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Is the War on Drugs Being Waged From the Wrong Battlefront?

CitizenSugar — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:51:03 -0700

Just consider me Mary Poppins this morning: a little sweet Prince William to help the War on Drugs go down. The Prince is on the front lines of the battle — the warship the Prince is serving on just seized $80 million worth (almost two tons) of cocaine from a speedboat just north of Barbados.

William's ship is patrolling the waters of the West Indies looking for drug runners, and this score came early on in their mission. The ship's commanding officer said, "to have had a direct impact on the flow of cocaine into Europe just four days after we arrived in theatre shows the benefit the Royal Navy can have in the area of maritime security and counter drug operations."

Sounds like Prince William is saving the world from drugs, right? Well, the war is a little more complicated than that — and we may be focusing efforts at the wrong stage of drug production to make any difference. To see what I mean,

Drug Traffickers Blow by the US, Head for Euros

LibertySugar — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:15:47 -0700

Drug traffickers now join rappers and models who have been ditching the dollar for the more exquisite euro.

White House drug officials announced this week that cocaine is being rerouted from the US and heading through Venezuela to West Africa eventually reaching its final destination — Europe.

With such a weak dollar, drug dealers have more to make by hustling in the Old World. Meanwhile, reports of cocaine use are up in Europe, and down in the US. Sounds like there will be some major blowouts in the discothèques this summer.

Of course drug enforcement officials credit the US war on drugs. Bush's drug policy director says successful control of US-bound routes in Mexico and Columbia are squeezing suppliers into Venezuela. The US alleges that Venezuela, a political adversary, acts as a cocaine safe haven, and is doing nothing to stop the drug trade.

Can Europe be more successful in convincing Venezuela to come down hard on the drug trade? Is a drop in cocaine use a benefit of a weak dollar and economy in general?

Source

"Cocaine" Pulled From Shelves

FitSugar — Tue, 08 May 2007 03:00:00 -0700

The energy drink called Cocaine was pulled from shelves because of nationwide concerns about its name.

The FDA issued a warning letter last month to the distributer, Redux Beverages LLC of Las Vegas, saying that they were illegally marketing the drink as a "legal alternative" to the street drug and as a dietary supplement." On the company's website, the drink is advertised as “Speed in a Can,” “Liquid Cocaine” and “Cocaine — Instant Rush.”

The company argued that their energy drink has NO cocaine in it and nobody thinks it does. The drink provides a cocaine-like energy boost because it contains more caffeine than any other energy drink (and twice as much as coffee). The FDA is just concerned that although it's not actually "cocaine," the drink is glorifying the use of this illegal drug.

So the energy drink has been pulled from shelves until they come up with a new name for it (chances are low that they will name it Meth, but you never know). I guess we will just have to stick to Red Bull spiked with espresso.

Are You a Coke-Head?

GiggleSugar — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 20:21:21 -0800

If you're as desperate as the following guy, I'd say the answer was "yes."

No Re-Gifting Here!

GiggleSugar — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 07:02:00 -0800

This is a little post-season Christmas humor. I love that even though grandma gets this guy drugs, she still doesn't get it right. Grandmas are always so unhip!

Fittingly Mad: Liquid Cocaine

FitSugar — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 10:00:00 -0800

Energy drinks have gained enormous popularity in the past few years despite the extremely high levels of sugar and caffeine found in almost any energy drink on the market.

The name energy leads you, the consumer, to believe you are drinking a good thing (maybe something that will help you excel in your work out) when you're not, and it could not be further from it. One can of energy drink tends to have 4 times the caffeine than a can of coke and about 7 teaspoons of sugar. The worst part is that since energy drinks are so hot right now, makers are just random companies (clothing manufacturers, motorcycle makers, etc) jumping on the bandwagon. One Las Vegas based producer even named their drink Cocaine: The Legal Alternative. Could it sound any more unhealthy? What's more? Energy drinks are not currently regulated in the United States so anyone and everyone can make and drink them.

To find out how you can get more energy without one drop of Liquid Cocaine,