Looks like a different kind of snow was left on the streets of Cicero. more ›

• The City Council Transportation Committee O.K.'d a plan to allow companies to display holiday-themed displays on bridge houses even if specifics like the actual size of the displays haven't yet been determined.
• Cocaine and PCP were found in the bloodstream of a local one-year-old boy after he apparently chewed on a piece of tinfoil laced with the drugs.
• While flooding clean-up continues here, our neighbors to the north in Milwaukee are facing their own post-flooding hardships.

We've had our share of surly airplane seat mates as well as the fun, friendly type. But this beats any experience we've had by an airline mile. An area man has sued Southwest Airlines claiming that on a 2008 Chicago-to-Orlando flight, attendants failed to help out his then-14-year-old son who was offered drugs and sexual advances by his seat mate, described as an "older female passenger." For most teenage boys, getting hit on by an older woman to join the mile-high club would be a hormone-fueled dream come true (even if it is, you know, illegal). But not for this one. From the Tribune: more ›

Rock Hudson and Bea Arthur sing about drugs. Yep. [h/t Margaret] more ›

The Cook County Sheriff's office shut down two drug operations on the South side over the weekend. In Chicago's South Deering neighborhood, a public school librarian and another man who's a lecturer at UIC were arrested and charged with growing marijuana in their home. Heidi Keller, who works as a librarian at Chinatown's Haines Elementary School, and Adrian Ortiz were arrested Friday at a home they shared at 3500 block of South Sangamon Street. Police say they spent about three months investigating the couple, who are charged with growing pot at a home on on the 10000 block of South Exchange Street. The couple say the bought the property as an investment. Police told the Tribune that there is "no evidence it was being used for anything other than a marijuana growing operation." Police say they found eight irrigation tables with 186 marijuana plants. They also found a complex lighting system and a system of water pumps set on timers. more ›

A 23-year-old Northern Illinois man charged with discarding his friend's body in a Chicago alley after injecting him with heroin was sentenced to four years in jail on Friday, Chicago Breaking News reports. more ›

Narcotics police arrested two men suspected of shooting a man in his 30s during a robbery Friday afternoon on the South Side. more ›

U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald is calling today's unsealed indictments of 36 members of three drug cartels - including two leaders of feuding cartels - "the most significant drug importation conspiracies ever charged in Chicago." The three biggest figures charged are Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman-Loera (#701 on Forbes' list of the world's richest people), Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada-Garcia, and Arturo Beltran-Leyva. The Tribune has much more background on the story and also has the actual indictments. more ›

It's in German, but the language of humor is universal. more ›

75 marijuana plants were found in a Winnetka home on Wednesday when police executed a search warrant on a home in the 300 block of Hawthorn Lane. Police also found “further evidence of the production, use and distribution of [marijuana],” according to a Winnetka Police release. more ›

• Stick-em-up: a man robbed a Logan Square McDonald's today armed only with a stick.
• Police seized drugs and weapons as well as arrested Casey Crawford during an overnight raid at a condo apparently owned by Chicago Police Asst. Supt. Beatrice Cuello. Neither Cuello nor her daughter, who also lives at the condo, were suspected of any wrong-doing.
• A state appeals court has ruled jailed former governor George Ryan should be allowed to receive part of his pension. Ryan will receive $65,000 a year.

The audit of a Chicago Health Department warehouse revealed that nearly $1 million's worth of drugs had either expired or disappeared, due to shoddy record-keeping and/or lax security. The warehouse on the Near North Side stored medicines, vaccines, birth control, antibiotics, condoms and baby formula, but nothing harder than that. The city lost its license to handle harder drugs last year for the same reason: poor record-keeping. more ›

With a couple of endless wars abroad to discuss, a defenestration-inspiring economy freaking us out and so many dreamboaty candidates and First Spouses to drool over, the War on Drugs -- arguably the nation's longest endless war ever -- didn't receive much spotlight time this election season. But while we were hearing about Sarah Palin’s fancywear and debating the long-ago bombing habits of Bill Ayers, tens of thousands of people ended up spending part of the campaign behind bars for committing nonviolent drug offenses. According to NORML, in 2007 arrests for marijuana violations alone reached 872,721 – about 100 people per hour, an all-time high (no pun intended). Expect 2008 stats to surpass that figure. Oh, and almost 90% of those 2007 arrests were for possession only. "Cha-ching!" says Mr. Cash Register to Mr. Prison-Industrial Complex. more ›

