drugs

Mexico Finds 'Biggest Marijuana Plantation' Ever

Jeff Neumann · 07/15/11 05:32AM

Mexican soldiers yesterday raided a 300-acre marijuana farm in Baja California — a find that authorities say is the biggest in the country's storied drug-growing history. General Alfonso Duarte told Reuters, "This is the biggest marijuana plantation we have found in the country," and guessed that it was staffed by as many as 60 people.

Long Lost, Possibly Lickable Toad Found

Jeff Neumann · 07/14/11 07:15AM

The last time anyone saw a Sambas stream toad, also called the Bornean rainbow toad, was back in 1924 on the island of Borneo. Then last month, researchers from Sarawak Malaysia University found and photographed three of them living in trees in a remote forest on Borneo. How fascinating! And what an important discovery! But the most important question is, will licking one make you hallucinate?

Brazen Stoner Hotboxes at Police Checkpoint

Jeff Neumann · 07/12/11 06:18AM

There are plenty of classic tales of hotboxing, but this one might be the greatest of all. A Canadian man, while waiting in his car at a police checkpoint in Nova Scotia last week, decided it was time to "casually" smoke a joint with the windows rolled down. Officers smelled weed and approached the man and, a puzzled Cpl. Andy Hamilton told the CBC afterwards, "I honestly don't know what to think." But, he added, the man passed an hour-long field sobriety test and concluded that "this was the one and only joint that was smoked."

Denver Weed Critic Has Best Job In Journalism

Jeff Neumann · 07/11/11 06:53AM

As journalism jobs dry up across the country, one man seems to have found a pretty decent beat. "William Breathes" somehow convinced Denver alt-weekly newspaper Westword to let him cover the medical marijuana industry in Colorado, which boasts over 300 dispensaries. That means he more or less gets baked and writes about it. But, as he explained NPR, "When I'm reviewing marijuana, I'm looking for how clean it's grown, how well it's grown." And besides sampling the product, he also reviews the facilities:

Coheed and Cambria Bassist Arrested in Bizarre Walgreens Robbery

Seth Abramovitch · 07/10/11 11:06PM

The bassist for progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria was arrested Sunday for walking into a Massachusetts Walgreens and telling a worker he had a bomb, and would detonate it if he wasn't given Oxycontin. The clerk gave Michael Todd, 30, six bottles of the drug, and he hopped in a taxi and sped away.

Did This Woman Blow Heroin On Her Cat Until It Died?

Seth Abramovitch · 07/07/11 11:54PM

A 21-year-old woman from Boulder is currently in police custody for having allegedly blown heroin smoke on her boyfriend's cat, Muffin, until it succumbed to a massive overdose.

Crack Criminals Eligible For Early Release

Seth Abramovitch · 06/30/11 11:24PM

The U.S. Sentencing Commission has passed a new law that could reduce the length of sentences for the approximately 12,000 people in federal prisons for crack-related crimes. That's 1 in 17 inmates, 85 percent of whom are African-American, doing hard time for crack possession and trafficking.

There's a Pretty Decent Chance Your Meds Are Killing You Somehow

Hamilton Nolan · 06/27/11 04:08PM

Abortion bans! Mouse hemophilia! Diabetes growth! Botox alternative! HIV testing! Undercover patients! Drug warnings! Weight loss! And having AIDS just got a little harder! It's your Monday Health Watch, where we watch your health—dangerously!

How To Succeed Stagehand Dies Backstage, Ending Performance

Seth Abramovitch · 06/23/11 01:35AM

Any news story about a fatality on the Great White Way should instantly bring to mind everyone's favorite web slinger, but while Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has maimed many, it has yet to actually kill anyone. (And let's hope it stays that way.) But it's another musical — the far less death-defying revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying — that had to contend with the sad loss of a crew member on Wednesday night, just minutes before the curtain went up on its 100th performance.

Lindsay Lohan Fails a Booze Test, Heads Back to Court

Max Read · 06/22/11 10:12PM

Lindsay Lohan is heading back to court on Thursday morning after testing positive for alcohol earlier this month, apparently following a "rooftop barbecue party" (pictured). On the "bright side," if such a thing can be said to exist, she tested negative for drugs, twice; either way, TMZ reports that the probation department—currently "ticked that Lindsay is having parties while under house arrest"—will ask the judge to put Lohan back in jail. [TMZ; image via Splash]

An Actual Bill to End the Federal Marijuana Prohibition

Jim Newell · 06/22/11 03:15PM

It would seem natural, given America's many current, profound problems that need to be resolved to avoid its total destruction, that more people nowadays would view federal investigators and their coordinated SWAT teams equipped with auctioned-off military weapons chasing around pot dealers as a waste of limited government resources.

Flesh-Eating Drugs Hit U.S., Russia

Max Read · 06/21/11 06:36PM

You should really stop doing cocaine. Not because it's addictive, or anything, but because it's likely laced with levamisole, a veterinary drug used for de-worming livestock, and it will make your flesh rot off.