August 22, 2008

Ninja Warriors Fail In Plan To Fight Weed

There is more news today about the two kids who dressed up as ninjas in an attempt to stop drug users. The pair -- clearly future DARE officers -- say they were just attempting to deliver a few anti-drug missives to an ex-girlfriend and her friends.

But -- whoops! -- at the first house they went to, they caught the eye of the cops, probably because they were dressed up as "Shinobi warriors" from an old Sega Genesis game. (Maybe they should have dressed up like Sonic the Hedgehog or John Madden instead.) Then one of the ninjas talked to the Newark Star-Ledger and things got awesome:

Pertkiewicz was released from jail yesterday on $20,000 bail. He faces weapons charges and a charge of harassment for targeting the home of his ex-girlfriend, a charge he flatly denies.

"I want to be very clear, there was no intent of harassment at all," said Pertkiewicz, a Bergen Community College anthropology student and volunteer karate instructor for Clifton children. "It's not because she was my ex-girlfriend; it was because of what she was doing." He said she was allowing others to use her home to smoke pot.

The letters stated "Shinobi will stop your cruel and sadistic intentions with justified, yet merciful force." The correspondence accused pot smokers and drug dealers of having "committed sin of passing impurity" to others. It also said the "wind guides us to those of impure heart and intent."

But Trojaniak, a self-taught martial artist, said they never intended to physically harm the letter recipients, including one purported drug dealer on the list to receive a letter. He said the pair had considered throwing smoke bombs into the dealer's home and calling emergency workers who would later discover the drugs.

Ha ha, a "self-taught" "martial artist." Who was going to stop people from smoking pot! I'd make the joke that maybe these kids need a bong hit or two to calm down, but I think injecting some methamphetamine would calm these kids down instead.

Oh, the article also notes the details for the smoke bombs came from a YouTube video. That's the place where all ninja warriors learn to fight drugs.

Plan goes awry for anti-drug 'ninjas' [The Star-Ledger]

Posted by D-Mac at 01:51 PM | Comments (0)

August 19, 2008

Famed Blogger Interviews Tommy Chong

Digphilly's Teresa Masterson -- it's been a while! -- recently interviewed Tommy Chong, apparently. The interview is six minutes and forty-seven seconds; one can only imagine Dr. Chong had to be high to get through this. (Rimshot!)

Tommy Chong on Cheech, Tours, and of Course, Weed [Digphilly]

Posted by D-Mac at 03:54 PM | Comments (0)

July 30, 2008

Philly.com Is On Drugs -- Really

Be still my heart. It's like my two worlds (drug column and blog where I have made fun of Philly.com for almost three years) have collided! The current Philly.com front page is about stoner comedies. Yes, the paper that wrote about the area's "marijuana overdoses" last November has its film critic writing about movies that essentially have weed as the main character.

As you may have also noticed, the other big story tonight is: OMG the giant fat cat is going to be on Regis tomorrow everybody celebrate like gangbusters!!!

Smoking the funny stuff [Inquirer]

Posted by D-Mac at 09:02 PM | Comments (0)

Washington Pot Party

Hey, look at that! Right on the front page of CNN.com, a big story about decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level. I wrote a column about this a while back.

Update: Hey, look, the government sent three people to the presser to complain!

Posted by D-Mac at 01:50 PM | Comments (4)

July 17, 2008

The Doctor Who Made Temple Proud

While researching a column yesterday, I found this excellent piece on the history of recreational drug use in America. And a decent chunk of the story concerns a doctor from Temple University.

Where, oh where, in this story, are we going to find an expert witness? Here it comes -- sure enough -- the guy from Temple University -- the guy with the dogs. I promise you, you are not going to believe this.

In the most famous of these trials, what happened was two women jumped on a Newark, New Jersey bus and shot and killed and robbed the bus driver. They put on the marijuana insanity defense. The defense called the pharmacologist, and of course, you know how to do this now, you put the expert on, you say "Doctor, did you do all of this experimentation and so on?" You qualify your expert. "Did you write all about it?" "Yes, and I did the dogs" and now he is an expert. Now you ask him what? You ask the doctor "What have you done with the drug?" And he said, and I quote, "I've experimented with the dogs, I have written something about it and" -- are you ready -- "I have used the drug myself."

What do you ask him next? "Doctor, when you used the drug, what happened?"

With all the press present at this flamboyant murder trial in Newark New Jersey, in 1938, the pharmacologist said, and I quote, in response to the question "When you used the drug, what happened?", his exact response was: "After two puffs on a marijuana cigarette, I was turned into a bat."

