Along with yesterday's arrest and Indictment of internet drug paraphernalia sellers (Operation Pipe Dreams), the Justice Department has seized the sellers' websites and redirected them to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The article with this information apparently appeared on Voice of America, but we can't locate it yet. If you find the link, please post it in the comments section. Here's what we are being told from a reliable source:

State and federal authorities recently conducted raids of various companies and individuals that sell "drug paraphernalia", such as pipes and related materials. Pipes, etc were seized along with their websites.

According to a Voice of America article, Mr. Ashcroft says they plan to redirect the seized websites to to the DEA website.

"Mr. Ashcroft says customers who want to visit some of their favorite drug paraphernalia websites are in for a big surprise in the days ahead. They will be automatically redirected to the website for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration."

In essence the DEA is going to usurp the freedom of speech and expression of the people who run those seized websites. This would be akin to the U.S. Dept of Justice redirecting the "aclu.org" website to the "usdoj.gov" website.

And then there are the serious privacy issues involved if the DEA redirects the seized websites, since they'll be logging all visitors, obtaining their IP address and other highly personal information.

Bottom line is this is a serious issue and if the DEA is able to do this, they could potentially redirect ANY website -remember that the owners of the websites seized have NOT been convicted of any crime."

This takes asset forfeiture to a new and very chilling level.

Update: Here is the VOA article, courtesy of Andy X at In the Land of the Blind.

Confirmation also from the Boston Globe.

Received from NORML: Protest Ashcroft's "Operation Pipe Dreams":

Recently the federal government has implemented "Operation Pipe Dreams" and "Operation Headhunter," which have resulted in the indictment of at least 50 online paraphernalia distributors.

At a time when our nation is at an elevated risk of a terror attack, it is
preposterous that the U.S. Justice Department would waste limited federal
law enforcement resources chasing after sellers of products such as roach
clips and rolling papers, products which are legally sold at tobacco stored
all across America. These businesses pay taxes and do not in any way
contribute to the crime problem in America. To target them at this time
shows a total lack of understanding as to which risks truly threaten the
health, welfare and safety of America's citizens.

It is time for the Justice Department to reassess its priorities and stop
wasting federal law enforcement resources on such trivial endeavors. Federal
efforts would undoubtedly be better served keeping a bomb out of the hands
of Al Queda than keeping a bong out of the hands of a marijuana smoker.

Please take five minutes to write John Ascroft and tell him to shut down
"Operation Pipe Dreams" and "Operation Headhunter" by visiting here:

At 2:00 PM today, Attorney General Ashcroft announced a new and major effort to crack down on online drug paraphernalia sales, along with major criminal indictments. Ashcroft criticized former Attorney General Janet Reno for not enforcing the laws with the same zeal that he possesses.

Can he be serious? We are on the precipe of war. The American public is constantly reminded we are under high to very high terror alerts, and Ashcroft and Bush want to go after bong sellers?

From the Department of Justice Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2003 WWW.USDOJ.GOV CRM
(202) 514-2008
TDD (202) 514-1888
OPERATION PIPE DREAMS PUTS 55 ILLEGAL DRUG PARAPHERNALIA SELLERS OUT OF BUSINESS - National Sweep Shuts Down Retailers, Distributors And Internet Sites

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Attorney General John Ashcroft and U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan of the Western District of Pennsylvania today announced the indictment of 27 individuals on charges of trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia. The charges, contained in 17 separate indictments, are the culmination of a nationwide investigation code-named "Operation Pipe Dreams," and include 10 indictments against national distributors of drug paraphernalia and seven indictments involving businesses located in Western Pennsylvania.

"With the advent of the Internet, the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has exploded," Ashcroft said. "The drug paraphernalia business is now accessible in anyone's home with a computer and Internet access. And in homes across America we know that children and young adults are the fastest growing Internet users. Quite simply, the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has invaded the homes of families across the country without their knowledge. This illegal billion-dollar industry will no longer be ignored by law enforcement. Today, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, under the leadership of Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson and Associate Deputy Attorney General Karen Tandy has taken decisive steps to dismantle the illegal drug paraphernalia industry by attacking their physical, financial and Internet infrastructures."

The Drug Enforcement Administration led the investigation and was assisted by OCDETF members from the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Customs Service.

