Valerie Brown

 

Controlled substances fall under control of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the state police. Local police and sheriffs become involved when an incident falls under their jurisdiction – or when they are working with federal or state agencies.

Agencies and Organizations

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) enforces the controlled substances laws of the United States. The DEA investigates and prosecutes drug law violators through 226 domestic offices and through 85 international offices. Employees of the DEA include Diversion investigators, Special Agents, Chemists, and Intelligence Research Specialists.

State police regulate the dispensing, storing, and administering of all controlled substances. For example, a physician, pharmacy or researcher in Texas must obtain a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) number to store and prescribe controlled substances.  The Texas Department of Public Safety maintains drug rules for them to follow. See Texas DPS Rules.

 

Laws and regulations

Drug schedules came from legislation and resulted in five categories. Each category depends on the severity of abuse of the substance and its legitimate use in the medical community. These schedules include I-V. Accordingly, each schedule corresponds to an offense for possession and distribution of the substance. 21 U.S.C. United States Code Sections 801, 801a,, 802, 811, 812, 813, and 814 determine when a drug can be placed under a schedule or removed from it.

The Drug Enforcement Administration – along with the Food and Drug Administration – make decisions about changes of the various schedules and substances that fall under them.

Amendments to the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), 21 U.S.C. Food and Drugs include, among others, The Domestic Chemical Diversion and Control Act of 1993 and The Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008.

Schedule I substances have a high potential for abuse. Drugs in this schedule include herion (diacetylmorphine), LSD (lysergic acid diethlylamide), marijuana, ecstacy (MDMA), mescaline and peyote, among other highly addictive and controlled substances.

Schedule II substances also have a high potential for abuse. Substances in this category include cocaine, Ritalin ®, opium, methadone, oxycodone, morphine, Adderall, codeine, hydrocodone, PCPC (Phencyclidine and pentobartital.

Schedule III substances lead to a lower potential for abuse than Schedule I and Schedule II substances. These substances include Katramine (a PCP replacement), Vicodin/Tylenol 3, Marinol (used during chemotherapy), anabolic steroids, and testosterone.

Schedule IV has a lower potential for abuse – in relation to drugs in Schedule III. Drugs under Schedule IV include Valium (diazepram), Klonopin (clonazepam), Xanax, Lunesta, Ambien, Phenobarbital, Tramadol, and Soma.

Schedule V substances have a low potential for abuse. They still, however, have to be dispensed for a medical purpose. These substances include Lyrica, cough medicine containing codeine, and Lomotil.

Pharmaceutical companies

Known now as “Big Pharma”, pharmaceutical companies patent drug names that may eventually become generic (as was the case with heroin). Any of these drugs developed for legitimate purposes can be abused or sold on the street level.

United States

Eli Lilly

Drug patents: Zyprexa (patent expired 2011), Prozac (fluoxetine) patent expired 2001

Merck & Co.

Drug patent: Ecstacy (methylenedioxymethamphetamine)

Johnson & Johnson

Drug patent: Concerta (patent expired 2011) – attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Abbott Laboratories

Drug patent: Depakote (valproic acid) anticonvulsant and mood stabilizer for bipolar disorder

Bristol-Myers Squibb

Drug patent: Abilify (anti-depressant and anti-psychotic)

Israel

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Drug patent: Copaxone (to treat multiple sclerosis)

Switzerland

F. Hoffman La Roche Limited

Drug patent: Pegasys (hepatitis C drug) – later the patent was revoked

United Kingdom

GlaxoSmithKline

Drug patent: Paxil (Paroxetine Hydrocloride) – anti-depressant

Germany

Bayer AG

Drug patent: diacetylmorphine – trade named Heroin – for heroisch (German) heroic  (English), was first marketed as a cough suppressant and morphine substitute. Heroin converts to morphine, once metabolized. But because of its high rate of addiction, heroin was eventually no longer used for its original purpose.  It became a Schedule I controlled substance.

However, in Switzerland, clinics dispense free heroin to help users overcome their addition.

Drug paraphernalia

Profits come not only from the illegal sale of controlled substances on the street, but also from the paraphernalia associated with drug manufacturing, sale and use. These are sold mostly in head shops. However, head shop items are not necessary to process, cook, or consume controlled substances. For example, heroin users heat and inhale heroin using aluminum foil. Substances can also be heated using a household items such as a teaspoon or tablespoon.