Who knew Batboy was from Philadelphia? This article also contains this quote from said doctor: "I wouldn't know, I am not a dog psychologist."

Posted by D-Mac at 03:29 PM | Comments (3)

June 17, 2008

Arlen Would Take A Medical Toke

Dan Gross writes on Arlen Specter and medical marijuana, learning that if the drug were legal in Pennsylvania and his doctor recommended it, he'd have a puff.

Gross reports in an ever-so-detailed fashion that when he asked if he would puff even if it were illegal, Specter smiled and said he was "certainly not about to say I would violate the law." But he'd be okay with breaking federal medical marijuana law if it were legal in Pennsylvania? That's our Arlen!

Specter would puff if medical marijuana were legal in Pennsylvania [Phillygossip]

Posted by D-Mac at 12:50 PM | Comments (1)

May 16, 2008

Pot Bust? Of Course.

Yeah, of course I have to post about the pot bust in Germantown/Logan. (They called it both on the news.) And, as a treat, I have dual mid-day news report action!

The cops got "$700,000" worth of pot "off the streets."

Update: Huge comment argument on 6abc.com. Join in!

Posted by D-Mac at 02:46 PM | Comments (0)

May 06, 2008

Poetic: Hippies Shut Down South Street

Here's a bunch of protesters at Saturday's Global Cannabis March down South Street. "THC, Fine by me!" was apparently this year's chant du jour. The best sign I saw in there was "Hey America, let's blow this joint: Liberate marijuana!"

And, yes, I'm still blogging at Drug Roar with the green and the pot logo and the hey hey. This week's column is about criminalization of salvia divinorum (and other drugs) as a tool of first resort. It turned out okay.

Posted by D-Mac at 02:24 PM | Comments (2)

May 05, 2008

Today on DrugRoar.com

I wrote late last night about the scare over "skunk cannabis" in England, which is leading the government to increase the penalties for possession and sale of the drug. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that marijuana use can be lethal, too, which is a level of lie even our politicians won't touch. (Not that the Inquirer won't.)

Posted by D-Mac at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)

May 01, 2008

Global Cannabis March This Saturday

Also on Saturday is the Global Cannabis March, the annual event protesting the nearly a million arrests a year for marijuana crimes, most for simple possession. I covered this last year, naturally; only later did I learn that Herb Hash and Stoney McGlynn were not the best pot-related baseball names -- there was a pitcher who played briefly for Philadelphia named Lil Stoner.

The march takes place in over 200 cities worldwide; the Philly march starts at Broad and South; meet at around 4, march at 4:20. The speakers include Sonnet Gabbard of Americans for Safe Access (a medical marijuana group), Amber Langston of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Fraser Frazier of PhillyNORML and Freshgrocer. And check out the sweet t-shirt (pictured).

I know what you're thinking: Only Lil Stoner could think he could be in two places at once. Well, whatever, I'll be a little late after I get eliminated from the RPS tournament and I'm done refereeing. Hell, with how I play I'll probably end up done early.

Update: Meanwhile, a report from Brazil says a court has banned the Global Cannabis March. There are people in America who'd like to do this, too, actually.

Posted by D-Mac at 02:54 PM | Comments (2)

April 17, 2008

Ron And Barney Go To White Castle

My Drug Roar column this week will be about Barney Frank's marijuana decriminalization bill, introduced today.

But -- oh yes! -- did you know who is the lone co-sponsor of the bill?

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) joined Frank as a co-sponsor of the bill.

Ohh, yeah! And you wondered why I endorsed Ron Paul on this website back in February? Uhh, right: Ron Paul may have some stupid ideas, and he may have the most annoying supporters in the world -- but at least he doesn't want to lock you up for smoking weed.

But mainly I'd like to thank Frank and Paul for giving me a nice easy column topic for next week. Hooray!

Posted by D-Mac at 07:58 PM | Comments (3)

April 01, 2008

The Place That Locks You Up

Despite being America's Next Great City -- ha ha, remember that? -- the murder rate in the City of Philadelphia has been embarrassingly high in recent years. And a new report from the Justice Policy Institute shows just what we're doing to combat that. Philadelphia has the highest incarceration rate in jails in any county in the United States. Indeed, Philly's more fun when you sleep over in jail.

Six-hundred and two people were in jail for every 100,000 in 2006; in 1996 there were 369 per 100k in 1996. Whoops! There are way more people in prison because of higher bail and an increased tendency to lock people up for minor crimes, like smoking marijuana or jaywalking or assault. Nobody cares because people like locking up inconvenient people almost as much as they like complaining about parents not being around because they're in jail. (New York City, incidentally, reduced its jail population and saw a reduction in crime rates.)

