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Tag: DEA

  • Jeff Sessions Blocks MMJ Research, Despite Congress’ Approval

    Jeff Sessions Blocks MMJ Research, Despite Congress’ Approval

    The DEA has been accepting applications for new growers of research cannabis for two years, but the program has not moved forward at all thanks to Sessions.

    It’s been two years since the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) opened up applications for new growers of research cannabis, but two dozen applicants haven’t heard a peep from the federal government for one simple reason: Jeff Sessions doesn’t want it to happen.

    The DEA decided to end the federal monopoly on growing cannabis for research purposes in 2016, opening up the opportunity to applicants from all over the United States. However, the licensing process has come to a standstill because Sessions has taken the unprecedented step of intervening in the DEA’s decisions.

    Historically, the attorney general of the United States has not been involved in the regulation of scheduled drugs. Instead, the DEA has been in charge of such affairs, including “investigat[ing] the diversion of controlled pharmaceuticals and listed chemicals from legitimate sources while ensuring an adequate and uninterrupted supply for legitimate medical, commercial, and scientific needs.”

    Objections to Sessions’ actions have come from both sides of the aisle, with Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Kamala Harris (D-California) sending a bipartisan complaint letter asking Sessions to provide a timeline for processing and potentially licensing these applicants.

    “Expanded research has been called for by President Trump’s Surgeon General, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the FDA, the CDC, the National Highway Safety Administration, the National Institute of Health, the National Cancer Institute, the National Academies of Sciences, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse,” wrote the senators in their letter. “In order to facilitate such research, scientists and lawmakers must have timely guidance on whether, when, and how these manufacturers’ applications will be resolved.”

    Sessions’ Department of Justice (DOJ) missed the March 15, 2018 deadline to provide this timeline and doesn’t seem to want to cooperate.

    Four applicants contacted by Reason say they haven’t heard back from the DOJ or the DEA for months. Responses included:

    “‘No formal communication,” “Hoping to hear more soon,” and “Just silence.”

    Sessions has suggested that the DEA isn’t prepared to supervise these proposed cannabis manufacturers despite the DEA regularly supervising dozens of new non-marijuana drug manufacturers this year.

    Senators Hatch and Harris have set a new deadline for Sessions to act on these applicants: August 11, 2018.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • A-Bombs & Bruno Mars: DEA Releases 2018 Drug Slang Guidebook

    A-Bombs & Bruno Mars: DEA Releases 2018 Drug Slang Guidebook

    The unclassified guidebook is intended to help law enforcement personnel navigate the lingo used to refer to drugs.

    High Times has noted, with no small degree of amusement, that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), has issued the 2018 edition of its handbook “Slang Terms and Code Words: A Reference for Law Enforcement Personnel,” which presents both new and evergreen terms for drugs and related issues, including sales, measurements and geographical locations.

    According to the National Drug Early Warning System, a research group funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the unclassified guidebook is intended to assist law enforcement personnel in navigating the myriad of slang terms used to refer to drugs.

    The 2018 edition is laid out in a manner similar to the 2017 guidebook, which presented long-standing terms with newer ones in italics, but adds a cross-referenced alphabetical list, which boosts the page count to 125—several times larger than the seven-page 2017 edition.

    According to the High Times report, marijuana has the largest single entry in the listing, incorporating both widely known terms like “pot” and “reefer” with more obscure and enduring terminology like “cheeba,” “dank” and “Acapulco Gold.”

    Among the 2018 additions are “A-bomb,” which is used to describe marijuana mixed with heroin; “manteca” (a relatively venerable term with Afro-Cuban heritage reaching back to the 1940s) to; “green crack” and “greenhouse,” and “bionic,” which is marijuana mixed with PCP.

    Several strains of marijuana also make the list, including Tangie OG—spelled Tangy OG in the guide—Girl Scout Cookies and Train Wreck.

    Synthetic cannabinoids also enjoy a diverse lexicon, ranging from “kush” and “spice” to what the guide labels as newer brand names like “Bombay Blue” and “Yucatan Fire,” while marijuana concentrates/hash oil—a new listing for 2017—are a similar mix of established nomenclature (“dabs”) and terms well known in marijuana culture and less so among law enforcement (“rosin,” “bubble hash”).

    Cocaine and heroin both sport their own substantial lists, with “chicanitas,” “comida dulce” and “puma” among the former’s new terms (though the DEA has apparently never heard of the pungent “Booger Sugar” prior to this list) and “chocolate shake,” “churro negro” and “huera” currently trending, so to speak, for heroin.

    “Goofballs”—a Beat Generation term used to describe heroin mixed with methamphetamine—also appears to have been revived for the 2018 list.

    Substances like steroids (“Arnolds,” “gym candy”), PCP (“Ashy Larry”), mescaline (“love flip,” when mixed with ecstasy) and GBH (“Bruno Mars”) each merit a listing, as do measurements—one kilogram has apparently been referred to as a “can of paint” or “pillow”—and the cities of Los Angeles (Los Shorts) and New York (Towers or Up Top).

    A lengthy list of miscellaneous terms for very specific activities is also included, (i.e., Coordinates of Maritime Rendezvous Sites and Smuggling Route are “Las Dirrecciones”). The guidebook concludes with a massive alphabetical list for easier reference.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Accused Dark Web Kingpin "OxyMonster" Faces 20-Year Sentence

    Accused Dark Web Kingpin "OxyMonster" Faces 20-Year Sentence

    Federal agents captured the accused drug kingpin when he came to the US for a beard contest last summer.

    The man who is accused of selling oxycodone, cocaine and methamphetamine online under the alias “OxyMonster” will reportedly plead guilty in federal court on charges of drug conspiracy and money laundering, the Associated Press reported on Thursday (May 31).

    Guy Vallerius faces at least 20 years in prison. The alleged dark web drug dealer was nabbed by U.S. authorities while en route from France to Austin, Texas last summer for the World Beard and Moustache Championships. He was planning to compete in the “full beard 30.1-45cm” category.

    DEA special agent Lilita Infante had Vallerius on her radar when she requested Homeland Security border officials to detain him for questioning upon his arrival in Atlanta, Georgia, his first stop from Paris.

    Infante was hoping he’d have a laptop with him, which he did. Authorities searched his computer and was able to “directly link Vallerius to the Dream Market,” the dark web marketplace where Vallerius would “moderate sales of cocaine, methamphetamine and oxycodone,” according to the AP. 

    According to a DEA affidavit issued last August, authorities were able to “confirm his identity as ‘OxyMonster’” following the border search of his laptop, on which agents discovered the Tor browser (allowing one to conceal their true IP address that would be able to identify them), “apparent log-in credentials for Dream Market, and $500,000 worth of bitcoin.”

    The affidavit states that Vallerius’ online profile advertised that he shipped his illicit wares from France to anywhere in Europe and the United States.

    Vallerius also had a drug vendor page on a similar dark web marketplace called TradeRoute, according to DEA officials, where he had been a member since February 2017, according to the affidavit.

    A magistrate judge stated in a summary of the prosecution’s case:

    “In connection with his role as a ‘senior moderator,’ (Vallerius) also sold controlled substances to other members using the website, receiving payment for these sales through the use of bitcoin ‘tip jar,’ or electronic depository. It was through this tip jar that law enforcement officials became aware of Vallerius’ true identity.

    “After locating the bitcoin depository allegedly belonging to the user ‘OxyMonster,’ agents tracked several incoming payments and outgoing deposits from the tip jar to various ‘wallets’ controlled by Vallerius.”

    Vallerius’ upcoming court hearing on his plea deal is scheduled for June 12.

    View the original article at thefix.com