All hail the drug war!

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-06-18 02:36pm

FAL Files

Today, in one of my MBA classes, we had a guest speaker. His name is Dave Stone, perhaps some of you have heard of him…

He owned a business that made glass and ceramic items for sale. His biggest sellers were glass parts for lava lamps, the glass part of Hookahs and glass (ahem) adult toys. Well, I don’t much abide with drug use….but I do savor freedom…

It seems that our dear friend Mr. Ashcroft re-interpreted the federal laws regarding “paraphernalia” and lo and behold, Mr. Stone woke up at 3:30 AM last February with a SWAT team in his house pointing their MP5’s in his face. They drug him out of his bed and paraded him in front of all the news crews. It seems they arrested his mother too (58 YO).

“Paraphernalia” as I understand it, used to be defined as an item that had been used to ingest an illegal substance (i.e. a used pot-pipe), now it seems that the DEA has re-defined “paraphernalia” as an item that’s most commonly accepted use is for illegal drugs. Hmmmmm.

Now, I am not a Laaaawyeeerr, or anything fancy like that, and I may have some of these facts mixed up a little, but the fact remains that our Federal gobmnet executed a “no-knock” warrant on a man who manufactured glass objects. Glass objects.

How is this right? He had no prior record, no history of violence, and no pattern that would lead them to believe that he was a flight risk. I thought the original justification for these types of raids were one of these two: 1) the suspect has a violent history, and he must be overwhelmed in the “dead of night” for the officer’s safety and/or 2) there was a high probability that the suspect could/would destroy evidence if served in a normal way.

They seized his business, shut it down, froze all of his assets, etc. Basically, they ruined his life, all because the items he was making/selling suddenly became “evil” overnight, based on some politician’s interpretation of the law. What the heck?

****************

I found this when I was looking around for info - seems the ATF right now
is raiding
PW Arms - they're the main importer of Imbel FAL kits for reasons
that are as of yet uncertain, but it appears to be something related
to the kits.

(NOTE for all non gun heads)

You can't buy a FN FAL in this country unless it is:

A). Manufactured here (our manufacturers SUCK)

B.) Put together by yourself from a mix of domestic and foreign
made imported parts...

This is getting annoying. We can't even buy the HK line of guns in
this country anymore, just fucked up plastic grey pieces of shit.

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2003-06-18 02:46pm

Well then they should raid Bic,those pens can be used to snort cocaine.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-06-18 02:47pm

Ashcroft must be stopped.

jegs2 · Post by **jegs2** » 2003-06-18 02:59pm

I refuse to believe there isn't more to this story -- something smells rotten.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-06-18 03:54pm

Jesus H. Christ in a blender!

What the fuck? Boo Ashcroft! Down with the police state!

Post by **RogueIce** » 2003-06-18 04:24pm

jegs2 wrote:I refuse to believe there isn't more to this story -- something smells rotten.

Yeah. They're not generally gonna do something this blatent for no reason, since it's more than likely going to get thrown out of the court, so it'd have been a complete waste of time. So my guess is there was something more to justify this.

Xenophobe3691 · Post by **Xenophobe3691** » 2003-06-19 08:06am

jegs2 wrote:I refuse to believe there isn't more to this story -- something smells rotten.

Not true. One of my parents' friends was arrested like that in the middle of the night for some of the same charges. My mom looked over everything and pronounced it bullshit. Trust me, Asscroft is more rabid than you think.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2003-06-19 11:53am

More from Adult Video News

This couldn't have seizure of the property as the ulterior motive, could it?

Federal law makes it a crime to sell products mainly intended for the use of illegal drugs, including bongs, marijuana pipes, roach clips, miniature spoons and scales. Though dildos are not illegal, many glass pipe makers have been sidelining as dildo manufactures in recent years. Those charged face up to three years in prison, fines of $250,000 and forfeiture of warehouses, machinery and other property.

Interesting thing is that under the asset forfeiture laws, these people lose their property even if found not guilty in criminal court.

They have to sue the government in civil court to regain their assets if the government chooses to keep the property.

And the Supreme Court says this horseshit is legal

Christ, I'm a college dropout and I understand the Bill of Rights better than that.

Oh, and here's what the NKV... I mean DEA has to say.

"People selling drug paraphernalia are in essence no different than drug dealers," said Acting Administrator Brown. "They are as much a part of drug trafficking as silencers are a part of criminal homicide. These criminals operate a multimillion dollar enterprise, selling their paraphernalia in headshops, distributing out of huge warehouses, and using the worldwide web as a worldwide paraphernalia market. With Operations Pipe Dreams and Headhunter, these criminals are out of business and 11 illicit dot.coms are dot.gone."