But, hey, we got the rapping mayor and the police commish who's gonna lock up all the pot smokers he can find. Ooh, I feel safer already!

Study: Philly's tops in jailing rate [Daily News]

Posted by D-Mac at 02:01 PM | Comments (2)

March 20, 2008

Heroic Villanova Prof Protests Drug Laws

Villanova engineering professor Edward Ritter apparently wanted to show his students the art of civil disobedience. His target? The nation's (and state's) ridiculously harmful cannabis laws. His act? Why, allegedly possession of marijuana with intent to deliver!

Cops arrested the 48-year-old at his Collegeville home yesterday. Action News got a nice moralistic quote from a Catholic student: "Any university, but specifically here, we uphold certain morals and values and that's completely against all of them." Drinking some unblessed blood of Christ on St. Patrick's Day is 100 percent Catholic, though.

Ritter faces 100 million years in prison, or maybe 1-3. I haven't talked with the other media guys, but is Professor Pothead okay for a nickname?

Villanova professor charged with marijuana possession [6 ABC]

Posted by D-Mac at 07:27 PM | Comments (0)

February 26, 2008

Crack, Weed, Nicotine Make Local News

Oh, so apparently this story is gaining a lot of traction: A 7-year-old in Trenton was found with crack in school; his 10-year-old sister turned him in. This was a little different than the usual minuscule amount kids manage to steal from idiot parents and bring into school for show and tell. Our little 7-year-old had seventy grams of cocaine.

The kid won't be punished -- hooray! -- but his parents have been arrested on drug charges and endangering the welfare of a child. A commenter on Action News' website plainly states: "does anyone who has made it out of the inner city care enough 2 put their successes aside 2 mentor 1 child 2day honestly it does no good 4 the white community 2 step up 4obvious reasons 2 numerous 2 list as a community both blk n wht n other we r in trouble." Uh, yes.

The Eagles' Mike Patterson was recently charged with possession of a drug of a less dangerous nature, i.e. marijuana, reefer, pot, ganja, cannabis and about 150 other stupid names. The Daily News' John Smallwood goes and says he shouldn't be smoking pot because of Andy Reid's sons!

Considering his family's ordeal, it would be difficult for Reid to simply dismiss Patterson's actions and let them drift away. For Reid to do nothing to Patterson would be a tacit acknowledgment that drug use isn't that big a deal, and really, how can he possibly do that? Yet, if Reid hands down an overly harsh penalty on Patterson, would it be viewed as him allowing his personal issues to influence his professional duties?

Sigh. Meanwhile, Philly Edge points to a debate about a legal drug: Some snooty teenagers in Bensalem want to take away our right to smoke in parks and playgrounds! If not the suburbs, there's nowhere else to smoke! The kids are part of the Extreme Service and Intergenerational Training Experience, and we all know how much extreme power that group has. Guess we'll have to be content to smoke elsewhere. Who knew you were even allowed to smoke at a playground anyway?

Posted by D-Mac at 02:25 PM | Comments (1)

February 25, 2008

Jersey Cops Crack Down On NFL Players So Stoned They Get Caught With Weed

Okay, New Jersey, this simply must stop. Just a day after the news breaks that Eagles' defensive tackle Mike Patterson was charged with marijuana possession in Evesham Township, possibly former NFL running back Wali Lundy was arrested for possession of the wacky weed in Burlington Township.

Most people caught with weed don't go to prison, and NFL players are no exception. The Eagles aren't treating Patterson's marijuana infraction as anything serious; he supposedly won't face a suspension from the league. Lundy was apparently found smoking pot at a playground, which means he will probably be tried as a juvenile. They'll both just end up having to pay, essentially, a fine.

Former NFL and county standout charged with drug possession [Burlington County Times]
Eagles’ Patterson charged with marijuana possession in N.J. [Daily News]

Posted by D-Mac at 01:06 PM | Comments (0)

February 04, 2008

Phila. To Clean Up City, Starting With Pot

Hey, remember Charles Ramsey's hot crime plan that was going to send Pac-Man to restore the city's crime wave? Well, apparently not.

According to a column in the Inquirer, the police are going to arrested every black pot smoker in town until they finally have no more KKK posters in the department and the city is free and clear of crime.

No, really! The Inky article follows Officer Henry Schoch, who has arrested four people for drugs and one for bootleg DVDs in recent days. Oh, the residents of the 35th no longer have to deal with drugs or copyright infringement in their neighborhood, praise the Lord. Proven-to-work no-arrest drug crackdowns? Pshaw!

