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People
Karzai Getting Touchy
08.22.06 | Permalink | Comment?

With the steady but sure re-emergence of the Taliban in the south of Afghanistan and the world’s attention turned to other hotspots in the Middle East, Harmid Karzai, the leader of Afghanistan has continued to push the drugs issue as a way of re-entering the spotlight.

“Once, we thought terrorism was Afghanistan’s biggest enemy,” Karzai told a counter-narcotics conference in Kabul this week. “Poppy, its cultivation and drugs are Afghanistan’s major enemy,” he said.
Europe, Kids and Drugs, People
Emma Kelly
08.19.06 | Permalink | Comment?

Emma Kelly, a 31-year-old mother from East Sussex, England, has just been sentenced to nine years in prison for supplying heroin and crack to her son when he was between the ages of nine and 11, as well as on two counts of cruelty to a child.

Her son - who for legal reasons has not been named - began using her drugs, which he found around the house. After she discovered what he was up to and didn’t take any steps to stop him, she proceeded to go ahead and supply them to him, even driving around Sussex and London with him to score.
People
Drug Sub Found in Spain
08.15.06 | Permalink | Comment?

The BBC are reporting that a submarine found floating off the coast of Spain is suspected to have belonged to drug smugglers.

The 10 meter sub was found by members of the public abandoned and afloat off the northwest coast of Spain in the province of Galacia.

According to the BBC’s journalist, Galacia is one of the main entry points for drugs into Spain and Europe, leading to speculation that the odd discovery was a tool of drug traders.
Latin America, People, The Media
Mexican crime journalist Enrique Perea Quintanilla murdered
08.13.06 | Permalink | Comment?

All fingers at this stage seem to be pointing at organised crime after the body of Mexican crime journalist Enrique Perea Quintanilla was found last week on a dirt road on the outskirts of Chihuahua City; he had been shot twice with a .45-caliber gun, in the head and back.

The 50-year-old Quintanilla published a magazine called “Dos Caras, Una Verdad” (”Two Faces, One Truth”), which covered issues like unsolved murders, corrupt government officials and the local drug trade. Before that he had been on the police beat for 20 years for various newspapers and radio stations in the area. The July edition of the magazine had apparently run an interview with an unnamed local drug lord who had spilled the beans on his drug-running activities.
Entertainment, Latin America, People
Favela Rising
08.01.06 | Permalink | Comment?

While “Favela Rising” is an absorbing documentary about a crime-ridden slum in Rio de Janeiro and a former inhabitant who, through the use of music and dance, inspirationally rises above his surroundings to help turn kids away from drug dealing and gangs, it can’t quite transcend its material they way its hero has.

The film opens with the disturbing statistic that 3,937 children were murdered in Rio between 1987 and 2001, also right away introducing someone who could so easily have been one of those unfortunate kids: Anderson Sa, who grew up in the slum of Vigário Geral.

He describes the first murder he ever saw when, as a 10-year-old, a man nearby was shot in the head as a result of yet another gang-related dispute, the noises of which he heard every night as he went to sleep. As he grew older he himself moved closer to this world, actively involved “on the edge” of the drug scene, while never actually selling drugs themselves.
Europe, North America, People, Smuggling
Giles Carlyle-Clarke given bail
07.30.06 | Permalink | Comment?

Giles Carlyle-Clarke, an Englishman of aristocratic lineage who was recently extradited to the United States because of a marijuana smuggling charge dating back to the 1980s, has been granted bail set at $464,000 and will be monitored electronically while under house arrest.

He will only be released from the Baldwin County Corrections Center, Alabama, once he has drummed up the finances for the bond and has found a place to live; his lawyer, Jeff Deen, offered to let him stay at his place but U.S. Magistrate Judge William Cassady rejected this option due to “potential conflicts”.
People
Caffeinate me
07.26.06 | Permalink | 1 Comment

It’s you they’re talking about. I’ll admit I’m guilty too, but then again who isn’t? Caffeine has even made the front cover of National geographic magazine, although I’ll admit I don’t have the faintest idea what caffeine and geography have in common. Just like everything else that stimulates any of the pleasure receptors in the human (and rodent) central nervous system there is an upside and a downside. The upside is that most of the substances that contain caffeine taste really good, coffee, tea and chocolate being the most popular, but now there is a vast array of soft drinks that contain it, sometimes in very large amounts.
Latin America, People
Investigation underway into murder of Peruvian Judge Hernán Saturno Vergara
07.24.06 | Permalink | Comment?

Peruvian police are hoping security camera footage taking during trial hearings into members of the Tijuana drug cartel held last year at a Lima prison might assist in their investigation into the assassination of Judge Hernán Saturno Vergara.

As reported by LivinginPeru.com, a special task force of 62 officers and 12 detectives drafted from various police, national security and intelligence agencies has been set up to find those responsible for gunning down the judge last week in a Lima restaurant, some of whom will view the videotapes 24/7. With Lurigancho being the largest prison complex in Latin America they will certainly have their work cut out for them. In addition, all visitors the drug defendants had, in particular alleged drug kingpin Miguel Morales, will be looked into.
People
Travel and Drugs: Avoiding the Sting
07.22.06 | Permalink | Comment?

Traveling for the drugs is nothing particularly new. The Marakesh Express of the 60s is still running and it is possible to get cheap drugs from Morocco through to India and Thailand and parts of South America too. Of course, if you have been reading Rehabology for a while, you will also know that there are gringos doing hard time in all of those countries for drug crimes.

So what seperates the experienced peace bussers from the losers in the can?

Let’s be honest, many people still go to many of countries and get pleasantly stoned at very cheap prices. Some people manage to do it regularly and never have a worry with the law and others get nabbed by the local constabulary the first time they try.
Latin America, People, War on Drugs
Peruvian Judge Hernán Saturno Vergara assassinated
07.20.06 | Permalink | Comment?

Peruvian Judge Hernán Saturno Vergara, who has been involved in the prosecution of drug dealers alleged to have links to the Tijuana Cartel in Mexico, was shot dead in a Lima restaurant on Wednesday evening, only shortly after having dismissed his police protection for the night.

The 60-year-old had been having dinner with his cousin, Hugo Miguel Vergara, when he let his bodyguard go for the night because of some family matters he wanted to discuss. Soon after, two men entered “Bunker” restaurant and opened fire. The judge died on the spot after being hit by four bullets, while his cousin was rushed to hospital where he is now recovering.