Results tagged “drugs”

Last Thursday, the New York Times published a piece about the trials and travails of a bunch of old ladies living in a San Francisco Housing Authority building in the Castro that was overrun by crystal meth fiends. Apparently, the old ladies repeatedly complained to the Housing Authority about the addicts in their midst and were, unsurprisingly, pooh-poohed for their troubles. The neighborhood had to collapse into the gutter followed by a police raid on the building to shut down the resident meth lab before the Housing Authority was willing to take steps to evict the meth addicts.

According to Columbian.com, Giants star Tim Lincecum was busted on October 30 for smoking and possessing marijuana. "The amount was 3.3 grams, [Washington State Patrol trooper and spokesman Steve] Schatzel said, which is considered only enough for personal use. Lincecum did not appear to be impaired behind the wheel and is not being charged with a felony crime." He was busted while driving in I-5, charged with misdemeanor possession. (via The Splash)

"Barack & John, Taking Bong Rips" by Troy Holden.

There will be a Big Blue Bucket Eco Fair, whatever the heck that is, on Saturday where you can dispose of your old Xanax and Boniva. Check it: SFWater - "Clean out your medicine cabinet and safely dispose of old pills at our Big Blue Bucket Eco Fair on Sept 26th!" Conversely, you could just invite us over to your apartment for the weekend. Medicine cabinets = magical treasure chests full of feelings and fun.

The Guardian's Drug Issue is out, and it's laced (that's editor Steven T. Jones' word, not ours) with "good shit" ranging from a piece about women's meth use on the rise in SF; a roundup of trippy literature; the requisite piece about marijuana decriminalization; a meditation on the evolution of nightlife drugging by Marke B; and a handy guide to hallucinogen use at Burning Man--especially handy for those, like us, who weren't previously familiar with the terms "candy-flipping" (using LSD and ecstasy together) or "hippie-flipping" (shrooms and ecstasy).

Noted no-nonsense humor haters Stuff Stones Like came across some revealing pot news. It seems a recent scientific survey suggests that kind bud protects against cancer. Pretty cool, huh? And with that in mind, we are going to try writing about this with the UTMOST SERIOUSNESS. (After all, marijuana is serious business.).

Seeing as how he had such a boisterous voice and leap-off-the-screen-like presence, this should come as little surprise. Famed TV pitchman Billy Mays, whose overly-enthusiastic adoration for OxiClean and Orange Glo helped Mays achieve cult-like status before and after his death in June, was discovered to be a fan of the disco dust. Lots of it, it seems. According to CBS, his "sudden death was partly due to his cocaine use, according to an autopsy report revealed Friday." Which, yeah, that'll do it. Compounded with Mays' heart disease, blowing rails probably wasn't the best move for the wildly successful pitchman. Vicodin, Oxycodone, Xanax, Valium, benzoylecgonine, and temazepam were also found in his system.

Are Kulbir Dhaliwal, 25, and Amritpal "Paul" Dhaliwal, 21, the two brothers involved in the 2007 tiger mauling for which they recently received a $900K settlement, crying out for attention, are they just plain old stupid, or both? Just a couple of weeks ago, Kulbir Dhaliwal was arrested for alleged possession of 3 grams of cocaine on July 22, while riding in the car of Tarlok Dhaliwal, 26, who has since been confirmed as the third infamous brother and who was initially pulled over in the July incident for driving the wrong way on a one-way street near the San Jose campus and was arrested for suspicion of being under the influence.

Once again, a home in the city's Sunset district was busted for marijuana cultivation, KRON4 reports. Five people at a home on 40th Avenue, it seems, were arrested this morning after neighbors complained about the "skunk smell" emanating from the house. In addition to finding several pot plants, authorities also uncovered growing equipment, a semi automatic gun, meth, and cocaine. Today's bust comes on the heels of last week's pot bust on the 400 block of 17th Avenue,

Some of you may recall the case of two methamphetamine addicts, Richard Carelli and Michele Pinkerton, both now 39, who were accused of murdering of their landlord, Leonard Hoskins, in December 2007. It seems that Hoskins, who also had a history of meth use, had initiated eviction proceedings against the couple, who lived in his garage in-law unit on Mission Terrace. A neighbor witnessed Carelli hit Hoskins over the head with a wooden board and drag him into the garage. His body was found weeks later in the couples' van, which landed in the impound after they had high-tailed it to Baja, where they were arrested last April. Using meth-head logic, they justified their crime because an eviction would have hurt their chances of regaining custody of their daughter.

