Quick Hits (page 3)
U.S. Customs Seizes Nearly 10 Tons of Pot at Mexican Border
By: Associated Press
U.S. Customs Service officers seized nearly 10 tons of marijuana from a tractor-trailer truck carrying computer circuits across the U.S.-Mexican border, officials said.
Investigators said they believed the roughly $9 million shipment was the largest amount of marijuana ever seized on America's Southwest border.
"Any time we can prevent 10 tons of narcotics from entering the streets of America, it's a great day for the U.S. Customs Service," said Michael Turner, special agent in charge of the U.S. Customs Office of Investigations in San Diego.
Investigators found 4,000 plastic-wrapped packages of marijuana inside the truck with California license plates at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, on the eastern edge of San Diego. The truck, on its way north from Mexico, was under inspection when a drug-sniffing dog alerted officials to its cargo. Inside, officials found packages of a green, leafy substance that tested positive for marijuana.
The truck's driver, Carlos Ibarra, 39, of Tijuana, was arrested by Customs agents and transported to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego until his arraignment in federal court.
Before this latest seizure, the largest amount of marijuana intercepted at the border was about 7.5 tons in April 2001. Earlier this month, officers at the El Paso border seized 6.3 tons.
"Although our primary focus is on anti-terrorism, we have not diminished our commitment to ensuring that dangerous narcotics are denied entry into the United States," said Nat Aycox, U.S. Customs director of field operations in San Diego.
With more than 1.4 million truck crossings per year, the Otay Mesa Port of Entry is the largest commercial crossing along the California-Mexico border, according to the Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce. It handles the second highest volume of trucks among all U.S.-Mexico land border crossings.
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Growin' Our Own (page 3)
How Much is an Eighth of Marijuana, A Kilo, and Other Marijuana Measurements? How Much Weight is Lost From Drying Marijuana?
By: Panama Red
This article covers our readers' questions about various terms for measurements of marijuana, like what's an 8th of marijuana, what's a nickel or dime bag, and explains all these terms. First, weed has been measured in metric system terms as that's how it's always been weighed in the origin country of Mexico. Here in the USA, it's been measured by bulk (bags) and in ounces and pounds. Let's take a run through the easy metric system and terminology.
Kilos, Bricks and Sugar Weed
In Mexico, where marijuana has historically been grown and then smuggled into the USA, the growers would measure grass by the metric kilo, which equals about 2.2 pounds or about 36 ounces. A kilo is exactly 1,000 grams, although Mexican bricks may weigh more or less than an exact kilo. When dried the Mexican suppliers would press this approximate measurement into a brick.
Methods for pressing bricks required taking the bulk marijuana and placing it into a form and pressing it with a car jack or some other device which would compact the buds. If the weed was too dry, Pepsi or Coca Cola was often added to help keep the brick together. However we haven't seen any of these sugar weed bricks for 30 years. Oftentimes a car frame would be used or some type of a box. The weed was placed into the form and pressure from the car jack would press it into a tight, compact block or brick. A standard size brick was about 12" long x 6" wide x 3" high. Bricks were wrapped in heavy colored paper and taped off or re-wrapped with cellophane. The bricks were placed in flour sacks or other flexible bags with about 20 to 25 in a sack for easy handling. Another reason why soda was used as a binder, was that it added weight and changed the smell of the marijuana. Sugar weed was hard to light up and smoke, and lost out to unadulterated weed. So the Mexican term kilo became synonymous with a brick of weed. A brick was referred to as a kilo, which became shortened by usage or drug culture code to a key. A kilo is a "key" of marijuana.