Growing Threats

Krokodile

Not as common in the United States as in Russia is the flesh eating drug nick-named Krokodile.  Krokodile destroys flesh – leaving bones exposed and even leads to amputation of limbs because of its devastating effects.

http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2078355,00.html

Meth

Methamphetamine can be made from over-the-counter medications. Its use can be devastating – not only in a user’s appearance, but in their internal health. Users commonly end up with sores on their body and face, in addition to “meth mouth” where the teeth become brown and yellow shark teeth – or are eaten away altogether.

Methamphetamine – link before and after shots

Molly

Molly is the drug Ecstacy, now being used with a new name.

Kratom

The Kratom Craze has created another threat to substance abuse.

Conclusion

Writing about controlled substances requires knowing about the Drug Enforcement Agency and the role it plays in enforcement of drug laws. In addition, it helps to become familiar with state police regulation of controlled substances through drug rules. Knowing Schedules I – V and how substances can change from one Schedule to another (over time) is also required.

And despite legitimate patents for controlled substances, there will always be street level drugs that combine controlled substances or at least ones that are used contrary to their original purpose.

Further reading

Rush by Kim Wozencraft

Go Ask Alice, Author Anonymous

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Suzanne

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

*     *     *

Valerie Brown’s interest in law and law enforcement came from her experience with a Law Enforcement Explorers Group, in addition to a trimester law enforcement program. She continued her interest in government and law by graduating from the University of Texas with a B.A. in Government and by completing her M.A. in Legal Studies at Texas State University. She is inspired by her father who was a chief chemist at a major petrochemical company.

*Images – DEA and Wikipedia Commons public domain

One-eye'd Joe

 

Fall in the south is a welcome time of the year. It’s when searing temperatures and unbearable humidity finally give way to crisp breezes and crimson streaked sunsets. Air conditioners are switched off and windows raised. It’s a time for high school football, sweatshirts, and the harvesting of crops, such as cotton, soybeans, and tobacco. Peanut farmers also begin their harvests by digging into the soil, exposing their subterranean crops, the fruits of their summer labor. The scent of freshly turned dirt combines with the familiar fragrance of the sun-drying legumes. Together, their  earthy odor fill the air. For many, this is the first formal announcement that another summer has indeed passed.

On this particular autumn night, the night that One Eye’d Joe went on a binge of smoking crack and drinking more than his fill of Mad Dog 20-20, a heavy harvest moon hung low in the night sky, casting long shadows across fields, backyards, and empty parking lots. There was a nip in the still air, and blades of grass were stiff and brittle, coated with the first frost of the season.

Deep in the folds of the city, One-Eye’d Joe was desperate. He and a friend had spent the last their combined dollars on a few crack rocks, smoked them, and were now looking to sustain the high, any way they could. And, with each man suffering from a thousand-dollar-a day habit, there were no limits on what they’d do. None.

One-Eye’s nickname came about after he’d gotten into a rather nasty fight with his brother. The older sibling, Willie, was on the losing end of the battle, so he grabbed the nearest weapon at hand to even the odds—a small stick—and attempted to gouge his brother’s face. The stick penetrated Joe’s right eye, leaving him permanently blind on that side. The injured eye eventually turned dull and milky white, a very distinguishing feature in each of Joe’s many mug shots.

A few years later, during a three-day drinking spell, One-Eyed Joe returned the favor by jabbing brother Willie in the eye with a broken bottle. Willie now has the matching milky left eye to Joe’s right. To add insult to injury, and more irony than this story can stand, the brothers had a small dog that had only one good eye. I don’t know how that happened, and I dare not try to imagine.

One-Eye’s crack-smoking best friend was a male prostitute who resided in a rat-and-roach-infested, pay-by-the-week hotel, where he performed oral sex for other men. His fee was twenty-dollars for each sex act—enough for one rock. He and One-Eye had been close friends since junior high, and had been in and out of jail and prison throughout their entire lives.

One-Eyed Joe had been locked up at least once for nearly every crime imaginable, short of murder, but his specialty was B&E—Breaking and Entering. He liked to slip into homes while the owners were away on vacation or out for the evening. He was not normally violent, and he didn’t like confrontation. As a rule, Joe was very passive, but had been known to throw a punch or two, if cornered. Together, these two thugs didn’t weigh 220 pounds, and it would surprise me if they had a full set of teeth between them. Crack smokers are not known for their good hygiene habits, and the teeth are often the first thing to go. As a team, the two thugs reminded me more of Abbott and Costello than the hardened criminals they aspired to be.