Some officers say the effort invested in making a case like this - Schoch and Leva spent two hours processing paperwork and evidence - removes officers from the street to hunt for worse offenders. But Schoch said such arrests sent a strong message of intolerance for all crime. And it's impossible to say, until the arrest is made, when a minor stop might yield a bigger fish - somebody with a warrant for a violent crime, or somebody carrying an illegal weapon.

Sometimes these small arrests lead to information about bigger crimes, Schoch added.

"Some cops tell me I'm wasting my time with these arrests," he said. "I say I wouldn't want that stuff going on in my neighborhood."

And if he keeps arresting people over and over, maybe drugs will no longer be sold in North Philly. Busting people for pot will surely make this city safer.

See also: Broken windows, broken record, Young Philly Politics

Posted by D-Mac at 03:19 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

January 28, 2008

Kumar Goes To West Philly

Famed actor Kal Penn, best known for playing a stoner in Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, has begun teaching his class at the University of Pennsylvania. Yes, indeed, Kumar is now teaching at Penn. One can assume St. Joseph's hiring of Joe Lunardi to teach Advanced Bracketology is not far behind.

Penn, whose name is actually Kalpen Modi, is an adjunct professor for this semester only in a class called ASAM 109: Asian Americans in the Media. And, uh, he seems pretty on the ball.

"I would love for them to independently think about imagery beyond the concept of race - to be able to look at and deconstruct certain images that we're taught to think of in a certain context and understand why they're so significant," he said. "We all watch movies, and there's a significance to those movies beyond entertainment that I hope the students are able to recognize after this class."

Naturally, the students will be viewing Harold & Kumar for the class. If things work out for me, one day I will be teaching a class at Penn showing the same film, along with the entire Cheech & Chong series, How High and that scene from Scary Movie 2 where the giant pot plant smokes one of the Wayans brothers. Just 'cuz, you know, it'd be pretty cool to teach a class titled Marijuana & Cinema at an Ivy League school.

Prof. Kumar calls class into session [Daily Pennsylvanian]
[Photo via DP/Matt "Buddy" Cianfrani]

Posted by D-Mac at 09:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

January 04, 2008

Half-Dime Bags Taken Off Streets

The Daily News' top story online today is the arrest of a rather unremarkable criminal; Wednesday night, he went the wrong way down a one-way street, two cops stopped him and they found some marijuana and a gun. Turns out he's also due in court on Jan. 18 (aggravated assault) andJan. 24 (disorderly conduct, resisting arrest) from November incidents.

But whatever. Here's the interesting part.

The traffic violation couldn't have come at a worse time. Russel - who was convicted on a felony gun possession charge in 2003 - was packing a stolen gun, as well as seven baggies containing $35 worth of marijuana, police said.

Thirty-five dollars worth of marijuana? So... $5 bags? Geeze, this guy didn't even have dime bags. He probably did more people driving the wrong way down the street.

Posted by D-Mac at 02:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

November 28, 2007

Inquirer Decides To Print Some Lies

A potent type of marijuana known as AK47 - so strong that some users are treated in emergency rooms for overdoses - has hit the Philadelphia area.

In order to overdose on marijuana, you'd have to smoke several hundred pounds all at once. Several hundred pounds. All at once.

Police seize high-potency marijuana, arrest 2 men [Inquirer]
A brief history of the criminalization of cannabis [Drug War Rant]

Posted by D-Mac at 08:30 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

Marijuana Eradicated From Philadelphia Streets

Sorry, pot smokers! A City Line bust of particularly potent marijuana has completely shut down the supply of marijuana in Philadelphia, and it simply won't be available anymore. Score one for the War on Drugs!

Philadelphia police arrested 24-year-old Michael Cascioli and say they seized $1.4 million worth of marijuana and 'shrooms from his City Ave. apartment. The cops also say the seized marijuana was of the AK-47 variety, which is, like, almost as good as Purple Haze. (Or maybe it's better? We got a copy of The Big Book of Buds: Volume 3 (really) in the office recently, so perhaps I will scan though and take a look.)

The MJ was destined for rich Main Line pot smokers, so between this and the Reid kids, white drug users are under attack from the government.

Anyway, the cops wasted six weeks on this investigation because it's for the children, according to this hilarious lie in the CBS 3 report:

Police said the drugs would typically end up in the hands of wealthy teens who would often end up in the hospital due to the potency of the pot.

Anyway, with this bust, the War on Marijuana is finally over. Marijuana no longer exists, at least in Philadelphia; we've finally won the war. Sales of Teddy Grahams are expected to plummet.