Kulbir Dhaliwal, one of the brothers who survived the tiger attack at the SF Zoo back in Christmas of 2007, for which they both were recently awarded a $900,000 settlement, is already back to his thuggish ways. Dhaliwal, who was a passenger in a car that was pulled over in Santa Clara County on Wednesday, was arrested on suspicion of possessing either 3 ounces or 3 grams of cocaine and suspicion of being under the influence. (The Chronicle and San Jose Mercury have conflicting reports. There's a big difference between ounces and grams... Update: the Chronicle has updated their story with grams.) Dhaliwal had to be held down in order for the police to obtain a blood sample, and police records show that he also had to be restrained during his September 2007 arrest. The driver of the vehicle, Tarlok Dhaliwal, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. It's unclear what his relation is to the infamous duo.

Well, it's about time. The Castro district -- notorious for being "too body conscious," or whatever the technical term for it is that the spherical gays always toss about, angrily -- played host to a DEA raid on Thursday. According to Lance Williams, who snatches away the "Best Scribe Name" trophy from Jaxon Van Derbeken, the "U.S. Food and Drug Administration agents served search warrants at the Max Muscle store on 16th Street and at the Pacifica home of Maurice Sandoval, who was identified as the owner of a laboratory that markets two heavily advertised supplements called Tren Extreme and Mass Extreme." While the two products are technically legal, two beauty-hating FDA scientists claim that said products "contain two undetectable designer steroids," which prompted yesterday's raid. (Max Muscle, by the way, used to be the nicest little wine and smoke shop before the meatheads took it over, so please excuse our glee.) So sorry, boys. (Read more about it here.)

Be prepared to pay more for your tar this weekend. Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced today that agents from the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement nabbed a Mexican resident, Adam Alfonso Herrera, and "seized 70 pounds of heroin from his Lincoln Towncar on Sacramento Street in East Palo Alto." Herrera, 27, hid a whopping 70 pounds of heroin inside a secret compartment of his car. (!) In a press release, Brown announced, "[w]ith a street value of $7 million, this is the largest heroin seizure ever made in San Mateo County. Herrera was arrested and tossed into the San Mateo County Jail for "possession of heroin for sale and for possession of a hidden compartment." His bail has been set at $5 million.

A new iPhone application will allow marijuana aficionados and medicinal mary jane recipients to find a pot dealer on their phone. Yay! "Cannabis," according to , "lets users search by city for their nearest medical cannabis suppliers, doctors, clinics, lawyers and other relevant organisations." But don't get too excited, cocaine and meth users, this Apple-approved app only covers legal pot spots. The Sun goes on to report that "it currently covers 13 US states which have passed laws allowing medical cannabis use, legal cannabis 'coffee shops' across Europe and uses Google Maps for directions." Alas.

Jesus Christ. As if this week could get any worse: A federal advisory panel has recommended that the FDA issue a ban on Vicodin and Percocet due to their damaging effects on the liver. Both painkillers combine a narcotic with acetometophin (a.k.a. Tylenol) -- a combo that's been found to be particularly damaging after extended use -- and along with seven other prescription drugs these two would go off the market if the FDA follows the panel's recommendation, which they usually do. This would be a huge blow to both pharmaceutical companies and pain pill fans alike. As the NY Times reports, "Vicodin and its generic equivalents alone are prescribed more than 100 million times a year in the United States." Whatever will we beg our dentists for the next time we must undergo oral surgery?

Bad news, folks. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment ruled yesterday that marijuana smoke causes cancer. Stemming from a "review of more than 30 scientific papers" state agency spokesperson Sam Delson said that wispy pot plumes contain "33 of the same harmful chemicals as tobacco smoke." Also, according to biased news agency Fox News, it can damage your DNA. Alas.

The U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime is reporting a sharp drop in cocaine production in Colombia -- down 28% in 2008 over the previous year. Apparently the value of the coca leaf has been dropping, due to (what's this?) decreasing demand from the world's main coke markets, making the crop less attractive to farmers. Also, increased law enforcement both locally and internationally has disrupted the cocaine trade quite seriously, with 200 tons of cocaine seized in 2008 -- up 57% from 2007. In the face of Colombia's slacking, Bolivia and Peru have upped their production of the booger sugar 9 and 4% respectively. They don't call it Bolivian marching powder for nothin!

Alameda County Sheriffs busted the largest outdoor marijuana growing facility they had ever seen last Thursday. They had launched an investigation after a driver East of Sunol on Calaveras Road reported seeing a teenager wearing camouflage clothes run up a creek bed from the road a couple of weeks ago. The marijuana eradication team found 24 inter-linked pot gardens, three campsites and three make-shift kitchens in the Calaveras Road area, on land that is owned by the San Francisco Water District and feeds the Calaveras Reservoir. The team found 22,838 seedlings about 20 inches tall that were fed with a fresh water supply directly from two creeks on a ridge. Sgt. Shawn Peterson said that the plants might have grown anywhere from 6 to 8 feet tall by August. Two men in their late 20s wearing wooded camouflage were able to flee the police through heavy brush and deep ravines, one of them dropping a semi-automatic handgun on the way out.

