Free Republic

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...

GULFPORT - No charges will be pressed against the 64-year-old man who was driving a Pinellas County School Bus while a 13-year-old student was brutally attacked by three bigger teens on July 9. The bus driver, John Moody, made a radio call for assistance when three 15-year-old boys kicked and stomped on a smaller 13-year-old boy, but the Gulfport Police Chief Robert Vincent questioned whether Moody did enough. Investigators determined that before the fight on the bus, the victim had encountered the one of the older boys inside a school restroom at Lealman Intermediate School. The suspect tried to sell...

A federal judge has ruled that Nebraska cops must return over $1 million confiscated at a traffic stop from a woman who saved the money $1 at a time during her 15 year career as an exotic dancer. The money belongs to Tara Mishra, 33, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., who began putting aside her earnings when she started dancing at age 18, according to an opinion U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon wrote last week. The money was meant to start her business and get out of the stripping business, the judge wrote. State troopers confiscated the money in March 2012...

Here’s a new edition of my “you be the judge” series. These are posts designed to explore some of the more challenging aspects of a pro-libertarian philosophy. Today’s example comes from Colorado, which had displayed a libertarian streak on issues ranging from school choice to drug legalization. But the latter issue is the source of today’s quandary. Should marijuana be legal if it means more tax revenue that will be used by the political elite to expand the burden of government spending? Here are the details from the Denver CBS station.A draft bill floating around the Capitol late this week...

John "Big Man" Venizelos wears horn-rimmed glasses and fancies Ralph Lauren Polo but the prepster is just a doper, and the reputed Bonanno associate will plead guilty for his role in an alleged $1 billion drug ring which brought hydroponic bud into New York and sent powder cocaine into Canada as reported by Mitchel Maddux for the New York Post: "prosecutors also say they seized letters written by an unnamed colleague of Venizelos that discussed the Bonanno associate's ties to organized crime - including references to sit-downs with captains in various New York La Cosa Nostra families." Drug trafficking always...

DENVER (AP/CBS4) — Marijuana legalization could be going back to the ballot in Colorado — a prospect that infuriated pot legalization activists Friday. The proposal for a marijuana ballot measure came as the House started debate Friday evening on bills to regulate and tax pot. One bill would state how pot should be grown and sold, and the other would tax recreational marijuana more than 30 percent. A draft bill floating around the Capitol late this week suggests that a new ballot question on pot taxes should repeal recreational pot in the state constitution if voters don’t approve 15 percent...

My thought is certain recreational drugs, such as marijuana, should remain off legal limits for the under 18 year olds, but become legally available when used in the proper environment. In many ways, pot is quite similar to alcohol, in that they should be used responsibly. My thought is to make the sale of marijuana less profitable by making it legal for home use. Personally, I don't smoke anything now, and do not want the smell of tobacco or pot on my clothes should I visit a public place, such as a shopping mall or bus stop. I know this...

<p>Police in Tacoma could soon be in real trouble over pot.</p> <p>The department could be found in contempt if they continue to refuse to return a small amount of marijuana seized from a man after a traffic stop. Municipal Court Judge Jack Emery repeated an order to police Thursday to return the drug to Joseph L. Robertson within seven days or they could be found in contempt.</p>

New York's proposal to ban purchases by those under 21 is off-base.As thoroughly awful as everyone knows cigarettes to be — still the No. 1 cause of premature death in this country — public officials walk a blurry line when they try to reduce smoking's terrible toll. As long as they lack the will to ban tobacco altogether, they face all sorts of ethical, legal and political problems in regulating a product that is, after all, perfectly legal. High tobacco taxes, critics say, unfairly punish smokers, who are disproportionately low income. Banning advertising of a legal product raises free-speech issues....

A 61-year-old man was shot to death by police while his wife was handcuffed in another room during a drug raid on the wrong house. Police admitted their mistake, saying faulty information from a drug informant contributed to the death of John Adams Wednesday night. They intended to raid the home next door. The two officers, 25-year-old Kyle Shedran and 24-year-old Greg Day, were placed on administrative leave with pay. “They need to get rid of those men, boys with toys,” said Adams’ 70-year-old widow, Loraine. John Adams was watching television when his wife heard pounding on the door. Police...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl1908.aspx Treasury Identifies Kassem Rmeiti & Co. for Exchange and Halawi Exchange Co. as Financial Institutions of “Primary Money Laundering Concern” 4/23/2013 In First Use of Section 311 Against a Non-Bank Financial Institution, Treasury Acts to Protect the U.S. Financial System from Foreign Exchange Houses Tied to Global Narcotics and Money Laundering Networks and Hizballah WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today named two Lebanese exchange houses, Kassem Rmeiti & Co. For Exchange (Rmeiti Exchange) and Halawi Exchange Co. (Halawi Exchange), as foreign financial institutions of primary money laundering concern under...

Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the brothers and suspects in last week's Boston Marathon bombing attack, may have financed their plot through drug sales, investigators believe.