Standard Mischief

Big DEA bust in California. The federal overlords have made another raid in the War Against (Some) Drugs. This time it’s a group called “Beyond Bomb” which I’ve never heard of but kinda reminds me of a group called “Food not Bombs” which is an effort to feed anyone who is hungry.

As a rule, I generally can’t stand dopers. What I call “dopers” are the recreational marijuana users that smoke daily, and can’t seem to function without that morning “wake and bake”. But there is no question that marijuana can be helpful for some kinds of maladies.

No one denies that dope has the side effect of giving someone the “munchies”, the desire to eat. No one (except the “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” folk) can seriously argue that something like a hash brownie is never useful to a chemotherapy or an AIDS patent that might not have any desire to eat, but needs to so they can avoid loosing any more weight. There are other anti-nausea and pain relieving uses to the drug too. There’s no sane reason to keep this drug out of the hands of the sick, but the gov-o-crats at the federal level keep it at schedule I, which means that they claim no therapeutic use and a high level of abuse. There are even therapeutic drugs that mimic pot, except they cost more, sometimes don’t work as well, and generate royalties to a drug manufacture company.

I’m sure the DEA would like to use ABC news to spread their FUD, and while ABC news didn’t pass up the chance for a catchy headline, it looks like they have avoided swallowing the ?moral panic? DEA Kool-aid, this time.

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Officials say the locations are part of Beyond Bomb, a marijuana candy manufacturer with products “that mimic the name and appearance of well known, name-brand candies and products.”

Products confiscated included Pot Tarts (a play on the name “Pop Tarts”), Stoney Rancher Lollipops (Jolly Rancher), Trippy Peanut Butter (Skippy Peanut Butter), Munchy Way (Milky Way), Budtella (Nutella) and Rasta Reese’s (Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups).

“[These] marijuana-laced candy bars and sodas look very much like the store-bought candy that we see on our shelves,” said Pena. “If someone was to take this unknowingly, it would be potentially dangerous to that person.”

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My my, think of the children! Actually it looks like they are hiding the dope in stuff that looks like normal food, not to hook the poor little kiddies, but so people can consume the medicine discreetly. They even show a picture of the “Pot Tart’s” packaging, which won’t fool anyone, but probably looks amusing. Kinda reminds me of “Wacky Packages”, parody stickers from my childhood.

In fact, if you click on the images and look carefully at the hi rez versions you will see that the packaging has dosing info, so the consumers can get a consistent amount, and is merely spoofing the other brands, probably to generate buzz. The photos, by the way, I got off the DEA website. Here’s the full quote from the agent mentioned above.

SAC Peña stated, “In a way, this case sort of answers the question, ‘What will they think of next?’ What so many people don’t realize is that innocent children may somehow get their hands on these products and think they are just normal candy or soft drinks - thus, making this action not only illegal, but potentially tragic.”

So, Special Agent Propaganda, what’s the LD50 of marijuana again?

(If you go to the DEA site, you will see one real Nestle Butterfinger wrapper in one photo, blotted out. I’m not sure what’s up with that.)

So yea, no moral panic here, just a bunch of dopers that are probably enjoying their supply of dope while they help sick people get effective drugs that our overlords have decided we can’t be safely trusted with. I also like the freelance “compounding pharmacy” approach to making more palatable medicine. Because it’s “Made in the USA”, no money is going overseas to terrorist, and no border police were distracted from their duties in the growing of these plants either. While local police, through modern police tactics of seizures that violate the 5th amendment have managed to turn a profit on petty crimes like dope possession in many areas, the stiff federal mandated punishments make me think that this type of enforcement is a net loss for the nation that really needs to be a bit more fiscally responsible and is, by the way, is still fighting that war on terror.

Related Tags: Beyond Bomb, DEA, Medical Marijuana, The War On Some Drugs, The War On Drugs, Marinol, FUD, Moral Panic