Isaac Mckay Randozzi and Dave Schubert, walked past the dollar store on the corner of Mission and 17th, when...

There are many reasons to fear parts of California not near the coast. So much so, in fact, that LAist editor Zach Behrens and your SFist editor tend to argue about which of us has to write about items in central, non-coastline parts of the state. Here's one reason why: a Bakersfield father is in jail "after allegedly biting out one of his 4-year-old son's eyes and mutilating the other." The child told investigators, "My daddy ate my eyes." Neighbors who found the injured kid also discovered the boy's father, Angel Vidal Mendoza, 34, in the backyard of a nearby home "hacking his own legs with an ax." Mendoza has been charged with mayhem, torture, child cruelty and inflicting an injury to a child. This raises questions about the quality, or lack thereof, of Kern County's Child Protective Services department. It seems Mendoza and the boy's 23-year-old mother were "charged with being under the influence of PCP in 2006 and pleaded no contest to child cruelty charges in that case."

While heading to best computer store in San Francisco, Central Computers, we came across these special people blocking the entrance. Anti-psychiatry ilk, it seems, were out in force on Saturday across the street from the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting at Moscone Center, protesting the drugging of children. Because that's bad.And whenever a passing vehicle honked in what they thought was support, the special protesters would high-five each other and give the thump-up sign.

While not all out advocating the legalization of marijuana, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said it's time for California to "study whether to legalize and tax marijuana for recreational use." today, according to the Sacramento Bee. When asked about a Field Poll showing that a majority of Californians support legalizing and taxing mary jane to raise revenues for economically-strapped California, Arnold had this to say:

This one goes out to SFist commenter mcgordonliddy...

It may not be the best moment to be celebrating the blind indulgence of American consumer (and drug) culture, but fashion designer Ken Courtney of Ju$t Another Rich Kid is nonetheless forging ahead with an ironic tribute to everyone who enjoys the booger sugar: a limited edition set of silver and gold coke spoons crafted by five well known designers. The set is a kind of art object titled "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not." and each spoon in the set was designed by a different designer: Courtney himself, Terence Koh, Various Projects, Daniel Jackson and SF's own Nice Collective. Courtney's original spoon, inspired by a 1970s McDonald's coffee stirrer that was banned, allegedly, because of its popularity for use in snorting cocaine - link NSFW - was recently purchased by the SFMoMA for their design collection. It was part of a series called "Indulgences" which included a $5,000 pair of gold-dipped high-top Nikes.

Enjoli Mixon, 24, the brother sister of the man who shot and killed four Oakland police offices being being gunned down, was arrested over the weekend for "being under the influence of a controlled substance," according to reports. This most recent brush with the law stems form a bench warrant for her arrest in Fremont in 2008.

SFist commenter Oskarv sent us the above image taken from that famous billboard at Larkin and Turk. Why? Because weblog naysayer and SF Chronicle scribe C.W. Nevius's golden nuggets of wisdom made it up on said billboard

More than twenty pounds of sweet, pain-alleviating opium were discovered "wrapped in plastic and concealed inside false walls of drums" arriving from Thailand, found at SFO. The incident, which happened in "mid-February," prompted San Francisco Area Port Director John Leonard to boast, "Diligent work by CBP officers locally and across the nation helps to keep this narcotic from getting to the general public. [Too late, it's here already. -- SFist] In addition to our primary role of preventing terrorists and terrorism-related articles from entering the U.S., CBP takes active measures to interdict narcotics at the gateways to our country." So just to be clear: pot, good; opium, bad. (Last link NSFW.)

With support from Supervisor David Campos, CA Superior Court Judge James P. Gray, and SF Sheriff Mike Hennessey, Tom Ammiano held a frenzied press conference at the State Building this morning.

SFist received the following hot tip this morning.

Today in San Francisco, a federal judge opened up hundreds of pages of court documents against disgraced Giants slugger Barry Bonds. According to reports, "The documents released included ... a transcript of a taped conversation between Bonds' personal trainer and personal assistant discussing injecting the slugger and a list of current and former Major Leaguers, including Jason Giambi, who are scheduled to testify at trial for the government." We are very much looking forward to reading said transcript. We'll update when we know more. The Bonds trial is supposed to start next month. He convicted of lying to a grand jury in 2003 when he said he didn't use performance-enhancing drugs during his time with the Giants. Which he totally did.