The defendants have been charged with conspiracy to sell and offering to sell various types of drug paraphernalia, in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sections 846, 853 and 863. Federal law defines drug paraphernalia as those products that are primarily intended or designed to be used in ingesting, inhaling or otherwise using controlled substances, and include user-friendly and dealer-friendly devices. Items such as miniature scales, substances for "cutting" or diluting raw narcotics, bongs, marijuana pipes, roach clips, miniature spoons and cocaine freebase kits, among other things, are all considered drug paraphernalia.

All the defendants are alleged to have knowingly, intentionally and unlawfully sold the items for use with illegal narcotics. Many of the items were disguised as common objects such as highlighter markers and lipsticks to elude detection as drug paraphernalia and were marketed using code names and symbols.

"Those who sell drug paraphernalia are not only violating federal law, they are supporting a culture of illegal drug use. Drug users, in turn, by creating demand for heroin, cocaine and marijuana, and other illicit substances, are responsible for the violence and huge profits which accompany drug dealing in our cities and communities," said U.S. Attorney Buchanan.

After this comes a lot of back-patting of law enforcement and prosecutors we don't see the reason to re-publish here. Oliver Willis also has some thoughts on this--and pictures of bongs.

What's so bad about Attorney General John Ashcroft ? This Baltimore Sun editorial today, calling for his retirement from Government, lays it out as clear, concisely and convincingly as anything we've read to date. Please, read the whole thing. Here's some:

PLENTY OF John Ashcroft's former Senate colleagues had misgivings when George W. Bush nominated him to be attorney general.

They knew him to be more ideological than intellectual, more judgmental than judicious, and altogether more small-minded than what might be hoped for in a candidate for the top domestic Cabinet post.

Yet Mr. Ashcroft has not merely lived up to his colleagues' expectations during his first two years in office, he has wildly exceeded them, as documented in a recent profile by The Sun's Michael Hill.

He is the nation's chief law enforcement officer, but seems intent on bending both the law and the Constitution to his will.

He has run roughshod over his own federal prosecutors, directing them to seek the death penalty in specific cases rather than use their own discretion.

He has ignored his promise not to impose his religious views on others by seeking to overturn the assisted suicide law in Oregon and by prosecuting Californians who participate in a state program authorizing the medical use of marijuana.

Worst of all, he has taken advantage of the fearful American climate in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks to chip mightily away at American freedoms.

He bullied Congress into passing the so-called USA Patriot Act, which makes it easier to wiretap conversations and track Internet activity of private citizens and to detain potential suspects or witnesses.

Congress balked at another Ashcroft program that encouraged Americans to spy on one another. But now he's coming back asking for the power to make secret arrests, strip citizenship from those with certain political associations and further invade the privacy of Americans.

He all but charges treason against those who raise civil liberty concerns. Such critics give "ammunition to America's enemies and pause to America's friends" and "erode our national unity and diminish our resolve," Mr. Ashcroft said. He contended that complaints about his heavy-handed investigative methods are designed to "scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty."

But he's the one who is truly scary.... Now it's time to retire Mr. Ashcroft from government, as Missouri voters intended.

Businesses offering ways to cheat on drug tests are growing. Some of the more traditional products include

shampoos that promise to wash away any sign of drug use from hair follicles, as well as synthetic urine, urine additives and detoxifying drinks or tablets with such names as "Fast Flush" and "Clean Green."

But our all-time favorite has to be this this one:

And then there is the Whizzinator. Ads for it offer a $150 device that straps on and comes with its own prosthetic penis (in five different skin hues), dehydrated drug-free urine and heat pads designed to produce a realistically warm urine sample, even under observation.

But use at your peril. Nine states have made cheating on drug tests a crime.

Attorney General John Ascroft is forging a new role for himself and his Justice Department. In the new incarnation, states' rights are taking a back seat, "whether by force of circumstances, personality, ideology or a combination of all three."

"He has, for instance, recently overruled the recommendations of local federal prosecutors in 28 cases where they decided not to seek the death penalty. He has similarly used federal prosecutions to override state laws concerning social issues like medicinal marijuana and doctor-assisted suicide."

What drives him?

The terrorist attacks have energized Ashcroft in a remarkable way, resonating with his sincere belief that there is evil in the world," said Nancy Baker, an associate professor of government at New Mexico State University and the author of "Conflicting Loyalties," a history of the attorney general's office. "As the son and grandson of Assembly of God preachers, he is spiritually as well as politically inclined to do battle with evil."

Ashcroft likens himself to, of all people, Bobby Kennedy. Others disagree.

Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, who served under Kennedy and succeeded him as attorney general, said, "He uses it to justify some things that Bobby Kennedy never would have tried to justify," including expanded surveillance powers for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and more cooperation between foreign and domestic intelligence agencies. "The problem today is that it is very hard to know the limits of what they're trying to collect," Mr. Katzenbach added.

If anyone has any doubts about how much his personal morality shapes his policy decisions, consider this:

But Mr. Ashcroft's language also reveals how his personal convictions help inform his thinking about the rule of law. "Order and liberty go together, like love and marriage," he told a group of judges in August. "You can't have one without the other."

We strongly oppose the mass federalization crime laws. As aptly stated by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers,

Increasingly, crime bills grant federal prosecutors greater and greater authority by creating more federal crimes out of historically state and local crimes. For example, domestic violence, carjacking and failure to pay child support, the subjects of recent federal measures, are traditionally the prerogative of state and local governments; federal jurisdiction is unwarranted, unwise and contrary to the Constitution. Regarding these and other federalized crimes, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist observed that "one senses from the context in which they were enacted that the question of whether the states were doing an adequate job in this particular area was never seriously asked." Before enacting federal criminal legislation, Congress should consider whether a federal interest is implicated and whether the state or local remedy is shown to be inadequate to address that interest. The impact on federal law enforcement and court resources should also be assessed.

The Sentencing Project's new report, Big Prisons, Small Towns: Prison Economics in Rural America, is available. The report finds that rural prisons produce no positive economic benefits for local communities. The AP article on the report is here.

LA Police Chief Bill Bratton is ready to put his "broken window" policing strategy into action. Bratton has selected three areas of Los Angeles for starters: the Hollywood Strip, McArthur Park and downtown's Skid Row.

The "broken windows" policing strategy "holds that maintaining public order is at least as important as solving crimes and that attacking low-level offenses can reduce fear and prevent more serious offenses."

In Los Angeles, Bratton has not picked easy proving grounds. Hollywood has two-thirds of all prostitution arrests in the city. Skid row is home to the largest concentration of homeless and is in the LAPD division that logged more drug sales arrests than any other last year. The city already has spent millions trying to clean up MacArthur Park, in the middle of a poor, overcrowded, crime-plagued neighborhood.

"Parks are essential to the quality of life in a city," Bratton said. "If the small things are left undeterred, they turn into big things. So the homeless take over a portion of the park. Drug dealers follow. Drug dealers beget violence. It then begins to affect the whole business area and businesses begin to die."

A broken window signals that no one cares, the theory goes. Graffiti, vandalism and prostitution foster fear, and more serious crime follows. "What people see every day generates so much of their fear. Graffiti, homelessness and drug dealers. That's what drives people out of the cities," Bratton said. "It's all about quality-of-life issues."

Apparently, it has been in use selectively the past few months, and crime is already going down in LA. "The LAPD reports crime has begun to drop, following the pattern in New York, which experienced double-digit declines on Bratton's watch." In New York, Bratton went after squeegee users--the guys that used to come up to your car's windshields while you were at a red light and start washing your windows and then asked you for money. In LA, Bratton says, the equivalent are the beggars. With both he says, the issue is "quality of life."

Graffiti, homelessness and drug dealers. That's what drives people out of the cities....Some of it's benign. But it raises the degree of discomfort for the average person."

Bratton has appointed LAPD Capt. Michael Downing his point man to clean up Hollywood, which is plagued by drug sales and protstitutes.

[Downing is ] the man whose job it is to make sure things don't go wrong. The kind of risk-taker and innovator whom Bratton encourages, Downing, as commander of the Hollywood Division, launched "Operation Restore Hollywood" shortly before Christmas.

Narcotics and gang officers joined with a county interagency anti-drug task force, officers and a neighborhood prosecutor to pursue the pushers, many of whom work for the notorious 18th Street gang.

Downing was acting on the chief's philosophy: Bust a drug dealer or snag a tagger and you also may catch a killer. Officers believe they have affected more than drug sales. "Robberies are down 60%," Downing said.

Also on Bratton's list are the street hookers. LA just passed an ordinance allowing the police to seize and sell the soliciting johns' cars.

We haven't even gotten to McArthur Park and Skid Row yet, so go read the rest of this very interesting article for the problems in those areas and Bratton's intended solutions.

The biggest obstacle seems to us to be the lack of financial resources in LA. It's one thing to rid the streets of the homeless by putting them in shelters or giving them a place to live. It's another thing entirely if they are put in jail. Knowing Bratton as we do, we don't think he intends to put the homeless in jail. He's always expressed concern for civil liberties and we have no reason to doubt him.

