Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: omnis on June 29, 2013, 05:35 pm
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scary footage..
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http://www.dvidshub.net/video/294719/cbp-dea-project-synergy-b-roll#.Uc8Zt234ZYF
http://www.justice.gov/dea/divisions/hq/2013/hq062613.shtml
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Will not watch until I get to a different computer. Is this focusing on "synthetic" drugs? I recently saw a story in my area of the USA where some college kids were busted "manufacturing, and shipping all over the country", synthetic marijuana(spice, etc.). Have any SR "spice" vendors disappeared lately? This was just a few weeks ago at most.
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Don't post gov links here, especially related to DEA.
Copy the text and information and paste here.
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Here's the text of the second link.
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June 26, 2013
Contact: DEA Public Affairs
(202) 307-7977
Updated Results From DEA’s Largest-Ever Global Synthetic Drug Takedown Yesterday
Nationwide enforcement actions targeted dangerous new and emerging class of chemicals from overseas
JUNE 27 (WASHINGTON) – Yesterday the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and its law enforcement partners announced enforcement operations in 35 states targeting the upper echelon of dangerous designer synthetic drug trafficking organizations that have operated without regard for the law or public safety.
These series of enforcement actions included retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers. In addition, these investigations uncovered the massive flow of drug-related proceeds back to countries in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Since Project Synergy began December 1 of 2012, more than 227 arrests were made and 416 search warrants served in 35 states, 49 cities and five countries, along with more than $51 million in cash and assets seized. Altogether, 9,445 kilograms of individually packaged, ready-to-sell synthetic drugs, 299 kilograms of cathinone drugs (the falsely labeled “bath salts”), 1,252 kilograms of cannabinoid drugs (used to make the so-called “fake pot” or herbal incense products), and 783 kilograms of treated plant material were seized.
Project Synergy was coordinated by DEA’s Special Operations Division, working with the DEA Office of Diversion Control, and included cases led by DEA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), FBI, and IRS. In addition, law enforcement in Australia, Barbados, Panama, and Canada participated, as well as countless state and local law enforcement members.
“Shutting down businesses that traffic in these drugs and attacking their operations worldwide is a priority for DEA and our law enforcement partners,” said DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. “These designer drugs are destructive, dangerous, and are destroying lives. DEA has been at the forefront of the battle against this trend and is targeting these new and emerging drugs with every scientific, legislative, and investigative tool at our disposal.”
“CBP and DEA enjoy a close working relationship that was further enhanced through the collaboration of the National Targeting Center and CBP officers in the field at express consignment hubs during this operation to target, test and detain shipments of synthetic drugs, as well as precursor herbs used to manufacture synthetic marijuana,” said CBP David Murphy, Acting Assistant Commissioner, Field Operations.
“The criminals behind the importation, distribution and selling of these drugs have scant regard for human life in their reckless pursuit of illicit profits,” said Traci Lembke, HSI Deputy Assistant Director of Investigative Programs. “For criminal groups seeking to profit through the sale of illegal narcotics, the message is clear: we know how you operate; we know where you hide; and we will not stop until we bring you to justice.”
“The harm inflicted by these designer drugs is matched only by the profit potential for those who sell them,” said Richard Weber, Chief, IRS-Criminal Investigation. “Today’s enforcement actions are the culmination of a multi-year effort in which IRS-CI worked with its domestic and global law enforcement partners to disrupt the flow of money - the lifeblood that allows these multi-million dollar organizations to proliferate.”
“On behalf of the Australian Government, I congratulate the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Project Synergy. This is a significant seizure of synthetic drugs and is a terrific result for our respective law enforcement agencies. Australia remains committed to sharing intelligence with its U.S. partners to combat transnational crime across international borders. This is a win for our collective communities,” Australia’s Acting Ambassador to the United States, Graham Fletcher, said.
Background on designer synthetic drugs
Designer synthetic drugs are often marketed as herbal incense, bath salts, jewelry cleaner, or plant food, and have caused significant abuse, addiction, overdoses, and emergency room visits. Those who have abused synthetic drugs have suffered vomiting, anxiety, agitation, irritability, seizures, hallucinations, tachycardia, elevated blood pressure, and loss of consciousness. They have caused significant organ damage as well as overdose deaths.
