Posted on 05/21/2012 7:31:52 AM PDT by Altariel
At 5:30 a.m. on May 10, armed men broke into the bedroom of Kirk Kyle Farrar’s 12 year-old daughter and shook her awake. The men led her downstairs at gunpoint and forced her to lie on the floor next to her mother and father, with her hands behind her head. Another armed man took Farrar’s two-year-old son from his crib, and would not let his parents hold him. “My son screamed for his mother for what seemed like an eternity,” Farrar wrote in an email to friends, obtained by Reason. “I will never forget the hopeless feeling of not being able to comfort my son or daughter.”
The armed men who broke into Farrar’s home were officers with the Meridian, Idaho, Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration. They were executing a federal warrant for Farrar’s arrest for the crime of selling bongs.
Farrar’s wasn’t the only family traumatized that morning. Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Idaho National Guard, and four Idaho police departments raided the homes of 13 other headshop owners and employees on May 10. All of the headshops had their inventory seized. One shop lost more than $80,000 worth of merchandise (bongs and pipes marketed as “tobacco water pipes”). Another headshop owner had his and and his employees' vehicles seized.
The investigation into these 13 shops and their employees (two of which are still at large) for selling drug paraphernalia was led by U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson, a Barack Obama appointee. Nine of the shops were also accused of selling "spice," a synthetic alternative to the prohibited and significantly safer drug marijuana.
In his email, Farrar denies selling spice. "Piece of Mind Boise has never carried these products EVER! We made a commitment from the start not to carry it because we believe it is dangerous and not being used in a legal fashion."
He also notes that his cousin, "[who] has never previously committed a crime and has absolutely no criminal record," has been charged with "with 4 Federal felony charges stemming from selling tobacco products."
“The open sale of drug paraphernalia promotes unlawful drug use and helps drug traffickers thrive,” Olson said at a press conference on May 10. “These indictments show federal, state and local law enforcement partners will attack drug trafficking on all fronts.”
During a speech at the Center for American Progress earlier this month, Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske said that the law enforcement-only approach to America's drug problem was not "humane, compassionate" or "realistic." He also said that the Obama administration does not believe it can "arrest its way out of the drug problem."
Reason spoke to one headshop owner. At his attorney’s behest, this owner declined to go on the record, but did say that local police had been aware of the store’s existence and sales of glass pipes for years, but had never threatened charges or discouraged the business from operating. The owner believes that the raids came at the behest of federal law enforcement officials.
According to the Idaho Statesman, “the DEA, Idaho National Guard, IRS and the U.S. Marshals and Attorney’s offices worked on the case,” which the agencies built over the course of an entire year.
As if more evidence were needed that President Obama's drug war looks a lot like George W. Bush's: The charges against Farrar and the other Idaho headshop owners are reminiscent of the federal prosecution of actor Tommy Chong under Bush's DOJ. Chong was convicted in 2003 for distributing paraphernalia through his company Nice Dreams Enterprises. Chong was fined $20,000, and made to forfeit his domain name, all of his inventory, and $103,514 in cash.
I doubt you’ll get a response; they’re still pretending that if they feed the Government Hydra enough victims, they will be spared from its unquenchable hunger one day.
“The Constitution is not what this leadership nor our Congress operates under when they determine to do otherwise.”
Which is even more reason not to defend the increasing militarization of our police forces and the use of the “drug war” to justify it.
Go to college and learn how to hit the post key just once.
As a self-employed individual I don't have a fat pension awaiting. But, that is fine with me. It still doesn't change the fact that we are safer here than anywhere in the world thanks to the "thugs" who push back on law-breakers. I'd much rather have the possibility of them erring than your version of cartels running the show. Go join the Zapatas...they'll teach you a thing about "under the bus.".
Oh yes, we definitely need to be kept safe from two year old boys and twelve year old girls.
You forgot to sacrifice a fattened heifer to the State this morning to praise them for protecting you from children.
Actually, you're safer in the Netherlands. Their murder rate is about 1/3 of ours. I'd rather walk unarmed through Amsterdam at night than just about any US city.
...thanks to the "thugs" who push back on law-breakers.