When the keys arrived in the USA, they were fluffed up by separating the buds, stems and seeds. This separation process was always called, "breaking up a brick." The weed, sometime prior to the mid 1960s, was placed in bulk into the 1 ounce red Prince Albert tobacco cans. The culture terminology for decades was that you bought a "can" of weed. The bulk of weed that stacked on the lid of the Prince Albert can sold for a lesser price and was called a "lid" of grass. These were all bulk approximations and nobody needed a scale when they purchased a "can or lid" of marijuana. Another standard bulk measure commonly used were "matchboxes." a big matchbox was equal to a "can" while a small "matchbox" was equal to a "lid." A lid was only about an 8th of an ounce. At some point the term "can" and "lid" became confused and both referred to 1 ounce of marijuana. These early day cans and lids sold for $5.00 to $10.00, and were referred to as nickel [$5.00] or dime [$10.00] bags. By the 1960s marijuana was either accurately weighed into 1 ounce bags or measured by eyeball into approximately equal wax paper sandwich bags. You probably can't even find these wax bags anymore as people went for plastic Glad bags, the original "baggie." Later when the zip locks came out they became the standard bag and still are today.
Marijuana weights and measurements
Marijuana and measurements in general are explained starting with grams. A gram is the smallest term you will hear. It takes 1,000 grams to equal a kilo [kilogram] which is about 2.2 pounds. It takes 28 grams to equal 1 ounce. 16 ounces equals 1 pound, and 36 ounces equals 1 kilo. Get the idea?
A pound is 448 grams, etc. Big paper sacks weigh about 1 ounce, and that too has to be factored in or you will come up short. This may be basic, but we've had hundreds of questions from readers about measurements. An 8th bag should weigh exactly 1/8th of 1 ounce. Since we know 1 ounce is 28 grams, an 8th of 28 grams is 3.5 grams, and exactly 1/8th of 1 ounce. A 1/4 ounce bag [2/8ths] is 7 grams, half ounce bag is 14 grams, etc. Just because somebody tells you it's an 8th bag, doesn't mean it's an 8th. The only real way to know is if it's weighed. Nickel and dime bags really don't exist anymore, unless you're buying something less than an 8th bag. There is no standard for nickel and dime bags like in the old days. So buyer beware on all measurements. Also the weight of the bag has to be considered and subtracted from the bulk marijuana. Usually a 1 ounce sandwich size zip lock type bag weighs 3.5 grams. So if 1 ounce [28 grams] is expected, the bag weight has to be considered as you can lose 3.5 grams, an 8th , if the bag weight isn't considered. An ounce in a bag, if weighed, should be around 31.5 grams, as you are paying for the net weight and not the bag weight. If in a bag it weighs only 28 grams you're losing an eighth of weed, and paying for the bag weight. Don't get burned in a deal like this and always consider the container's weight.
Bud Life moisture loss study, and a formula to determine weight lost in the drying process
Did you ever wonder how much weight is lost in drying buds? Here's a simple formula to determine your bud's weight loss. Take the weight at picking. 24 hours later weigh again. Take the new weight, subtract it from the old weight. Divide the lost weight by the picking weight, from yesterday. This will tell you the % of weight your bud lost in 24 hours from drying out the moisture. Repeat this every 24 hours. You can also use the sum total of weight lost (over the days) divided by the original weight for total weight lost.
For example:
11 grams total weight when the spongy bud is picked. Called, "picked weight."
24 hrs. later the total weight is 7 gr. Loss of 4 grams, or 4 divided by original 11 grams is a moisture loss of .36%, of the original Bud weight.
24 hrs. later, the total weight is 4 gr. for a loss of 3 more grams of moisture, or .42% of the 7 gr. Bud weight from yesterday.
24 hrs. later, the total weight is 3 grams, for a loss of 1 more gram, or .33%, loss.
The daily weight loss is: day 1: 4 grams, day 2: 3 grams, day 3: 1 gram.
The total moisture lost is: 8 grams
The 11 gram bud, now dried, weighs only 3 grams.
Divide this 8 grams lost, by the original 11 gram weight (8 divided by 11). This formula shows that the total moisture lost, is now .72%. Daily weight loss will vary with the density of the bud, and average room temperature of the drying spot. Here the drying temperature was 70 degrees. We know that spongy buds will lose about 70% of their picked weight.
