A strange supply curve

UK Foreign minister Lord Malloch Brown is opposed to legalizing production of opium for medical use in Afghanistan. Part of his justification is a either a wonderful example of economic ignorance, or pure bullshit.

"Those cultivating and purchasing opium for medical usage would be in direct competition with illegal traffickers, which could drive up the price of opium and encourage increased cultivation.

"Farmers who do not currently grow poppies would abandon legal crops to meet the market's demand.

"Ultimately, the area of land under poppy cultivation could increase. Quite simply, farmers would grow more to supply an additional purchaser."

(Emphasis added.)

You read that right. Increased competition and production will increase the price of opium.

Bad boys, Bad boys

Watcha gonna do? Ex-narcotic officer will tell you:

Morning Edition, October 31, 2007 · A former top narcotics officer, credited with over 800 arrests in eight years, is now selling a DVD that shows marijuana users how to avoid arrest when traveling with a stash. Law enforcement officials are outraged. [snip]

The DVD is called Never Get Busted Again, and these pictures are from Barry Cooper's previous life. That's what gives him his unique credibility. As a narcotics officer in West Texas, Cooper was a law enforcement star. That was partly due to his work ethic: Stopping 30 cars a day on the highways was routine for Cooper and his K-9 companion.

"We would pull over cars that had college bumper stickers, because we knew college kids often partied with marijuana," Cooper says. "We would pull over 'Vietnam Vet' plates, because a lot of our vets developed a habit over there."

"I feel bad about it," he admits. "I would look for Mexicans. I would look for black people. It works."

[snip]

Cooper plans to make a second DVD called Never Get Raided Again.

Fifty days for possession of cat pee

Via BoingBoing comes this bit of drug war stupidity:

Tampa, Florida - A Lithia woman spends almost two months in jail over a vial of cat urine.

Cynthia Hunter was arrested in August accused of stealing at a Brandon Wal-Mart.

The 38-year-old mother was charged with possession of a controlled substance after deputies found a vial in her purse that a field test suggested was meth.

Hunter had said the substance was dehydrated cat urine for her son's science project and that it had been purchased at an animal clinic. She was released Thursday after lab tests found the substance was, in fact, cat urine.