Police Seize Million-Dollar Drug Cache in City Ave. Apartment [KYW 1060]
Potent Pot Seized In Million Dollar Drug Bust [CBS 3]

Posted by D-Mac at 01:46 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

November 16, 2007

420 Is A Joke

Sometime yesterday, NBC 10's website posted video for their already-infamous report on the time 4:20. (The report that's bringing competitors together in gleeful mockery!)

What was left out of the written transcript yesterday was where Evan, who claimed 4:20 nearly killed him, is what he's doing now: Studying at New York University. NYU, of course, has been ranked #1 in the "Reefer Madness" category from the Princeton Review.

4:20 is Dangerous Time For Kids [NBC 10]
Yesterday: NBC 420

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November 15, 2007

NBC 420

We all know the local news attempts to scare its viewers in order to keep them watching. Usually, this is accomplished by reports about things that are endangering your children. And the most dangerous time, according to NBC 10's Tim Furlong, is 4:20.

Four twenty, as you probably know, is slag for a time to smoke weed. Most likely, it comes from when a group of high school students in California would smoke up. (Some people in college said "smoke out"? I don't know.) Somehow, the slang made it into popular culture, and today most people could tell you 4:20 is a marijuana reference. You would probably get in trouble in school for putting a 4:20 patch on your bookbag.

Continue reading "NBC 420"

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November 08, 2007

New Jersey To Keep Alcohol In Speakeasies

All those people who went out to the polls to vote on alcohol laws -- dry towns going wet -- in New Jersey Wednesday were, well, not really interested in additional tax revenues from alcohol sales.

In Pitman, the GOP candidates rode into office by blasting a ballot question asking to allow liquor sales. The Republican mayor elect of the former Methodist camp: "A lot of people were upset about seeing a liquor license (question) on the ballot, upset that it even came up."

Meanwhile, in Moorestown -- the #1 place in the United States to live, Terrell Owens Front Yard Sit-Up Hall of Fame location, etc. -- voters emphatically rejected liquor sales. The measure failed by a Taubenberger-like number, attracting only 38 percent of the vote.

That was partially the work of Baird C. Foster, who purchased 150 yellow signs opposing the measure. "The people who care about Moorestown's heritage and civility have spoken," he said. "People say you can't fight city hall, or in this case town council, and the results speak for themselves." He also noted a man pushed his wife in a wheelchair to vote, while an old woman walked slowly with a cane. Just to vote against alcohol!

So while Denver votes to tell the police to stop arresting pot smokers -- joining Seattle and a few small towns who passed similar measures. Hey, the cops have more important things to do than stop people from smoking pot! The people say. The cops plan to keep issuing $100 tickets anyway. (More from the NYT.)

Continue reading "New Jersey To Keep Alcohol In Speakeasies"

Posted by D-Mac at 10:53 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

July 17, 2007

And Now, The Exciting Video

Yeah, just watch this for the quote.

"They range from seedlings up to full grown marijuana plants with really nice-size buds," said Sgt. Joe Bologna.

Okay, and for Dann Cuellar's always dead-on Walter Winchell impression.

Marijuana Farm Discovered in Philly Rowhome [6 ABC]

Posted by D-Mac at 07:09 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Police Do Good Deed By Confiscating Awful Weed

It's a story familiar to everyone: Probably rich kid from the suburbs goes to Philadelphia, buys some weed, gets hassled by the cops but isn't arrested, then he runs home and concocts a plan to sue the police for brutality and posts about it on the Internet.

Okay, maybe it's not a story you've heard before. But, hell, it did happen recently. Apparently, Something Awful forums poster Popeye Jones tried to buy some weed from his friend in Chestnut Hill, but the cops hassled him while he was waiting for his mom to pick him up.

Oh, and there's a word filter on the forums apparently, so you get sentences like this: "Do I have any legal options? I'm assuming I don't since Philadelphia's police and judicial...well, the whole God drat city is corrupt."

So I go to my boy who works nearby and sells weed out of his job. Now, while I'm walking by the borders, I did notice a cop pull up, walk up to the door, call three guys over to him, and then they all scurried of. He kind of waved in our direction, as well. Not thinking much of it, I went to my boys job and picked up an 8th for $20.

Uhh, dude should be thanking the cops for taking his 8th. Twenty dollars? Getting weed for $20 is like buying a car for $1,000. It sounds good in theory, but the chances of buyer's remorse are approaching 100 percent. I tell you, there's no way that shit came from the 22nd Street pot house.

Tell me if my rights were violated by undercover Philadelphia police [Something Awful]
House filled to rafters with reefer [Inquirer]
About 45 people sent that second story to me. No, it's not my apartment.

Posted by D-Mac at 11:34 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)