Free Republic

A Grade 12 student in Lethbridge, Alta., was suspended last week for dealing Pepsi to fellow students out of his locker. Keenan Shaw was suspended for two days by Winston Churchill high school for selling the soft drink to students, violating a school policy that only permits diet pop on the premises. Shaw says he was told the sales violated the nutrition and marketing policies, and that he was operating a business without a licence. But compared with what some other students sell at the southern Alberta school, Shaw says, his transgressions were minor. "I'm not going to name any...

ENLARGE Mexican journalist Anabel Hernandez says "Narcoland" reaches the highest level of government. (Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images) MEXICO CITY — It is not easy for any reporter to cover drug trafficking in Mexico, a country where more than 80 journalists have been shot, stabbed, bludgeoned to death or decapitated since 2006. But despite the risks, journalist and author Anabel Hernandez not only covers the issue, but also levels accusations of narco corruption in the country’s most powerful institution: the presidency. In articles and books, she has alleged links between kingpins such as Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman and a series of Mexican presidents,...

WICHITA, Kan. — The Sedgwick County District Attorney is alleging that a foster father was high while a baby was left in a hot car last week. She later died. Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett read the allegations during a bond reduction hearing for Seth Jackson on Friday afternoon. Bennett said that Jackson had run out of marijuana on the morning of July 24. That afternoon, he reportedly took two children to meet with his drug dealer where he bought more. When he got home, Bennett said he left the 10-month-old girl in the car, went inside and smoked...

Over the past several weeks we have seen a significant increase in illegal immigration, as thousands of unaccompanied minors pour across what seems an invisible southern border into the United States. The mass immigration has, as to be expected, put an enormous strain on local resources, and it has heated up the immigration debate in the US. Most liberals and conservatives miss the point, however, making the same old arguments we have all heard before. Liberals argue that we need to provide more welfare and assistance to these young immigrants, while conservatives would bus them to the other side of...

The 7th Air Force called last weekend’s ban on drinking a “success,” with no alcohol-related incidents recorded during the 66-hour period. The ban on alcohol purchase and consumption was in place for all airmen in South Korea from noon Friday through 6 a.m. Monday. Violators could have faced punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Command spokeswoman Maj. Richelle Dowdell said the alcohol stand-down was successful because it gave airmen a chance to reflect on their mission, gave them “time to consider what we must do to change — not only as individuals but to promote a culture of...

"Three out of four people in prison are black or brown for nonviolent drug use. However, when you do surveys, white kids are doing drugs at an equal rate, and they are a much bigger part of the population. So, why are the prisons full of black and brown kids? It is easier to arrest them. It is easier to convict them. They don't get as good of attorneys. And, frankly, they live in the city in a much more collected fashion than in the suburbs, and so the police are patrolling the city more. But it is unfair. The...

"That situation didn't define who I was," Clarence Aaron, 45, told a group gathered for a weekend celebration at the Mobile high school he attended about two decades ago. When, at age 24, he found himself in federal prison in 1993 -- after he was convicted and sentenced to life without parole for a first-time nonviolent drug offense -- he felt what he called the "stigma." But the former LeFlore High varsity football star refused to give in to the bitterness of receiving a life sentence while career drug dealers received decades less time. He had a plan: Follow the...

The federal government wants to extend its oversight of tobacco to include cigars, hookah, nicotine gels, pipe tobacco and dissolvable tobacco products. The Food and Drug Administration proposal being issued Thursday would ban sales to minors and require approval for new products and health warning labels. …

CHILPANCINGO, Mexico – Hundreds of armed men belonging to community self-defense groups occupied eight small towns near Chilpancingo, capital of the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, and detained a dozen suspected extortionists, a spokesperson for the vigilantes said. The action was taken due to the “federal government’s poor response” in ensuring the security of the state’s inhabitants, Gonzalo Torres, a coordinator of the Citizen Safety and Justice System, or SSyJC, organization, said Friday. The vigilantes said they seized control of the towns, all part of the municipality of Chilpancingo, because their residents are the victims of criminal gangs that extort...

Within days after each season premiere and season finale of the Discovery Channel's reality show "Moonshiners," they come — a small but perceptible wave of people — to purchase suspiciously large amounts of corn, sugar and hardy strains of fermenting yeast at Austin Homebrew Supply. "We know what they're up to," says Chris Ellison, the manager of the Texas store.That is, it's obvious they're planning to ferment the sugars from grain or fruit juice into alcohol, then distill the resulting mid-strength beverage into high-alcohol hooch.Making spirits at home with plans to drink it is against federal law. Only with the...

...Sizzurp is traditionally a blend of codeine syrup, a fizzy drink (in this case, Pineapple Fanta) and maybe some crushed up sweets or something for flavour, all served in a Styrofoam cup for added class – and police allegedly found a mountain of empty soda cans, personalised-with-a-biro Styrofoam cups and empty codeine bottles in Bieber’s mansion. However, as TMZ reports, police had to pass up a number of not-very-well-hidden-at-all items of drug paraphernalia while raiding Justin’s Calasbasas home – apparently including two cookie jars stuffed with ‘whacky tobacky’, as well as the aforementioned sizzurp ingredients – as the search warrant...

