Tag Archives: drugs

Sports news

Double standard? Looks like it

Sha’Carri Richardson asks a fascinating question about the standards being used by the International Olympic Committee regarding athletes’ use of certain drugs.

Richardson is a world-class sprinter from the Dallas area who prior to the Tokyo Summer Olympics this past year tested positive for marijuana; the IOC banned her from the Games. Richardson was heavily favored to win a medal in Tokyo but was denied the chance.

Kamila Valieva is a Russian skater who the other day tested positive for trimetazidine, a drug that — like THC — is a banned substance. Trimetazidine helps improve heart function and, thus, is considered a “performance enhancing drug.”

Valieva’s punishment? She’ll get to compete for a gold medal at the Beijing Winter Games. The IOC said it will delay a ceremony if Valieva captures a medal until after the matter is examined and investigated thoroughly.

Still, Richardson asked, according to National Public Radio:

“Can we get a solid answer on the difference” between their situations? RichardsonĀ asked on Twitter, after mediators ruled that Valieva should be allowed to skate in the women’s individual competition in Beijing.

“The only difference I see is I’m a black young lady,” Richardson said.

“It’s all in the skin,” she added.

Sha’Carri Richardson sees double standard in allowing Kamila Valieva to compete : NPR

Well. It kind of looks that way to me, as well.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

State news

Bikers gather at an adult eatery? What could go wrong?

You’re a police official in a central Texas city. You hear that a group of motorcycle gangs is gathering at a place known as an “adult entertainment” business.

You know of the biker gangs’ reputation of criminal activity. You suspect many of them are packing guns. You know some of the gangs are rivals of the other gangs.

Gosh, what could possibly go wrong?

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/05/mix-guns-alcohol-and-criminal-biker-gangs-who-couldnt-have-predicted-sundays-shootout-in-waco.html/

What went wrong went terribly wrong.

The bikers erupted in violence in Waco. Nine of them were killed in the fire fight.

The cops did present themselves in some force at the scene prior to the outburst, which began with a fistfight and escalated into gunfire.

As Jim Mitchell writes for the Dallas Morning News, the restaurant management seems to be the bad guys in this terrible incident.

According to Mitchell: “It is really troubling thatĀ police say the local restaurant managers refused to cooperate in tightening security, a claim restaurant managers dispute. No shirts, no shoes, no service is standard restaurant fare. But weapons and a meeting to carve up turf for criminal activity is no problem?”

The restaurant is Twin Peaks, which is a chain of adult-oriented businesses.

Might there be some avenue for prosecuting a business for conspiracy in the commission of a deadly riot?

legal news, local news

Drug-bust stories becoming … um, boring

“Police grab drugs in ‘traffic stop.'”

You hear and read these headlines all the time. I almost always chuckle when I see these stories. Why? Because the traffic stop, such as it is, usually is something of a ruse. The police pull motorists overĀ expecting to find contraband hidden away.

http://www.newschannel10.com/story/28575346/dps-finds-15-pounds-of-marijuana-on-i-40

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers have gotten really good at this.

The Interstate 40 corridor across the Texas Panhandle usually is among the most lucrative for DPS traffic troopers of any district within the state police network.

How do these troopers do it? As I understand it, they “profile” motorists as they blaze their way along I-40. If the motorist or a passenger looks suspicious when they pass a DPS trooper, the officer will give chase. Then they just might find something in the trunk of the car, or stuffed under the seats, or duct-taped to the undercarriage a “controlled substance” of some sort.

The War on Drugs, which has produced mixed results — and that’s the best thing I can say about it — has made law enforcement officers quite proficient at intercepting drugs on our major highway corridors.

Have these “traffic stops” done anything to curb the manufacture, sale, distribution and use/abuse of these drugs? Not one bit.

However, I continue to marvel at how good the police have gotten at this endeavor.

To be sure — as any cop on the beat will tell you —Ā none of these “traffic stops” ever can be called “routine.”

Uncategorized

Drug overdose brings down another shining star

My worst fears have come to pass … allegedly.

Word came out this morning that the Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman had been found dead in his apartment. I hate admitting this, but my very first thought — once my head cleared after seeing the news — was that he overdosed on something.

I returned this afternoon from running some errands with my wife and just learned that police and EMTs found him with a needle sticking out of his arm.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/02/showbiz/philip-seymour-hoffman-obit/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

My initial mourning over the loss of this amazing talent has now given way to disgust.

What a waste!

It’s hard for me to process news like this at times. Hoffman joins a long list of celebrated public figures — mainly athletes and entertainers (although one could argue they are the same thing) — who’ve taken one hit too many.

I won’t even begin to list the names of those who have wasted themselves into oblivion. We all know who they are.

Hoffman’s death at the age of 46 just underscores the perversion that popular culture too often seems to breed.

All these individuals who have so much going for them cannot handle the fame that they chose to seek.

Yes, I mourn for the people who loved this man. That’s where it ends.