with singer and producer Akon and Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am.
– A SodaHead insider very close to the Jackson family has leaked some surprising details exclusively to us. We’ll be bringing breaking news you won’t find anywhere else and revealing some shocking truths!
Grieving fans were rattled when Michael Jackson’s father Joe Jackson showed up carefree at the BET Awards Sunday night, 3 days after MJ’s death, with a somber Janet Jackson in tow, while the rest of the clan mourned at the Jackson compound.
Here’s the real deal:
Much to the family’s dismay, Joe stole his dead son’s ticket to the award show. Fearing Joe would embarrass the family with his attendance & carefree comments to the press, they sent an outraged Janet to babysit her father. Joe received accolades for his child rearing at the BET Awards, but he’s greatly disliked by his own family who are not only angry but also suspicious of him!
We Usually don’t get into the dope arena, for obvious reasons. but this story made us reach back and remember the story seeking a solution for the opium poppy problem.
Wallabies - it’s as simple as importing a few herds of Wallabies and turnin em loose in afghanistan. in no time the taliban will be clarkes employees. (clarkes shoes that is) the wallabies are so cute. basically they’re large hamsters that sit on their back legs; hop around and look adorable.
kangaroos are more fierce than wallabies from what we’ve read; so the wallabies and a few kangaroos could probably make a difference in a few weeks, in a poppy region. then bring in some sheep, as they were there traditionally. supposedly they also do the same thing.
the animals are grazers, and they can be useful to the families who own the land; probably in as many ways as the opium poppies they will give up in the trade. could you shoot one of these cute cuddly milk makers ?
the question is if you are a poppy grower, would you trade your poppy fields, for a big herd of llamas, goats and wallabies; that can roam that same pasture and not bring the same bloodshed. But instead bring you money still over and over without the danger or bad karma ? that’s gotta be more acceptable to Allah, don’t you think ?
in the second clipping Richard Holbrooke, speaking for The usgovies makes it clear that they are a buncha fools. basically because they’re ignoring this idea; and promoting alternate crops.. why ? well that’s their palative approach.
ahhhhruuhhh yeah right Mr Holbroke (smdh)
We think that this drug problem needs to be put in just these simple terms.
you cannot pass down a poppy field, but you can pass down a goat or a wallabie. dowry’s are often paid traditionally with farm animals in muslim countries; for just this reason.
I think america needs to get with the tasmanians’, the afghans and the aussies and get a contingent of sheep, border collies, wallabies and wallabie keepers brought in to naturalize. near the poppy fields they’d probably be seen as a novelty and be easier to milk and shear than a guy with an ak 47.
I’d personally hope that they might bring goats, and maybe some Llamas, to add to the mix for the sake of variety. no doubt the llamas and goats would eat some of the poppies too, producing some banging milk and wool.
our friends over at Splitrock Ranch can attest to the greatness of Llamas. they are the finest wool, and pack animals. we hear that they are even the most evenly tempered; so little to no spitting and fighting, unlike now.. they do have personalities and get their respect. they are afterall usually taller and larger than a man. so size alone makes them king.
the deal is this, the poppy fields seem to make animals sneak in; then they end up checkin the poppies out, finally walking in circles. yeah circles..
makes you wonder, if maybe the leaders who have been repeated sending folks there for generations to fight; aren’t actually displaying the same symptoms ? have they been walking in those poppy fields, secretly ?
we aren’t advocating anybody harm the wallabies; just thinking that maybe a buncha herding cute animals; can do more to change the region than a buncha men with guns; who’ve done nothing but kill each other.
at least the wallabies won’t kill anybody. we also believe that the people won’t want to kill the wallabies when their kids become attached to them, and regard them as friendly instead of another invading force.
so who do we call to set up the deal, Captain Kangaroo ? (sorry y’all cause we know he checked out a while ago) Jack Hannah ?or the big boss at the white house – Bo Obama ?
Who ever it is – somebody Holla @ Em Quick because america is rampin up in the afghan region massively. we need to try to come up with a cost effective, natural and positive remedy to this bloodshed. so ours is Wallabies, Llamas, Goats and Kangaroos.
Holla @ Us if You Down Wit the Wallabies, Sheep, Goats and Llamas; for Peace in Afghanistan
we think the animals know more than we do, so we bes be lettin them sort out this mess, since we have failed miserably up to this point.