Smokable herbal blends marketed as being “legal” and providing a marijuana-like high have become increasingly popular, particularly among teens and young adults, because they are easily available and, in many cases, they are more potent and dangerous than marijuana. These products consist of plant material that has been impregnated with dangerous psychoactive compounds that mimic THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Synthetic cannabinoids are sold at a variety of retail outlets, in head shops and over the Internet. Brands such as “Spice,” “K2,” “Blaze,” and “Red X Dawn” are labeled as incense to mask their intended purpose. In 2012, a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reported 11,406 emergency department visits involving a synthetic cannabinoid product during 2010. In a 2013 report, SAMHSA reported the number of emergency department visits in 2011 involving a synthetic cannabinoid product had increased 2.5 times to 28,531. The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported 5,205 calls related to human exposure of synthetic cannabinoids.
For the past several years, there has also been a growing use of, and interest in, synthetic cathinones (stimulants/hallucinogens) sold under the guise of “bath salts” or “plant food.” Marketed under names such as “Ivory Wave,” “Purple Wave,” “Vanilla Sky,” or “Bliss,” these products are comprised of a class of dangerous substances perceived to mimic cocaine, LSD, MDMA, and/or methamphetamine. Users have reported impaired perception, reduced motor control, disorientation, extreme paranoia, and violent episodes. The long-term physical and psychological effects of use are unknown but potentially severe. The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported 2,656 calls related to synthetic cathinone (“bath salts”) exposures in 2012 and overdose deaths have been reported as well.
These products have become increasingly popular, particularly among teens and young adults and those who mistakenly believe they can bypass the drug testing protocols of employers and government agencies to protect public safety. They are sold at a variety of retail outlets, in head shops, and over the Internet. However, they have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for human consumption or for medical use, and there is no oversight of the manufacturing process.
Controlled Substance Analogue Enforcement Act
While many of the designer drugs being marketed today that were seized as part of Project Synergy are not specifically prohibited in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the Controlled Substance Analogue Enforcement Act of 1986 (AEA) allows many of these drugs to be treated as controlled substances if they are proven to be chemically and/or pharmacologically similar to a Schedule I or Schedule II controlled substance. A number of cases that are part of Project Synergy will be prosecuted federally under this analogue provision, which is being utilized to combat these new and emerging designer drugs.
DEA has used its emergency scheduling authority to combat both synthetic cathinones (the so-called “bath salts” with names like Ivory Wave, etc.) and synthetic cannabinoids (the so-called incense products like K2, Spice, etc.), temporarily placing several of these dangerous chemicals into Schedule I of the CSA. Congress has also acted, permanently placing 26 substances into Schedule I of the CSA in 2012.
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It's so sickening that things like this are still going on. They destroyed 227 peoples' lives. The DEA (and especially the higher-ups in the DEA) could not possibly contemplate what the places they send these people to are like, so how are they fit to make this decision?
Maybe they should be sentenced, for even a few weeks, to a federal penitentiary. Mr. "Bear" and his team of violent, depraved thugs can properly acquaint these so-called heroes with what "bringing these people to justice" really means.
Let me "break it down" for you, kids (these are not adults we are dealing with here. These are spiteful children): Being IMPRISONED WITHOUT CONSENT is not a just punishment for distributing a substance to an individual who is content to "destroy" his own life through HIS OWN PERSONAL DECISION (CONSENT) to indulge in drugs. Therefore, imprisoning an individual for distributing drugs is not "justice," whatsoever. It should be labeled a crime in and of itself, and the DEA and all of its supporting entities need to answer for their own, VERY REAL crimes against this nation and its NON-VIOLENT constituents. Imprisoning people in a cage for years on end FAR outweighs any conceivable crime one could derive from the distribution of any drug.
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Here's a more comprehensive article from Alternet:
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US MAKES MAJOR BUST OF GLOBAL SYNTHETIC DRUG RING
US officials announced the largest-ever bust of a global synthetic drugs ring Wednesday, seizing thousands of pounds of illicit drugs and arresting 225 people in five countries and 35 US states.