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-06-19 01:23pm

Obviously, you are all thoughtcriminals and terrorists. Drugs are bad. We know drugs are bad because the government says so, and the government is always right. Civil rights are just privledges. Due process of law is only for people we like.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2003-06-19 01:38pm

RedImperator wrote:Obviously, you are all thoughtcriminals and terrorists. Drugs are bad. We know drugs are bad because the government says so, and the government is always right. Civil rights are just privledges. Due process of law is only for people we like.

And celebrities. Them thar sand-nigger terrorists 'n spick junkies don't get no doo process.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-06-19 02:58pm

I am counting the days until martial law is declared and our republic collapses.

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2003-06-19 04:03pm

RedImperator wrote:Obviously, you are all thoughtcriminals and terrorists. Drugs are bad. We know drugs are bad because the government says so, and the government is always right. Civil rights are just privledges. Due process of law is only for people we like.

Mmmm'kay?

NapoleonGH · Post by **NapoleonGH** » 2003-06-19 09:16pm

umm well bubblers, spoons, sherlocks, bongs, hookahs, and every other kind of pipe are still sold quite freely at many smoke shops in my area as their commonly accepted use, just like tobacco rolling papers, is for the consumption of tobacco and other legal smoking blends (like Wild Dagga, Salvia, and others)

Post by **RogueIce** » 2003-06-20 02:50pm

Alyrium Denryle wrote:I am counting the days until martial law is declared and our republic collapses.

You too? Because I'm joining the military, and that will make me...THE LAW.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-06-20 03:40pm

RogueIce wrote: You too? Because I'm joining the military, and that will make me...THE LAW.

I AM THE RAAAAAAW!

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2003-06-21 11:20pm

"The War on Drugs has been a sucess. Thanks to billions of your tax dollars, thousands of people have had their lives ruined and crammed into prisons with sentences exceeding those of some violent crimes."

As for the John Brown, the DEA head, does he look anything like this:

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2003-06-22 01:22am

Ah, that crazy scamp Ashcroft... what'll he do next?

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-06-22 01:29am

RogueIce wrote:
You too? Because I'm joining the military, and that will make me...THE LAW.

Can I be in your posse?

Alan Bolte · Post by **Alan Bolte** » 2003-06-22 02:57am

Glocksman wrote:Federal law makes it a crime to sell...miniature spoons and scales.

Lets see here. Due to federal laws, it is illegal to sell anything which can be used with drugs or anything that can be used to get around copyright proection. To my knowedgle, this includes:
Any form of pipe, bowl, etc.
Most writing utensils.
Scales
Spoons
All of which have legit possible or even primary uses. Now, no one's gone after the writing utensils yet, but clearly our flatware is in jeopardy.
Can anyone add to the list?

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-06-22 03:29am

Good news Mr. Asscroft California, Alaska & Hawaii just Suceeded from the Union....

Oh, and were now broke, and have no oil reserves.... d

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-06-22 06:50am

The Yosemite Bear wrote:Good news Mr. Asscroft California, Alaska & Hawaii just Suceeded from the Union....

Oh, and were now broke, and have no oil reserves.... d

Alaska leaving would be a blow, but California? The state is already
broke as hell, it would be a BONUS to the federal government - no more
payments to the moochers in CA.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-06-22 07:10am

I just realized that betty crocker can now be confiscated under this change of rules, so can Kool-Aid and Tang. Also what does this mean for Taco Hell and Cheetoes. The post pot snacks of choice?

NapoleonGH · Post by **NapoleonGH** » 2003-06-22 03:25pm

MKSheppard wrote:
The Yosemite Bear wrote:Good news Mr. Asscroft California, Alaska & Hawaii just Suceeded from the Union....

Oh, and were now broke, and have no oil reserves.... d
Alaska leaving would be a blow, but California? The state is already
broke as hell, it would be a BONUS to the federal government - no more
payments to the moochers in CA.

we loose computing, oranges, wine, and jelly belly jelly beans. BIG losses

Admiral Johnason · Post by **Admiral Johnason** » 2003-06-22 04:21pm

John Ashcroft needs to be removed from his post.

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2003-06-22 10:04pm

MKSheppard wrote:Alaska leaving would be a blow, but California? The state is already
broke as hell, it would be a BONUS to the federal government - no more
payments to the moochers in CA.

Actually, California is a very large part of of America's gross national product. If it was treated as it's own country, it would be have the 4th highest GNP, behind the rest of the US, Japan, and Germany.