Wallabies have been observed acting strangely in poppy fields
Australian wallabies are eating opium poppies and creating crop circles as they hop around “as high as a kite”, a government official has said.
Lara Giddings, the attorney general for the island state of Tasmania, said the kangaroo-like marsupials were getting into poppy fields grown for medicine.
She was reporting to a parliamentary hearing on security for poppy crops.
Australia supplies about 50% of the world’s legally-grown opium used to make morphine and other painkillers.
We have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles. Then they crash
Lara Giddings, government official
“The one interesting bit that I found recently in one of my briefs on the poppy industry was that we have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles,” Lara Giddings told the hearing.
“Then they crash,” she added. “We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high.”
Rick Rockliff, a spokesman for poppy producer Tasmanian Alkaloids, said the wallaby incursions were not very common, but other animals had also been spotted in the poppy fields acting unusually.
“There have been many stories about sheep that have eaten some of the poppies after harvesting and they all walk around in circles,” he added.
Retired Tasmanian poppy farmer Lyndley Chopping also said he had seen strange behaviour from wallabies in his fields.
“They would just come and eat some poppies and they would go away,” he told ABC News.
“They’d come back again and they would do their circle work in the paddock.”
Some people believe the mysterious circles that appear in fields in a number of countries are created by aliens. Others put them down to a human hoax.
The United States is to change the way it deals with the massive poppy growing industry in Afghanistan.
Instead of destroying the crops it will spend money encouraging Afghan farmers to grow different ones.
US special envoy to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, at a G8 meeting in Italy, said current measures against poppy growers had been “a failure”.
The conference of foreign ministers in Trieste also called for credible elections in Afghanistan in August.
Mr Holbrooke said that existing programmes of eradication had not reduced by one dollar the amount of money the Taliban earned from production.
“Spraying the crops just penalises the farmer and they grow crops somewhere else. The hundreds of millions of dollars we spend on crop eradication has not had any damage on the Taliban.”
“On the contrary, it has helped them recruit. This is the least effective programme ever,” Mr Holbrooke added.
We Know President Obama ran on The End the War Platform, so why is this war growing ? even his allies are speaking out against this war. Mr. Obama don’t think we are ignoring your actions in regard to Afghanistan. we will not surrender our sons, daughters, husbands and wives to this war game any-longer. it’s time,
End The War Mr. Obama – Peroid.
this is not a challenge, but a reminder.
our friends over @ EuroYank Blogs have been hollin at y’all so much brothaman don shut it down. now what about that ?
By EuroYank On Tuesday, February 24, 2009 At 1:17 PM
“You can fool allthe peoplesome of the time,
and some of the people all the time, but you
cannot fool all the people all the time.”
(Abraham Lincoln 16th President
of the United States 1809-1865)
Al-Qaeda Doesn’t Exist
There’s no such thing as al-Qaeda. It’s a fraud perpetrated on the British and American people by the governments to scare us into submission. This is a clip from the excellent three-part BBC documentary*The Power of Nightmares”.
Behind the Bin Laden Hate Of America
The story starts over 60 years ago with the CIA, and the secret history is now documented by John Stockwell, (former CIA Station Chief in Angola in 1976, working for then Director of the CIA, George Bush) …
He spent 13 years in the agency. He is the highest level CIA officer to testify to the Congress about his actions. He estimates that over 6 million people have died in CIA covert actions, and this was in the late 1980’s.
The United States CIA is running 50 covert actions (1987), destabilizing further almost one third of the countries in the world today.
(Must see Important Videos)
John Stockwell intelligence gatherer and task force commander goes public ...
WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Sunday the insurgency in Afghanistan cannot be defeated and Canada would not provide more troops without a clear exit strategy.
Harper said in a CNN interview that Afghanistan needs an indigenous government that can manage the insurgency and is not perceived as foreign-installed.
“We are not going to win this war just by staying,” Harper said. “My own judgment is, quite frankly, that we are not going to ever defeat the insurgency.”
“We have to have an Afghan government that is capable of managing that insurgency and improving its own governance,” he told CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS.”
