So now they stick to the more compact and lucrative products only......cocaine and heroin? sounds like it was VERY effective at controlling the drug problem......sounds like more along the lines of controlling the backlog of containers in the shipping ports to me. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Hutchinson" To: Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 5:00 AM Subject: Re: [OT] ... SMD manual handling > Livestock usage would fall under the veterinary exemptions however, buying a > bunch at your feed & grain and reselling them on the street would likely get > you thrown in jail. Needle exchange programs have had major problems with > the laws. I believe it was in New York city where the police were arresting > junkies for possession of hypodermics as they came out of needle exchange > facilities. A google search for 'possession law "hypodermic needle"' will > get you a number of hits describing people being charged with illegal > possession of hypodermics. > > As Spehro found, the laws and penalties, like most in the USA, can vary > between states and even towns. However, if the hypodermics cross state or US > borders I believe there are federal laws regulating them. As an example of > stupid local laws, in the town of Upton Massachusetts it is illegal to sell > cigarette rolling papers! You can buy them in all surrounding towns and via > mail order but local merchants are not allowed to sell them. I'm sure this > local law would not hold up in court but, no local merchants want to spend > the money to have the law stricken down. BTW - Jensen Tools is in Arizona > and I know we used to buy blunt needles from them. > > For Roman, in Massachusetts, and other sane states :-), a teenager can not > buy firearms. You must be an adult to buy a firearm. Additionally, in MA you > must have a Firearms Identification Card issued from your local police > department to buy any firearms (the police check to make sure you are not a > convicted felon). However your point is still valid for adults, they can buy > firearms designed specifically to kill people but, they can't by hypodermic > needles for modification into vacuum pickup tools. > > The "War on Drugs" has generally been ineffective in reducing drug use in > the USA and has spawned many ridiculous laws and penalties. One area it has > worked well is in the stopping of marijuana coming from central and south > America. The logistics of smuggling such a bulky product combined with the > billions of dollars spent on stopping it have pretty much killed that > market. So now most marijuana sold in the US is produced in the US and > Canada. Recognizing this the federal government introduced mandatory > sentencing for marijuana growers. Cultivating marijuana with the intent to > distribute currently carries a mandatory prison sentence of 5 to 10 years > depending on the quantity of plants. This is more jail time than many > violent criminals receive. > > Paul > > >-----Original Message----- > >[mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On Behalf Of Dal Wheeler > >Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 11:18 AM > >Subject: Re: [OT] ... SMD manual handling > > > >Huh? Haven't heard of that... Used to be able to pick them up at farm > >implement type stores. I also remember some flack the San Fransisco city > >leadership was taking about a program they instituted were druggies could > >exchange used needles for clean ones to slow the spread of misc. diseases > >from shared needles. When did this come about? > >-Dal > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList > mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu