Why men drank in 1919.

From a Montana history book, this picture was apparently taken during the Temperance movement in 1919.  This picture was responsible for 1000s of men becoming alcoholics.

Sent in by Vitamin-E.

Beersicles-who wouldn’t want one on a hot summer day?

Reason Magazine

The Triumphant Return of the Hopsicle

Radley Balko | July 15, 2008, 9:39am

Last summer, I posted on the travails of Rustico, a great little restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia trying to get the okay from state alcohol regulators to put frozen beer on a stick on its menu. Virginia had an old law on the books stating that alcohol must be either served in its original container or immediately after pouring. After a year of negotiation, the “hopsicle” returned to Rustico earlier this month. There’s also now a bill pending in the state legislature cementing the legal status of the frozen treat.

I had one last night. It was the cherry-flavored pop you see above, made from a Belgian kriek. Very, very tasty.

Also taking effect this month in Virginia: a bill legalizing sangria. That drink was also banned in the commonwealth, due to a post-Prohibition law banning any drink that mixes spirits, wine, or beer. The law technically outlawed martinis and boilermakers, too.

Smoking marijuana should reduce air rage, increase demand for Doritos

From Wired.com

Air travel is a total hassle, man, and marijuana advocates in Denver say everyone would find the normally excruciating process a lot more pleasant if they could enjoy a few bong hits before boarding. It might even help solve a few of the problems that airlines have been experiencing lately. The way they see it, if people can knock a few back before a flight, they should be able to spark one up. They’re calling on airports nationwide to install marijuana lounges.

“All we’re saying is, in light of the fact drunk and disorderly incidents on airplanes are becoming more common, it really makes sense to allow adults the choice to use marijuana,” says Mason Tvert, executive director of Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, the organization calling for the lounges. “There’s no rational reason our government would allow people to use alcohol and not use marijuana.”

Well, except for the fact the feds classify marijuana a Schedule 1 drug, putting it alongside heroin, mescaline meth and acid on its list of Drugs That Definitely Are Evil.

Tvert says many travelers consider flying stressful, so they’ll have a drink – or two, or three, or… – before boarding. That can lead to problems, such as the case last week where a JetBlue passenger allegedly lit up a cigarette and socked a flight attendant. She blamed the crew for serving her three vodkas. U.S Attorney Troy Eid told the Rocky Mountain News the feds are seeing a record number of passengers – often drunk – misbehaving on airplanes. “I think sometimes people think this is a joke,” he says. “They think it’s funny. And they’re going to find out otherwise as we do more and more of these cases.”

SAFER says giving people the option of smoking a joint before their flights would relax them without making them unruly. But don’t expect the feds or the airports to go along with the idea. Chuck Cannon, a spokesman for Denver International Airport, told the Denver Post he doesn’t foresee marijuana smoking in the airport. “Marijuana is illegal isn’t it?,” he says. “All the bars and restaurants are concessions and they sell what they sell. I do not know that we are going to tell them what they can sell. Alcohol is legal and tobacco is legal and marijuana is not.”

Tvert said he doesn’t have a problem with alcohol being sold in airports — although some people do, and say it should be banned — but says people should have another option. “It is irrational and potentially dangerous policy to continue allowing passengers to get drunk before and during flights while prohibiting them from simply making the safer choice to use marijuana prior to boarding,” Tvert says.

Paging Amy Winehouse: 2 Places women like to hide their cocaine

“One for me, one for evidence, one for me, one for evidence…..”

(kidding….sort of)

Smuggling Storage Area #1-A British woman who allegedly hid cocaine under her wig has been arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling in Norway.

An airport customs officer noticed the 32-year-old had ‘a lot of hair’.

Closer examination revealed a one kilogram (2.2lb) bag of cocaine glued to her head under a hairpiece.

The Verdens Gang newspaper said the drug was glued so firmly to the woman’s real hair that police had to take her to hospital to have it removed.

A spokesman for Norway’s customs service said: ‘During a conversation with the woman, a customs official noticed she had a lot of hair and thought she was wearing a wig.

‘The woman and the drugs were later handed to police.’

The unnamed woman was stopped at Vaernes airport, near Trondheim, after flying in from Copenhagen on Sunday evening.

A court has remanded her until July 15.

Now, that’s a beeHIGHve

Smuggling Storage Area #2-Portage, Wisconsin (U.S.) police arrested Shavone Reece on charges of selling marijuana, cocaine, and a prescription drug to an undercover officer. Upon booking and a body cavity search, police found an amount of cocaine roughly the size of a golf ball in Ms. Reece’s…Ummm….uh…

Jurors hooked on the gateway game Sudoku cause drug trial to be aborted. “War on Sudoku” expected to enuse.

(tshirt of image above available here)

SYDNEY (Reuters) – An Australian drugs trial lasting more than three months and costing taxpayers over A$1 million ($947,000) has been aborted after a number of jurors were found to have spent up to half the time playing Sudoku puzzles.

Sydney District Court Judge Peter Zahra cancelled the trial of two men on drugs conspiracy charges after the jury foreperson admitted that four to five jurors had been playing the addictive number sequence game, local media reported. The judge was alerted after some of the jurors were observed writing their notes vertically, rather than horizontally. The game involves completing a grid of numbers in the correct sequence.

One juror said the game helped them to pay more attention by keeping their mind busy.

“Some of the evidence is rather drawn out and I find it difficult to maintain my attention the whole time,” the juror was quoted saying by the Australian Associated Press.

A new trial is expected to begin in a few weeks once a new jury has been called.

(Reporting by James Thornhill; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Source

R.I.P. Rachel Hoffman-another victim of marijuana prohibition

Yet another victim of the failed War on Drugs(users). A very sad story. Another life snuffed out in the failed attempt to control a substance that not one person has ever overdosed on and that one of the DEA’s own judges ruled has clear medical benefits. I’ve often wondered why the war on drugs continues, depsite the overwhelming failure and exorbitant costs, and I keep coming back to the expression from the Watergate scandal: Follow the money.

Oddly enough, one of the best, and most accessible explanations for the continued drug war can be found in the movie “American Gangster” with Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington. There’s a boatload of money to be made by keeping drugs illegal.

Det. Richie Roberts, played by Russell Crowe
They don’t want this to stop. It
employs too many people. Cops, lawyers,
judges, probation officers, prison guards.
The day dope stops coming into
this country, a hundred thousand people lose their jobs.

Please watch this clip to see what drug prohibition continues to do…..

Congress likely to catch on that most people find it disgusting to jail cancer, AIDS, and MS patients. No seriously….I mean they might catch on while at least some of those paitents are still alive.

With Michigan set to become the 13th state to allow medicinal usage of marijuana, provided a voter initiative passes this fall, there’s a chance Congress might eventually wake up and show a sliver of compassion to very seriously ill folks. All the Democratic candidates pledged to end federal harassment of medicinal dispensaries and doctors and patients. Sadly, only Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo had the guts to do the same on the GOP side. And John McCain? Well, he’s either still angry at the pot-smoking hippies that cost us Vietnam, or he’s still clinging to his Reagan-era “Just Say No” booklet.

“I do not support the use of marijuana for medical purposes,” McCain said. “I believe that marijuana is a gateway drug. That is my view, and that’s the view of the federal drug czar and other experts.”

Marijuana has no medical benefits just as staying in Iraq for the next 100 yrs. is a great idea. Anyway, read more about some positive signs of ending the DEA’s cruelty and idiocy.  Better late than never.