U.S.-led forces toppled the Islamist Taliban government in 2001 for harboring the al Qaeda network responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States. But a Taliban insurgency has steadily gained ground in the last few years.
Canada has about 2,700 soldiers based in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan as part of the NATO mission. The Canadian mission is due to end in 2011. More than 100 Canadian soldiers have been killed in the conflict.
President Barack Obama, who has ordered more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to stem the rising violence, visited Harper on his first trip abroad on Feb. 19, but he did not press the Canadian leader for additional military contributions.
Harper said he welcomed Obama’s renewed commitment to Afghanistan and his plan to send more American troops there.
“But over the long haul, if President Obama wants anybody to do more, I would ask very hard questions about what is the strategy for success and for an eventual departure,” he said.
Harper said his view of Afghan history was that the country has been in a permanent state of insurgency.
“If we think that we are going to govern Afghanistan for the Afghans or over the long-term be responsible for day-to-day security in Afghanistan and see that country improve, we are mistaken,” he said. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
this is why you should be mindful of what your kids see you do; and in fact what you do. Drugs are Bad, Mmm Kay.
Dr. Dre’s son, Andre Young Jr., died from an overdose of heroin and morphine, the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner confirmed to PEOPLE on Friday.
“This case has been closed, it’s been ruled an accident due to morphine and heroin intoxication,” coroner spokesman Larry Dietz told PEOPLE. The drug test results had been pending for four months.
Young, 20, was found unresponsive by his mother, Jenita Porter, 40, in their Woodland Hills, Calif., home on the morning of Aug. 23.
Paramedics pronounced Young – who was remembered by friends as an optimistic young man – dead at the scene.
Porter told investigators that her son had been out with friends that night, and she recalled hearing him snoring around 5:30 a.m.
“Dr. Dre is mourning the loss of his son,” the rapper’s publicist Lori Earl previously said in a statement. “Please respect his family’s grief and privacy at this time.” Source
We want to immediately state that we DO NOT ENDORSE THE USE OF ANY DRUGS OR ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES – ESPECIALLY COKE OR METH.
As Well We Do Not Endorse the use of Ritalin and Like Kind Drugs.
We’ve done loads of blogs on the problems of the Drug Wars; and the Narco Traffico Policy Problems; so add this one to the pile cause not a word we say makes any difference.
Apparently not a body we show you, not a bullet we talk about; not the kid on your evening news laid out like a statistic; none of it makes any difference.
so lets try the subtle approach, and see if maybe a Cartoon Character can get people to pay attention to this travesty unfolding around us; and destined to get worse – ALA Post Vietnam; if we don’t do something about the Economy Quick.
Remember if a drug dealer has a job making enough to live, they usually don’t resort to dealing drugs. don’t believe us and the studies we’ve shown you then just listen to Mr Mackey – He Knows,
to quote Mr Mackey – “Mmmkay, Drugs Are Bad, Don’t Do Drugs“
A teenage girl prepares to smoke a pipe of crystal meth.
When methadone was first proposed for the treatment of heroin addiction, it sounded like a pointless gambit — sort of like substituting vodka for gin. That’s enabling addicts, critics said, not helping them.
But over the years, maintenance treatment with methadone and other synthetic opiates like buprenorphine has proved successful — more than any other heroin-addiction therapy — in getting people off illicit drugs and lowering HIV transmission rates, crime and death among users. That success, in part, has got researchers wondering whether addiction to other drugs — namely to the stimulants cocaine and methamphetamine — could be curbed in the same way, by substituting a chemically similar alternative. (See the Year in Health, from A to Z.)
“It’s an idea that really does need to be rigorously evaluated,” says Frank Vocci, director of the pharmacotherapy division at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). “But right now there is more discussion than data.”
The problem of stimulant addiction in the U.S. has dropped out of the spotlight of late, but it has not disappeared. According to a 2007 government survey, 2.1 million Americans had used cocaine in the month prior to the survey and 1 million had taken other stimulants for nonmedical purposes, including more than half a million users of methamphetamine. There are currently no overwhelmingly effective addiction treatments. Abstinence-based rehab therapy for meth and cocaine work about as well as rehab for other drugs — meaning that about one-third of users improve following treatment, but most relapse repeatedly.
And despite decades of study of dozens of compounds, there are as yet no federally approved medications for cocaine or meth addiction.