On this night, though, the two had spent every dime they had on crack, and, as usual, they craved and needed more—a lot more—and Joe was struck with an idea as to how they’d get it. He thought about a job he once worked as a truck-stop fuel attendant. Yes, the two bumbling crooks decided to rob Joe’s old place of employment. Their plan in its entirety was to wait until the fuel-desk clerk was alone, and then rob her at knife-point.

The truck stop sits just outside the south edge of the city limits, just off the main highway. It had been in business for many years under the same ownership. The proprietors of this hole-in-the-wall truckers’ haven still believed customers should never have to pump their own fuel, and that an attendant should smile and wash the customer’s windows while they waited. That particular job had been Joe’s during his three-week tenure.

The company’s old-fashioned ways were charming, but added to their vulnerability when it came to hold ups, because they simply didn’t believe in computers or high-tech security. In fact, their only telephone, a wall-mount unit, was the old-fashioned, finger-holed dial type that takes just a little too long to ring up 911.

The truck-stop’s greasy spoon restaurant served breakfast twenty-four hours a day, and advertised a different lunch and dinner special for each day of the week. This particular Thursday night was liver-and-onions night, and the aroma of fried onions and greasy, brown gravy hung in the air immediately surrounding the restaurant. At approximately 10:30 p.m., business was so slow, the night manager sent the only waitresses home early, thinking she and the cook would be able to handle things for the rest of the shift.

The desk where the truck drivers paid for their fuel was in a separate building from the restaurant. That part of the business was enjoying a better-than-average night, and the lone clerk, a older woman with big hair and gnarled and twisted arthritic fingers, was managing the workload just fine. She was well-liked by the drivers, and they normally spent a few minutes shooting the breeze with her before getting back behind the wheel.

One-by-one, both long- and short-haul truckers swung their big rigs off the highway and into the lot for refueling. While they waited for their tanks to fill, they topped off their thermoses with fresh, hot coffee and stopped in at the desk to hear the latest gossip.

At 10:45 p.m., One-Eye’s partner-in-crime drove his beat-up, faded blue Chevy Malibu past the teal Kenworth at the pumps and into the far corner of the truck-stop parking lot, just out of reach of the amber light spewing from the rows of tall sodium-vapor lights. The car reached the end of the lot and its driver turned it around to face the truck stop. He shut off the motor.

The Kenworth pulled out, and a candy-apple red Peterbilt—the last truck in the lot—sat idling at the pumps while the driver said his goodbyes to the clerk. The two criminals, still high from hours of crack smoking, watched as the driver climbed into his rig and, with a whoosh from the air brakes and a grinding of low gears, he eased the Peterbilt out onto the roadway.

From where One-Eye and his partner sat, they could see the clerk through a window, soundlessly going about her routine, tallying fuel totals and taxes. Not once did she lift her head to look into the parking lot. Had she done so, she’d have seen the two men watching her every move.

The 911 call came into the police station at 11:00 p.m. on the dot. The frantic clerk said she’d been robbed by two men, one of whom wielded a six-inch steak knife. She said she didn’t recognize either of them, but one of the two had a bad eye. She said it looked as if he was blind in the bad one, because it was white and milky-looking. When they called me out to investigate the armed robbery, I first swung by my office to pick up a photo of One-Eyed Joe. I was pretty sure that it was he whom the clerk had described. Who else could it be?

I showed the clerk the picture and she positively identified One-Eyed Joe as the robber. So I drove to his house and found a car parked in the grass near the front door. It matched the description of the get-a-way car. The hood was still warm.

I had arrested One-Eye many times in the past for his various crime sprees, and not once had he ever shown any violence, much less had a weapon of any sort. However, since the clerk said he had brandished a knife this time, I didn’t take any chances and called for back-up to meet me at the house.

Once help arrived, I knocked on the door. In a matter of seconds, the door opened and a very high Joe stared me in the face. The good eye darted from side to side, looking first to my right eye, then to my left. The white eye eerily followed suit.

He spoke first, “I guess you come after me about what we done at the truck stop.” I told him that yes, that was my reason for being there.