Justin Bieber's rapper pal Lil Za has accused reporters of racial discrimination by exaggerating his drug possession arrest to make him "look bad". The 19 year old was taken into custody on Tuesday following a police raid on Bieber's Calabasas, California mansion in connection to an alleged neighbourhood vandalism incident. Cops claim to have discovered illegal substances in "plain view" during the property search and arrested Lil Za on suspicion of felony drug possession. The white powder allegedly found was determined to be MDMA, a form of ecstasy frequently referred to as molly, but the teenager, real name Xavier Smith,...

after police raid in connection with vicious egg attack on neighbor's homeLos Angeles law enforcement officials found cocaine at Justin Bieber's mansion on Tuesday morning when they executed a felony warrant to search the property. The warrant was served at 8am local time and was related to allegations that the singer had been responsible for throwing eggs at a neighbor's home in an exclusive gated community in Calabasas, California, last Thursday - causing more than $20,000 worth of damage. Eleven L.A. County Sheriff's patrol cars were spotted entering Bieber's gated community to look for 'video surveillance or other relevant evidence'...

A state trooper accused of triggering a three-car crash on Route 1 in Revere that smashed up a cruiser and put an on-duty trooper in the hospital has been suspended indefinitely without pay today, state police announced. Trooper Shawn D’Amato, 43, who authorities said told EMTs he had smoked crack within an hour of yesterday's crash, was arraigned in his Massachusetts General Hospital bed yesterday on charges of drunken and drugged driving, negligent operation; and failure to change lanes for an emergency vehicle. EMTs also observed "apparent track marks on (D'Amato's) arms, suggesting intravenous drug use," Jake Wark, spokesman for...

Those who are eligible for food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“food stamps”) can still collect their benefits if they’ve killed or raped someone, but if they have a drug felony on their record, the government will cut them off. This obscure policy is an often-overlooked provision of President Bill Clinton’s 1996 welfare reforms, known as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. The main provisions of the bill limited the amount of time recipients could receive food stamp benefits, required them to get work within two years, scaled back the federal government’s responsibility for the program (letting...

U.S. pop star Lady Gaga admitted on radio's "Elvis Duran and the Z100 Morning Show" she was addicted to marijuana for years. "I just want young kids to know that you actually can become addicted to it," she said on Monday's edition of the popular radio program. "I have been addicted to it and it's ultimately related to anxiety-coping and it's a form of self medication and I was smoking up to 15-20 marijuana cigarettes a day with no tobacco," she recalled. "I was living on a totally other psychedelic plain, numbing myself completely and, looking back, I do see...

Former New York police Commissioner Bernie Kerik handed "Today" show host Matt Lauer a nickel. Kerik knows a few things about money and crime. After President George W. Bush nominated him to be homeland security chief, the 9/11 hero lied to federal investigators. Instead of joining the Bush Cabinet, Kerik pleaded guilty to two counts of tax fraud and six counts of making false statements. He was sentenced to four years in prison. Free after three years in a minimum-security facility, Kerik went on "Today" to discuss not the injustice of his conviction but the injustice of federal mandatory...

I’m a very straight-laced guy. Some would even say boring. I’ve never done drugs, for instance. But not because they’re illegal. I’ve never done drugs for the reason that I’ve never smoked cigarettes. Just doesn’t seem like a smart thing to do. And I encourage friends and family to have the same approach. "Why Are So Many Violent Criminals Walking Free?" | LearnLibertyBut this isn’t about cost-benefit analysis. Watch this powerful video from Reason TV about how one family has been victimized by drug prohibition. Riverside Cop Tricks Autistic Teen into Buying PotNow ask yourself what purpose it served...

When it comes to altered states of consciousness, humans are nothing if not inventive. A number of new synthetic drugs, opiate painkillers and other substances have emerged recently as increasingly popular among partygoers and drug addicts. And some of these substances are alarming health experts and law enforcement officials. Here's a look at five of the most potent of these street drugs. SNIP 2C-P A little-known synthetic hallucinogen with only a brief history of use, 2C-P is reportedly a long-lasting and very potent drug. Its intense psychedelic effects don't begin until a few hours after a person takes it, but...

Drug war hawk John McCain is turning pot dove. McCain appears open to making a dramatic shift on marijuana policy, saying during a town-hall meeting in Arizona that he's open to potentially legalizing weed. “Maybe we should legalize. We're certainly moving that way as far as marijuana is concerned,” McCain said in comments first reported by Arizona Daily Star columnist Tim Steller. “I respect the will of the people." In the past, McCain has been a hard-liner on federal drug policy. During his 2000 presidential primary campaign, the Arizona Republican suggested increasing penalties and sentence guidelines for those convicted of...