Asked whether NIDA thought the concept of stimulant maintenance treatment holds promise, Vocci says, “If putting your money where your mouth is means [that we consider it promising], then, yes, we’re funding a fair number of studies.”
To date, the research has been mixed but intriguing. The best-studied drugs so far are dexamphetamine, a form of amphetamine contained in the antihyperactivity drug Adderall, and modafinil, the wakefulness drug used to treat narcolepsy and shift-work sleep disorder. Most studies have been small and focused on safety rather than efficacy. Some have found no effect — but because of their size, it’s difficult to determine whether that’s meaningful.
One British study followed 60 stimulant addicts who were treated with dexamphetamine in a Cornwall clinic. Doctors tracked how well these patients fared compared with 120 heroin addicts being treated with methadone, and found an equivalent reduction in illicit drug use and drug injection. In both groups, about two-thirds of patients stopped injecting over 10 months.
Another trial in Australia followed 30 cocaine injectors, 16 of whom were treated with dexamphetamine and 14 with a placebo. Cocaine-positive urine tests in the dexamphetamine group fell from 94% to 56%, while the placebo group showed no change after 14 weeks. A similar study of modafinil at the University of Pennsylvania in 2005 found reduced cocaine use in addicts.
But there are reasons that stimulant maintenance treatment was not initially studied more extensively. For one, high doses of amphetamines can cause brain damage, psychosis, heart attack and stroke. (High doses of opioids like methadone, in contrast, can also be dangerous, but once a patient develops a tolerance to them, even very high doses of the drugs are not toxic.) The consequences of high-dose use are important, since addicts in treatment often try at least once to use illegal drugs “on top” of their maintenance drug. So far, however, studies of dexamphetamine and similar drugs have not revealed major safety problems. Although a few patients have had psychotic episodes from using “on top,” those particular patients turned out to have previously suffered psychosis. “There’s pretty consistent evidence that the side effects are generally nominal,” says John Grabowski, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota who has championed the study of stimulant maintenance treatment in the U.S.
Another problem is that stimulants appear to increase users’ desire subjectively, rather than satisfying it. While a heroin high is calming and lasts for several hours, cocaine and amphetamine feel different. As actor Robin Williams, an admitted ex-user, put it, cocaine makes you feel like a new man, and the first thing the new man wants is more cocaine. It produces excitement, not relaxation. And the concern is that a maintenance drug would have the same escalating effect.
“That’s one argument, but the data doesn’t seem to support it,” says Craig Rush, professor of behavioral science at the University of Kentucky. In a study of seven cocaine-dependent patients, Rush treated them with dexamphetamine maintenance, then gave them cocaine in the lab. The effects of cocaine were blunted. Rush is now looking at what happens when dexamphetamine-maintained patients are given a choice whether or not to take cocaine in the lab — preliminary results suggest they “just say no” more often.
The newer stimulant drug, modafinil, does not carry the same addiction risk as amphetamines, making it a promising alternative as a maintenance drug. But it’s also less effective in treating the most severe addictions, according to Grabowski. “In our research, we were able to separate out [the more and less severely addicted patients], and the more severe people were more responsive to the more potent stimulants,” says Grabowski, who has conducted two randomized controlled trials involving nearly 200 patients, which found that dexamphetamine treatment reduced cocaine use better than a placebo.
Proponents of stimulant maintenance treatment also note this significant detail: Many stimulant abusers suffer from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). While ADHD affects about 1% of the general population, according to Rush, it shows up in about 30% of cocaine and amphetamine addicts. Psychiatrists often hesitate to give hyperactivity drugs to patients with a history of addiction, but some studies suggest that maintenance may be exactly what this group needs — and that their drug abuse is an attempt to self-medicate. The studies that have included ADHD patients (many studies exclude them to avoid confounding) showed positive results. In one pilot study, conducted at Columbia University, maintenance treatment reduced cocaine use and craving in 12 cocaine addicts with ADHD.
None of the researchers believe that stimulant maintenance is a panacea or that it will work for every cocaine or meth addict. But there is no medical treatment that works 100% of the time. “I think we have found something of potential benefit, and it should be met with interest and further research, rather than disdain,” Grabowski says.