If you're in a safe area, thank demographics instead. Otherwise, explain what the San Jose police are doing right to have such low crime and what the Detroit police are doing wrong.
I'd much rather have the possibility of them erring than your version of cartels running the show. Go join the Zapatas...they'll teach you a thing about "under the bus.".
Prohibition is what fuels organized crime. Always has, always will. Your drug war has been an epic failure. You may not like it, but it's going under the bus.
Please...are you on the Trayvon Martin cheer leading squad? Peddle your bleeding heart trash somewhere else.
I am not, and never have been, a peace officer. But, I completely support their efforts to keep your sorry butt safe and protected, even if you don't. They, unfortunately, are standing on the wall for you while you complain with spurious arguments of "civil rights". Barf Alert.
I am not protected when children are threatened with death.
“Protection” does not mean “See these weapons? We will shoot these children”.
That is thuggery, not protection.
Did you remember to recite the morning’s pledge?
Slavery is Freedom.
Freedom is slavery.
Praise the State!
Never question her glorious agents!
“The feds won’t take on the heavily armed narco gangs in our country, but they will go nuts on a head shop guy.”
Naturally not.
Children don’t resist.
Heavily armed narco gangs—why, they might shoot back at the Agents of the State!
Now there is an educated observation. The drug park of Amsterdam got so out of control, even the Dutch have changed their minds about enforcement. So, go walk around Amsterdam at night instead of, say, Chandler, AZ and see if you notice any difference. Be sure to do Chandler first, since you won't likely be alive after the Amsterdam visit. The rational thinkers here are saying "thanks" to the men/women in blue.
Your Che Guevara t-shirt is in the mail. And, your passport is waiting to be stamped...goodbye.
Record low murder rate once again
2 January 2008
AMSTERDAM - 147 murders were committed in the Netherlands last year, one fewer than in 2006 and therefore a record low, according to the annual report from Elsevier.
http://www.expatica.com/nl/news/local_news/Record-low-murder-rate-once-again_1276.html
__________________________________________
Let's look at Amsterdam:
"In Amsterdam the number of murders decreased from 32 in 2009 to 16 in 2010..."
http://www.denhaag.nl/de/to/Population-of-The-Hague-rising.htm
With a population of 730,000, that works out to a murder rate of 2.2/100,000. For comparison, San Jose is one of the safest cities in the US. According to city-data.com, its murder rate for 2009 was 2.9/100,000.
Fine then...be so kind to explain just 'how' we the people are going to stop that?...Do you think that writing comments on any web sites are going to change the trajectory this nation is on?.... Just how are you going to change it? Crying about our Constitutional Rights has certainly not been effective.....marching to Washington in droves hasn't....calling and voting obviously hasn't..... So you tell me how this beast that penetrated deeply into Washington and all places of governance throughout our nation is going to be irradicated from it's stronghold?
We have been doing the same dance for years and todays political environment attests to the fact it's not working. So yes...tell me how this is going to be any different then the direction this nation is going?....8 more years before even an opportunity to change this thru the system we have.
Both Presidential candidates certainly aren't....out Congress has more than reached across the aisle, they married one another. The "People"
You must mean your shirt; I do not believe that pulling a two year olds from his crib and threatening to murder him, and forcing a twelve year old from her bed and threatening to murder her, are legitimate functions of ANY government lackey.
Che Guevara, like you, would justify the practice.
Don’t worry, Comrade; the State will preserve you from dangerous children.
Next time, they may even shoot the children, so you can sleep better at night, knowing how Safe the State keeps you.
By all means move to Amsterdam. We will be happier without you...and you will be safely surrounded with all of your drug-loving buddies.
You are the anarchist who envisions a new state, free from control and oppression of the “man”. That sounds like Che to me. But, then that is because I have a normal view of history not the psyco-babble you and your cronies have been taught. Please, go where you find the “freedom” you seek.
Kids today have zero respect for anyone, including themselves....In recent years, the average age for first arrest has dropped significantly, and younger boys and girls are committing crimes. Between 60-80% percent of adolescents, and pre-adolescents engage in some form of juvenile offense... .
So yes in a drug raid I would suspect a 12 year old to be taken down.
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