Expert witnesses are paid thousands of dollars to testify in criminal court cases about this simple formula. Remember the cops busting growers will use the picked weight to get a longer sentence. This is wrong. You can only smoke it when it's dry. If you get busted growing, this formula may help you out. 1 pound wet will be more like 4-5 ounces dried. Also take out the weight of stalks & stems. Get the idea? This formula can also help you determine what weight your growing buds may produce when dried.
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Pipeline (page 3)
Who is Minding the E-Store
By: Associated Press
Federal agents routinely seize property allegedly used in the commission of a crime, anything from a drug dealer's car or speedboat to a hacker's computer.
In a series of raids in recent weeks, the Justice Department has extended such grabs to property that might seem esoteric but worry civil libertarians -- Internet domain names.
In one case, the government took over websites that it said peddled bongs, roach clips, rolling papers and other paraphernalia used in the consumption of illegal drugs.
Prosecutors also acquired, in a plea agreement, a site called isonews.com whose owner was charged with selling special chips that let pirated titles run on videogame consoles.
In the past, websites simply vanished after the computer servers that hosted them landed in police property rooms. But in the recent cases, the sites remained alive, greeting visitors with stern warnings from government agencies.
The trend is alarming online civil liberties groups and legal scholars, who say the government's new tactic risks depriving people of valuable property -- their Internet storefronts and thus their livelihoods -- as electronic commerce becomes more common.
"If you want to take down a website but simply confiscate the servers, operators can always buy other servers," said Michael Overly, an attorney specializing in computer law at Foley & Lardner. "But if they take the domain name away, then they've put the person out of business."
Critics of the Justice Department's recent moves also say they fear the government could use the new method to spy on Web surfers who visit confiscated sites.
"The government is suddenly in a position of being able to monitor the Web-surfing activities of unwitting individuals who believe they are going to a website ... but possibly implicating themselves into some law enforcement investigation," said David Sobel, general counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Visitors to pipesforyou.com, aheadcase.com and others are now greeted with a message informing them that a Pennsylvania federal court has "restrained" the sites at the request of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
In announcing the indictment last week of 55 people for allegedly selling drug paraphernalia on the Internet, Attorney General John Ashcroft said several sites had been redirected to DEA servers and that prosecutors had asked the court to redirect another "15 to 20 sites within the next 30 days."
The Justice Department did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment on what it plans to do with the sites and their visitor logs.
A DEA spokeswoman, Tara DeGarmo, noted that the domain names in the head shop case were "retained" but not seized pending the outcome of the criminal cases. She referred questions to federal prosecutors, who did not return calls.
That leaves privacy activists guessing.
"You can spin this out to future situations where there are a lot of classes of individuals the government might like to have a list of," such as visitors to terrorism-related or biological weapons-related sites, Sobel said.
On the Internet, Web surfers are identified with a unique number, or Internet Protocol address. Devices on the Internet need such an address to send and receive Web, e-mail and other traffic.
Domain names are the Web's equivalent of the front door of a bricks-and-mortar business. But while businesses can physically relocate in the material world, in cyberspace they depend on their domain name. The physical location of the website is immaterial.
Among issues that remain unresolved in the courts is whether a domain name constitutes property, or a contract the owner has with the domain name registrar -- the company that provided the name. If the former, a domain name could indeed be seized like a car, house or computer.
In the past, domain name registrars have sued to ensure that their offerings are not considered property. Otherwise, Overly said, "they would find themselves at the heart of no end of litigation."
The registrars involved in the head shop investigation either declined to comment or did not return telephone calls.
Domain transfers have in the past occurred as a result of criminal or civil cases, but Overly said the courts would ultimately decide the issue.
"The government has done many things over the years," he said, "that ultimately turn out not to be legal."
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Josephine's Reptile Nail & Body Wrap - for information, write to:
P.O. Box 2536
Sun Valley, Idaho, 83353