Increase In Meth Labs May Mean New Laws
Producers Finding Ways To Skirt Current Laws
By Reported By Cara Kumari
WSMV-TV
updated 7:16 p.m. ET,Wed., Dec. 17, 2008
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A dangerous homemade drug is making a comeback.
Video: Increase In Meth Busts Could Lead To New Laws
Local and state authorities have been making some headway against methamphetamine production, but they said there has been a recent surge in lab busts.
Currently if an individual wants to buy a pill that contains pseduoephedrine, he or she has to show photo identification.
Law enforcement officers said that requirement made a large dent in the number of methamphetamine labs over the past three years.
However, busts are on the rise again, and some possible changes include putting liquids with pseudoephedrine behind the counter.
Lawrence County had three methamphetamine busts this year, until last week when police raided four more labs. Across Tennessee, methamphetamine lab seizures have spiked.
“We anticipated some rebound to the lab seizure numbers,” said Tommy Farmer of the Tennessee Meth Lab Task Force.
Through October, there were 625 busts in the state, compared to 583 in all of 2007. In middle Tennessee, methamphetamine lab busts are up more than 50 percent.
Authorities haven’t seen these numbers since 2005, when tough new laws limited access to psuedoephedrines, a common ingredient in methamphetamine.
Police said cooks have found ways around the law.
“They are going to look for alternative ways to acquire the precursor chemicals used to make meth, and that’s what we’re seeing,” said Farmer.
Farmer said he’s already talking with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the governor’s office about making some changes and eliminating loopholes in the existing law.
For example, there is discussion of the possibility of putting liquid pseudoephedrines behind the counter as well as tablets.
But with the state’s deepening budget crisis, any changes are going to have to come without a price tag.
“We think we can have some modifications or adjustments made to the existing legislation that would not have an impact or would not have a fiscal note attached to it,” said Farmer.
Experts said better law enforcement tactics have also resulted in the large increase in methamphetamine busts.
Officers around the state are very well trained to spot methamphetamine labs, and aggressive law enforcement measures have shown results.
Tennessee is not the only state dealing with an increase in methamphetamine labs. The entire region is experiencing a spike, with the biggest increases seen in Missouri and Michigan.
CBS Evening News Exclusive: Mexico’s Ruthless Drug Cartel Violence Now Crossing The Border
TIJUANA, Mexico, Dec. 16, 2008 | by Bill Whitaker
(CBS) In the past few years, Mexico has become one of the most dangerous places on earth. Drug gangs have killed more than 5,000 people this year – more than the entire American death toll in Iraq. Tuesday, the Justice Department declared Mexico’s drug cartels have become the biggest organized crime threat to the United States. CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker takes an exclusive look at how Mexico’s problem is crossing the border.
The sound of a country in crisis includes the cries of a woman wailing upon finding husband dead in cab of truck. The United States’ southern neighbor is in the throes of a drug war – one that’s growing more savage every day as the brutally aggressive Sinaloa Cartel muscles in on territory controlled by the Arellano-Felix, the Juarez and Gulf Cartels for control of lucrative routes for smuggling marijuana, cocaine and amphetamines into the United States – a $14 billion a year illegal trade, Whitaker reports.
The drug traffickers are more reckless and ruthless than ever. A group of terrified school children were caught in the crossfire of a three-hour shootout on the streets of Tijuana. In Juarez, a crime reporter was shot to death, the fifth Mexican journalist silenced this year.
Bill Gore has witnessed the carnage, first as the FBI Special Agent in Charge in San Diego, now as the county’s undersheriff. He says American drug users should realize they have blood on their hands.
“This is not a victimless crime,” Gore said. “That people are dying, literally hundreds of them, on the streets of Tijuana, so they can have their recreational drugs on this side of the border.”
After Mexican president Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels last year, troops and federal police have captured or killed scores of drug kingpins. Yet, violence continues. (CBS)
The most extreme violence is just south of the border – nowhere worse than Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso. There have been 16 murders in El Paso this year and almost 1,500 drug-related killings in Juarez.
One grisly new tactic is beheadings. A headless corpse hung above a busy highway almost two hours before police covered it with a sheet – the head found in a nearby park.
In Tijuana, nine men were decapitated last month, three of them policemen, their badges stuck in their mouths – some of the 40 murders in Tijuana occurred in just one weekend.
It is a bloody war fueled by a high-powered arsenal of weapons, most smuggled in from the United States.
The gun violence is fueling a boom in the security business. Gabriel Martin turns cars into tanks with armor plating, bullet-proof glass. Of one car he says: “An AR-15 with armor-piercing nose could not get through that.”
And there’s a long waiting list of people anxious to pay from $30,000 to $90,000 to outfit cars with James Bond-like smoke screens and nails to puncture pursuers’ tires.
(CBS)
“As crime rises it seems like the business grows,” Martin said. “People are scared to be kidnapped.”
The current FBI Agent in Charge in San Diego says gangland kidnappings, common in Mexico as a secondary source of cartel income, are becoming common there.
“The violence is absolutely spilling across into the United States,” said FBI agent Keith Slotter said.
About 40 San Diego residents were kidnapped in Mexico this year – double the number three years ago. Many more go unreported.
“Normally, the kidnappers have done, we believe, extensive research ahead of time,” Slotter said. “They have a good, a solid background on a person’s financial means.”
They kidnapped one woman’s husband, an American with businesses in Tijuana. They demanded $2 million. She’s afraid to reveal her identity.
“I had to sell my business. I had to sell property. Anything to get back my husband,” the woman said. “There was no need for them to kill my husband.”
Ironically, this orgy of violence erupted after Mexican president Felipe Calderon declared war on the cartels last year, dispatching 40,000 troops and federal police to cities under siege. They’ve killed or captured scores of drug kingpins.
Authorities call this a success, though a fierce gun battle raged in the middle of the city for almost an hour. In the end, the federal police and the military took custody the most wanted chief of the Tijuana drug cartel.
With the arrest of Eduardo Arellano-Felix, the once powerful cartel is in disarray. The unintended consequence of success: a bloodbath, as the next generation of gangsters battles for dominance.
“We cannot live with that kind of intimidation, with that kind of terror on our streets,” said Jorge Ramos, the Mayor of Tijuana.
So the mayor of Tijuana last week tapped former army Lt. Colonel, Julian Leyzaola, to run the city’s police department.
He promises to take back the streets.
“Even in war you don’t see what you see here,” he said through a translator. “People whose heads are cut off, people who are dissolved in acid. If the cartels only understand the language of violence, then we are going to have to speak in their language … and annihilate them.”
In other words, fight cartel violence with superior violence: the coordinated power the police and military. As the government fights to get the upper hand, there’s likely to be more blood in the streets
Narcotics trafficking and drug addition have long been hidden scourges in Turkmenistan, Central Asia’s most insular state. But President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has sent signals in recent weeks that his administration is pondering ways to tackle drug-related issues.
The clearest indicator of a shift in the Turkmen government’s attitude came on World AIDS Day, December 1, when a variety of state agencies hosted an informational event, titled Unite for Future! Unite Against AIDS and Drugs!, at a theater in central Ashgabat. Printed matter on the hazards of diseases associated with drug additction, especially AIDS, were available for distribution. The materials were a collaborative effort produced by the Turkmen Health Ministry, the National Red Crescent Society and the Youth Center of Turkmenistan.
Though modest in its scope, the event underscored the fact that Berdymukhamedov’s administration is taking tentative steps toward addressing what is one of the country’s most daunting social challenges. During the last session of Turkmenistan’s old parliament, held before fresh elections on December 14, some outgoing MPs expressed concern about the dangers of narcotics trafficking, as well as the high public health social costs exacted by drug addiction.
Turkmen citizens will tell enquiring foreigners that drug use is prevalent in Ashgabat and that addicts are responsible for many serious crimes, including robberies and even murders. Addiction likewise encourages other forms of criminal behavior, especially prostitution, as young Turkmen women sell their bodies in order to maintain drug habits. “Unemployement is so high, often men are ashamed and start to use heroin,” said one Turkmen man, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Afghanistan has been the top opium-producing country in the world over the past several years, according to UNODC
KABUL, 10 December 2008 (IRIN) – A senior official in the Interior Ministry has told IRIN that “unprecedented progress” has been made in the fight against drugs, with at least 500 drug traffickers arrested in the past eight months.