Right after he took office, Bratton followed through with two previously authorized "massive" skid row sweeps. "An analysis of the resulting 185 arrests shows that violent, dangerous criminals were taken off the streets. Those arrested included violators and fugitives, as well as convicts with multiple offenses such as rape, incest, armed robbery, burglary and assault."

Since another hundred persons were issued citations for minor infractions during these sweeps, we assume, although the article doesn't say, that the sweeps did not result in non-violators being jailed solely for being homeless.

Some are skeptical of Bratton's chances for success. Our money's on him. We're going to keep our eye on the goings on in the LAPD, we'll report here, and if they raise the red flag of civil liberties violations, you'll hear us complain. But right now, as we expected, the Chief is beginning to work his magic for the betterment of LA.

"Beginning February 1, drug dealers and officials involved in narcotics face possible execution in an effort to make Thailand drug-free within three months, the government has declared."

"Tell them [dealers] to stop selling drugs and leave the communities for good or they will be put behind bars or even vanish without a trace," Interior Minister Wan Nor Matha told citizens."

Apparently speed is the number one demon drug in Thailand, even more so than heroin. We'd recommend the U.S. not send our fighter pilots over there.

The AP is reporting that Ex-Gov. Ryan Issued Hundreds of Pardons while in office.

Once again, we salute former Governor Ryan. The majority of the pardons he issued were for "ordinary people pleading to purge their records of minor offenses. Many blamed their crimes on immaturity, drug addiction, an abusive childhood or falling in with the wrong crowd. Their offenses included credit card and insurance fraud, shoplifting, sexual abuse, battery and drug possession."

Many states allow exungement for these offenses. Others don't. The pardons allow these people who have already served their time or other consequences of their convictions, to be free of the stigma when applying for jobs and/or professional licenses. We can't think of a better way of ensuring that these former offenders become productive members of the workforce, with a chance to move up the ladder, than to pardon them.

Cancer patient Steve Kubby, a transplanted Calfornian and medpot practitioner is begging Canada for asylum, claiming U.S. drug warriors are out of control.

Kubby and three fellow Californian medical marijuana activists with "arrest warrants outstanding, prosecutions pending, jail terms unfulfilled" in the U.S., and threatened with deportation or extradition, have filed suit in Canada seeking asylum as political refugees. A hearing will be held in March to determine whether they can stay in Canada or must be returned to the U.S.

Kubby, a one-time California Libertarian gubernatorial candidate, was diagnosed with malignant adrenal gland cancer in the early 1970's. "In the span of a few years, he underwent four surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation. Nothing seemed to stop his steady decline. Unchecked, doctors say adrenal cancer usually spreads through the vital organs. Kubby says he was told he shouldn't expect to live beyond five years, and likely would die of a heart attack or stroke."

"Marijuana became his life preserver quite by accident, he says, with the help of a soon-famous friend, a pre-law student named Cheech who became half of "Cheech and Chong. "

This is a great story article that reads like a novel, go read the whole thing.

Then, check out the Kubby family's home in Home is Where the Hash Is, and learn about Pot-TV, an Internet streaming video site run out of Vancouver’s B.C. Marijuana Party headquarters. The Kubbys tape a few programs a week for the site from their home--usually containing news updates about various busts and legal cases. This work pays the Kubbys about $25k a year and allows them to have Canadian work visas.

Kubby has a medical marijuana exemption from Health Canada that allows him to travel anywhere in Canada with 360 grams of pot--that's enough to fill a one lb. coffee can. He is also allowed to possess six pounds in his home and grow 59 plants.

"It is truly a North American paradox: This man U.S. law officers called a drug trafficker is considered by Canadian health officials simply to be a very sick fellow."

Major kudos to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department which has announced they will videotape all homicide interrogations from start to finish to reduce the chance of a false confession.

"Fort Lauderdale is the first large police department in South Florida to videotape murder interrogations in their entirety, a reform urged by false-confession experts nationwide to prevent coercion, improper promises of leniency, off-the-record threats and beatings by detectives."

''We're looking forward to it and welcome the new procedure,'' said Capt. Bob Lamberti, who heads the Fort Lauderdale Criminal Investigation unit. ``We think it's in everyone's best interest -- attorneys, prosecutors, judges, detectives, the whole criminal justice system.''

"The Fort Lauderdale department studied other police agencies and concluded that ''the advantages of taping far outweighed any perceived disadvantages,'' according to a statement"