Authorities seized up to 3,300 pounds (1,500 kilograms) of "dangerous designer synthetic drugs" that were manufactured in Asia and trafficked to the United States and Australia, where dealers sold them to youths and young adults, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said.
In what is rapidly emerging as one of the greatest of drug interdiction challenges, hundreds of kinds of synthetic drugs are being made in what DEA described as unregulated labs overseas, notably in China and India.
The DEA said Project Synergy began last December but culminated Wednesday when most of the arrests were made.
Nearly $15 million in cash and assets were seized in the operation, which saw arrests or search warrants executed in 35 US states, 49 cities and the countries of Australia, Barbados, Canada and Panama.
Millions of dollars in drug sale profits were being funneled to the Middle East, potentially into existing terror networks that are known to fund their illicit operations through drug trafficking, officials said.
The designer drugs, which mimic controlled substances, are among a growing group of illicit compounds that traffickers have marketed in recent years, often attempting to skirt laws by barely modifying the chemical makeup of products like incense, bath salts or jewelry cleaner.
The drugs -- synthetic cannabinoids that can provide a marijuana-like high, or synthetic cathinones that are stimulant hallucinogens -- are marketed under brand names like "Spice," "K2" or "Bliss" and sold in colorful, youth-oriented packaging, often with comic book characters on the cover.
US officials say abuse of the drugs can lead to seizures, hallucinations, high blood pressure and organ damage.
Several overdoses, mainly of people age 12 to 29, have led to emergency room visits and even deaths, the DEA said.
"The bottom line is that these drugs are being marketed to the most vulnerable part of our society, which is teenagers and young adults," DEA chief of operations James Capra told reporters.
He said profits were being funneled to the Middle East, and while he would not be drawn on exactly which groups were benefiting, citing the ongoing investigation, Capra hinted that terror networks were involved.
"You have this convergence out there, more so today than ever before, of terror groups funding their operations through the sale of narcotics around the globe," he said.
The traffickers have convinced distributors including some gas stations and convenience stores that their drugs are legal, when in fact they are sometimes dangerous alterations of allowed products.
"It's marketed 'not for human consumption,' but it's killing kids," warned Derek Maltz, who heads the Justice Department's Special Operations Division.
Officials highlighted the multinational nature of the operation, including agents in Australia, where synthetic drugs are marketed.
The seizure "is a terrific result for law enforcement agencies across the globe," said Australia's Acting Ambassador to the US Graham Fletcher.
Many similar products have been legal for years. But traffickers began tweaking the chemical components to increase their psychotic effects.
The nearly inexhaustible chemical combinations available to the drugs' creators make it a struggle for authorities to keep up.
"It's much more than a two-dimensional bath salts and Spice problem," Special Agent Robert Bell, of DEA's Office of Diversion Control, told AFP.
"There have been more than 200 brand new drugs introduced into the United States since 2009 from several structural classes."
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So they found a bunch of "bathsalts" ? I watched some of the video and I saw them counting packets of bathsalts.
Take the heat off of real drugs :)
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How did they identify all those vendors? Did they make purchases from them or something?
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I might sound like a conspiracy nut but whatever, I think this is one of their ways (Their being those with huge Anti-American/Western sentiments) at getting even with the US. Bath salts have always felt dirty and evil to me the few times I've ever ingested them.
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I wont touch that shit, Ill stick to real drugs thank you
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Isnt it funny that the legal highs are worse for you than the real drugs. makes me laugh.
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How did they identify all those vendors? Did they make purchases from them or something?
Not sure exactly, but they started the investigation in December 2012, so it's been going on for 7 months. They like to take their time and identify everyone possible.
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'Project Synergy' by the numbers
Jun. 28, 2013
FOREST CITY —
Nationwide:
225 people arrested
3,300 pounds of designer synthetic drugs seized
$15 million in cash and assets confiscated
Rutherford County (5 smoke shops):
0 people arrested
1,926 packets of synthetic marijuana seized
$20,149 in cash confiscated
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Due to them busting all these "awesome" RC's lots of real drugs got by :) hurray for boobies.
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Not sure exactly, but they started the investigation in December 2012, so it's been going on for 7 months. They like to take their time and identify everyone possible.
i must have missed that, where did it say when it started?!