Mohammad Daud Daud, a deputy interior minister with responsibility for counter-narcotics, told IRIN counter-narcotics activities had been “boosted considerably” since 2007.
In the past eight months, over 300 tonnes of cannabis, over 25 tonnes of opium and over 10 tonnes of heroin, as well as several tonnes of heroin-producing chemicals, were impounded. Twenty-five heroin-producing laboratories were also destroyed, according to the Interior Ministry. (The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) survey in 2007 said a total of 90 laboratories were in operation in March 2007).
As well as taking a direct toll on the health of Afghans who abuse drugs, the drugs trade helps finance Taliban and criminal activities and fuels insecurity, in turn hampering humanitarian aid operations. Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of people are involved in poppy cultivation, and opium income makes up to 40 percent of gross domestic product, experts say.
Lives lost
The government says it has paid a high price for its counter-narcotics operations: At least 45 police officers have been killed and 65 injured in armed clashes with smugglers and insurgents involved in the drugs trade, the Interior Ministry said.
In its latest, August 2008, survey UNODC said incidents related to eradication activities in Helmand, Kandahar, Herat, Nimruz, Kapisa, Kabul and Nangarhar provinces had led to the deaths of at least 78 people, most of them policemen, in 2008. This represented an increase of about 75 percent on the 2007 figure (19 deaths). The main incidents were in Nangarhar and Nimruz provinces, UNODC said.
Under strong international pressure the government has beefed up the judiciary, with judges encouraged to convict arrested smugglers swiftly, according to media reports, but progress is by no means even: According to an Interior Ministry press release issued on 4 September, unidentified gunmen killed the head of the counter-narcotics court and several judges have received death threats.
Drought helps stem opium production
According to UNODC, there had been a 19 percent decrease in the area under opium cultivation to 157,000 hectares, down from 193,000 hectares in 2007. However, because of a higher yield of 48.8kg per hectare (up from 42.5 kg in 2007), overall opium production dropped just 6 percent from 8,200 to 7,700 tonnes, UNODC said in a statement on 26 August.
The number of opium-free provinces has increased from 13 to 18 (out of 34), according to UNODC. “Last year the world got hit by a heroin tsunami, almost 700 tonnes. This year the opium flood waters have started to recede”, said the executive director of UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa.
UNODC said eradication efforts had played little part in the decrease: In 2008, 5,480 hectares were eradicated – nearly four times less than the 19,047 hectares destroyed in 2007.
Instead, UNODC attributed the decrease to good local leadership, assisted by drought. Some governors discouraged farmers from planting opium through campaigns, peer pressure, and the promotion of alternative development. The most impressive results were in Nangarhar, which also experienced severe drought.
The US Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) on 24 October said potential opium production in Afghanistan had declined steeply – by 31 percent – to 5,500 tonnes, down from 8,000 tonnes in 2007.
Today’s opium poppy crop is concentrated in the south and southwest: 93 percent is confined to just five southern provinces, with Helmand accounting for over 60 percent of poppy cultivation, ONDCP said.
Corruption
Allegations that clampdowns on drug production and exports are hampered by corruption, in which government and security officials share proceeds in return for protection, are widespread. Daud acknowledged that drugs money may have corrupted some officials.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai rejected a recent article in the New York Times which said his younger brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, was involved in the heroin trade.
Meanwhile, the head of UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa, has called for a crackdown on corruption, which is “greasing the wheels” of the drugs trade. “Corrupt officials, landowners, warlords and criminals must feel the full force of the law, otherwise the opium economy will continue to operate with impunity, and the Taliban will continue to profit from it”, he said in a statement.
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s regarding Michael Jackson’s autopsy results! It’s been reported that prescription drugs were involved in the singer’s death, but our source says an illegal drug – allegedly heroin – was found in Jackson’s system. This explains the search of Jackson’s rented mansion for needles, despite the family’s attempts to attribute it to prescribed drugs administered by injection.
To hear my mother say, ‘Michael is dead,’ to feel and hear the tone in her voice to say her child is dead, is nothing that anyone can ever imagine 
Grieving fans were rattled when Michael Jackson’s father Joe Jackson showed up carefree at the BET Awards Sunday night, 3 days after MJ’s death, with a somber Janet Jackson in tow, while the rest of the clan mourned at the Jackson compound.
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