Holy commerce clause, Batman! Kentucky has just approved “a beefed-up application for out-of-state prescription drug suppliers that authorities say will help them track and catch companies selling pills to Kentucky’s black market,” according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. Constitutionally problematic? Perhaps not, given that the regulating health and safety is a core state interest. But it […]
READ MOREUnited States v. Dallman: Ninth Circuit on Drug Quantities and Sentencing
A federal trial court did not err in attributing 142 pounds of marijuana to one man for purposes of sentencing, even though the marijuana was actually carried by three men in the commission of the crime, a Ninth Circuit panel held Monday in United States v. Dallman, No. 05-30349. The defendant in Dallman was convicted of […]
READ MOREReuters: DEA Using NSA Intelligence For Drug Investigations
I’ve stayed away from writing about privacy and the NSA, mostly because I have mixed feelings about the government collecting massive amounts of metadata for terrorism investigations. I can understand the concept of having a haystack in order to find the needle. That doesn’t mean I was comfortable with the idea. Then there were other […]
READ MOREPeople v. Briones on Conspiracy to Commit Drug Offenses
An individual should not have been convicted both of conspiracy to possess heroin and methamphetamine for sale and of the actual counts of possession of heroin and meth for sale, the Second District Court of Appeal held today in People v. Briones, B195452. The Attorney General in this case argued that the elements of the […]
READ MOREFDA Approves Cannabinoid for Nausea
Straight out yesterday’s press release from Valeant Pharmaceuticals: Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (NYSE:VRX) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given marketing approval for Cesamet (CII) (nabilone) oral capsules. Cesametis used to treat nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy in patients who have failed to respond adequately to conventional anti-emetic treatments. “There is still a significant unmet need in treating one […]
READ MOREMedical Marijuana Motivates CPS to Remove Child From Home
An eleven-month child was grabbed by social workers and placed into foster care because of legally prescribed medical marijuana. The child’s father was put into handcuffs while the young mother cried. No law had been broken, Child Protective Services (CPS) has the uncontrolled power to tear families in a moment without trial, judge or jury […]
READ MOREBrittany Murphy did not die of natural causes, lab report shows
People love Hollywood. Tinseltown loves a good mystery. Put them together, and there is enough fodder for gossip and the industry rags to last, well, until the next murder mystery. When the next enigma is five months away, the intrigue grows. When American actress Brittany Murphy died in, a 9/11 call was the first indicator […]
READ MOREAddressing Drug Policing and Racial Disparities: An Interview with Ryan King of The Sentencing Project
A recent report by The Sentencing Project documents, in considerable detail, something that many Americans uneasily suspect about the way the war the drug war is policed: namely, that it affects African American communities vastly more than those communities “deserve” based on their level of drug use. This isn’t the only report or the only […]
READ MORECartersville Pain Management Clinic Physician and Employees Federally Charged for Unlawful Oxycodone Prescriptions
A doctor and four employees of Atlanta Medical Group, a pain management clinic, in Cartersville, Bartow County, were arrested last week by FBI agents, according to Examiner.com. Dr. James Chapman, Jason Cole Votrobek, Jesse Violante, Roland Rafael Castellanos and Tara Atkins have been indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia for allegedly […]
READ MOREAre Police Taking Over the Drug Trade
The Strokes’ most infamous song, “New York City Cops” was pulled from America’s release of “Is This It” because of one line: “New York City cops They ain’t too smart.” The song is hardly the incendiary piece of anti-authoritarian polemic it was made out to be, and the line about New York cops could easily […]
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