Ah, the true localvore challenge: Is the ganj you smoke grown locally? According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, tighter border control has pushed some drug cartels to grow their crops on American soil. Super American soil. As in National Parks. Between 75 and 80 percent of marijuana grown outdoors in the US is grown on state or federal land. more ›

The police don’t really care about your stance on drug legalization or what health problems you have: when you’ve got 170 marijuana plants growing in your backyard, it’s a problem. more ›

The Indiana Dunes are home to wildly growing marijuana, according to the National Parks Service and Indiana law enforcement. Officials have apparently found plants growing throughout the park and its adjacent properties. more ›

Three men were busted this weekend for unloading $25 million worth of cocaine in Melrose Park. The Cook County Sheriffs High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area team, in addition to demonstrating that fancyschmancy names for police units are not just made up for television, "observed three men picking through a full load of cattle hooves" packed on a truck. The men were apparently pulling out specific pallets that authorities say contained drugs. The hooves were just a cover, but man, what a weird thing to have a truckful of. Hooves. [AP]
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The weed movie might be the last remaining subversive genre in cinema, and Pineapple Express is one long, exceedingly good-natured "fuck you" to the establishment. It tries to be all things to all audiences: a stoner movie, a buddy picture, a gory black comedy, an action thriller and a parody of an action thriller. Remarkably, it pretty much succeeds on all counts. more ›

Indiana state troopers found thousands of marijuana plants growing in a wooded swampy area of Kosciusko County which included two residential areas and a Girl Scout camp. The majority of the plants (around 5,000) were found on a "remote" part of the 220-acre Camp Ella J. Logan Girl Scout Camp. Sherri Weidman, Chief Executive of the Limberlost Girl Scout Council said the area was "only accessible by wading through muck or taking a canoe" and that camp employees were "dismayed" when they heard the news. Three residents were arrested and taken to court attorney-less last Monday with charges of possession and intent to distribute. While no Girl Scout was found high or suspiciously gnawing through boxes of Samoas, parents were still notified when they picked up their daughters from camp. [WBBM] more ›

Dominick's has jumped aboard the cheap-generic-drugs wagon and is now offering 300 of the most frequently purchased drugs for $4 for a 30-day supply, which the Trib helpfully points out is also $8 for a 60-day supply and $12 for a 90-day one. more ›

Newsflash: Teenagers like drugs and fucking! Sun hot, water wet, Jolie attractive, Hawking smart. And so on. more ›

Chicago Bull Joakim Noah was arrested in Gainsville, Florida early this morning for violating an open container law, and police later found a joint in a pack of cigarettes in his pocket. He's facing two misdemeanor charges. more ›

We know not everyone just says no, but if you're going to do drugs, please try not to be a child abuser or a moron. A Wisconsin woman and her friends taught her two-year-old how to smoke a joint. Krystle Webber, Sean Held and Dane Ashley all pleaded guilty to charges, and Webber has since regained custody of the little boy, but apparently they filmed the incident, and that video has now surfaced. more ›

Sorry, aspiring hoteliers looking for scuzzy property that gives you braincrabs if you think about it for too long: The Purple Hotel has been sold, and it's going to be demolished. more ›

Police busted a methamphetamine lab last night on the Northwest Side and recovered over 18 pounds of crystal meth, which they say has a street value of around $3 million. That's a lotta meth. They also found 790 grams of cocaine, which has a street value of around $100,000. more ›

Is that a drug deal caught on Google Maps? [Gawker] more ›

That ridiculous bag ban that would criminalize tiny baggies has hit a bump in the road to useless legislation. Health Committee chairman Ed Smith is holding the ban in committee until everyone can air his or her concerns about how stupid the idea is, and what a waste of time and energy and resources it would be, about how people use those baggies for all kinds of things, and transport and keep drugs in a wide variety of vessels, etc. more ›

Is Illinois heading towards legalized medical marijuana? State Senator John Cullerton (pretty website!) hopes so. He's sponsoring a bill that the Senate Public Health Committee approved 6-4 yesterday. A similar measure failed in the Senate last year, but try, try again. more ›

The latest weapon in Chicago's war on drugs may be banning the little plastic bags some drugs come in. No, really. Alderman Robert Fioretti wants to restrict the sale of "self-sealing plastic bags under two inches in either height or width." more ›