“I done it,” he said. “At least me and him together done it.” He pointed inside the room to where his partner sat on the linoleum floor beside a short coffee table—the only piece of furniture in the house that had not been sold or cut up for firewood. On the table top was a broken-off boom box antenna, a makeshift pipe for smoking crack, and several bits and pieces of aluminum foil—the wrappings for the crack cocaine.

The two chatterboxes wouldn’t stop talking, an effect of smoking crack, and I didn’t want any problems in court with their unending, babbling confession, so I promptly advised them of Miranda, something I’d do a few times as their high dissipated, just to be sure they understood the words and their meaning (as if they didn’t already know the drill by heart).

I handcuffed each of them and drove them back to my office for further questioning. Along the way, One-Eye explained—between tears and sobs—that he was grateful for us catching him so soon. He went on to say he was scared and worried that he would have killed someone to get the next piece of crack. He told me he had no control over his life. I believed that statement to be true. The men were so high and so desperate for the next hit, that they would’ve done anything to get it, including murder, which, they’d said, was next on their list. They’d planned to go back to the truck stop to kill the clerk and then steal the company safe.

I often wonder just how many people have come that close to death, without knowing it. How about you? Has there been a “One Eye’d Joe in your life?” Someone who’d thought of killing you, but didn’t because of a last minute intervention. Or, will you meet your “Joe” tomorrow?

Today, perhaps?

 

Kill and eat someone

“I want to kill someone and eat them!” the woman yelled out as she lunged toward a New York City police officer, attempting to bite his face. She was subdued and taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

Later, officers were called to the home of Aubrey Vails, the young man who’d ripped a door from its hinges at his parent’s home, after threatening to kill them. Police found the crazed man in the driveway, violently and repeatedly punching a car.

In Georgia, a frightened mother called the police to report that her son, Matthew Hammond, was “acting crazy,” and was walking around with a knife threatening to hurt someone. When the responding officer arrived, Hammond charged the police car and began aggressively knocking on the doors and windows, challenging the officer to a fight. He still had the knife in his hand, and, in an even more bizarre twist to the case, Hammond had feces in his mouth.

Hammond continued to challenge the officer by pulling on the door handles of the police cruiser. The officer accepted Hammond’s challenge by drawing his service weapon, aiming it at the threat. Hammond dropped the knife and was immediately arrested by the officer.

But it doesn’t end there…

Miami – A man growled at approaching police, and then screamed. I want to eat you!”

Roanoke Va. – A man stripped naked and crawled across his back yard to escape from dozens of snakes he perceived were after him. In another Roanoke case, a man bit and chewed at his mother’s arms.

Munnsville – State police responded to a scene where a woman was violently punching and choking a child. Her husband managed to get the child away, so the woman then grabbed the family dog and began abusing it in a similar manner.  The woman starting spinning around in circles, stripped off her clothes, and then chased after a neighbor. As the police officers approached she began growling like a vicious animal. Pepper spray had no effect on the woman, so the troopers deployed a Taser. She died soon after. Witnesses agree that the officers had exhausted all means of restraint before utilizing the Taser.

Calgary – Witnesses observed a naked man bashing his face into a fence, attempting to take off his own nose. When the police arrived they found him sitting (still naked) staring at the ground and bleeding profusely. He became extremely combative, with what could only be described as having superhuman strength.

What could possibly make these people do the things they do? Bath Salts.

Bath salts, often labeled as an alternative to cocaine, are made from a variety of chemicals, such as methylenedioxypyrovalerone, mephedrone and pyrovalerone. The drug (not the stuff used for bathing) is typically taken orally, through inhalation or by injection. The finished product is a brain stimulant that produces an intense high, hallucinations, paranoia, intense cravings (rapid addiction to the drug), and extremely high body temperatures, which may explain so many naked abusers of the drug.

The effects of the drug are intense, and dangerous. In 2011, over 6,000 cases were reported to poison control centers.

What does the drug do to a user? Have a look at these police videos to see for yourself.

Drugs: What They're Called On The Street

Some say tomato, some say tomahto. I like potato, you like potahto. You say cocaine, he says…Aunt Nora? That’s right, Aunt Nora. And that’s just one of the street names for cocaine. And there are many.

Most undercover cops will tell you that their assignment is sometimes a strange one, because they not only have to learn to “walk the walk,” they also have to learn an entirely new language—the street drug language. If the UC (undercover) doesn’t use the correct terminology for a drug in specific area then his cover is almost certain to be blown. Therefore, it is imperative that the officer study his subjects and their mannerisms and speech before approaching them. Can you imagine what would happen if an undercover officer walked up to a drug runner and asked, “May I please purchase a large quantity of d-lysergic acid diethylamide? I believe you cats call it acid out here on the mean streets.” Yeah, that would work…

So, to help your characters fit in a little better than our guy above, here are a few street names for, or relating to, illegal drugs.

Cocaine

Aunt Nora

Angie

Aspirin (powder cocaine)

Balling (hiding packaged cocaine in body cavities).

Base crazies -desperately and frantically searching on hands and knees for small amounts of spilled cocaine or bits of crack cocaine.

Behind the Scale – selling or packaging cocaine.

Beiging – altering cocaine with chemicals to make it appear of a higher quality, or purity.

Bernie, Bernie’s flakes, Bernie’s dust

Birdie powder

Blast

Blizzard

Blow

Booster – inhaling cocaine

Brick – one kilo of cocaine

C

Caine

California cornflakes

Candy

Carrie

Cecil

Chippy

Coconut

Crack

Crack cocaine

Mo

Monster

Witch

Zip

Marijuana

African

African Black

Airplane

Angola

Ashes

Baby

Bale

Bamba

Bammy

Bar

Bash

Black

BoBo

Boom

Broccoli

Catnip

Cest

Chiba chiba

Chunky

Clam Bake – sitting inside a small enclosed space ( a car, etc.) while smoking marijuana

Don Juan

Firewood

Giggle smoke

Greens

Jane

Macaroni

Mow the grass – smoke marijuana

Root

Salad

Oxycontin and Oxycodone

Hillbilly heroin

Cotton

OC

Pills

Rohypnol

Forget Me Pill

Lunch money drug

Mexican Valium

Roaches

Roofies

Rope

Ruffles

Wolfies

Methamphetamine

Beannies

Blade

Bling

Boo

Chalk (also refers to cocaine)

Chrome

Clear

Cinnamon

Crank

Cris

Crystal

Hot ice

Meth

Pink

Pink elephants

Rock

Sparkle

Tick tick

Tina

Work

 

 

 

 

Bath Salts: Fighting Demons

Cops are called names all the time. And those names are sometimes not so nice. But when a suspect calls them devils because he actually thinks he’s seeing two very real demons coming for him, well, that’s a different story. And that’s exactly what happened in Mississippi a few weeks ago when two sheriff’s deputies attempted to arrest a man. He became combative, claiming his was fighting two devils. In fact, he was so out of control that one of the deputies was injured during the scuffle.

Another Mississippi man, Neil Brown, used a skinning knife to repeatedly slash his face and stomach.

Neil Brown points to the scars he received from self-inflicted knife wounds while high on bath salts

A 21-year-old Louisiana man cut his own throat before blasting himself with a shotgun, ending his life. And it’s quite possible that the death of Tippah County Mississippi Deputy Sheriff Dewayne Arlyn Crenshaw is related to these bizarre incidents. How? The man who gunned down Deputy Crenshaw was believe to have been under the influence of bath salts, as were the others. And the list of odd and devastating events is long and growing longer every day.

Bath salts, aka Uncle Charlie, Ivory Snow, White Lightening, Red Dove, Bliss, Vanilla Sky, and Ivory Wave, are really a synthetic stimulant containing mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), chemicals that are readily found in many plant foods. Since the main ingredient in the drug, cathinone, is derived from a plant, and the end product is not intended for human consumption, there is no government regulation.

Users/abusers of bath salts (the drug, not the stuff used in bath water) either smoke, snort, or inject the powder, which affects neurotransmitters in the brain. As a result, the user experiences  extremely vivid hallucinations and, unfortunately, paranoia and suicidal thoughts. The drug causes the user to want more and more (a three or four day binge, like meth and crack users often experience), resulting in increased calls to poison control centers from people needing immediate care from overdosing. It is believed that the death of a Mississippi woman can be connected to an overdose of bath salts.

The effects are so devastating that state lawmakers are considering banning the drug. In fact, Louisiana has already outlawed the chemicals by emergency order.

Bath salts are sold legally over the internet, and in many convenience stores for as little as $20.