The horror of Meth

Before-and-after pictures reveal shocking transformation in faces of users hooked on deadly drug. The photos, that show a shocking Dorian Gray-like deterioration, were compiled from mug shots of drug users that were arrested repeatedly over the years.

How Meth Effects the Brain and the Body

A sad case of Meth Mouth.  When you have money or good credit, you can repair some of the damages.  Lindsay Lohan Skipped Probation to Get Her Filthy Teeth Fixed.   WTF is going on here, early stage meth mouth?  Yet another celebrity victim, Lisa Robin Kelly, of That 70s Show.  Castmates: Topher Grace, Laura Prepon, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Kurtwood Smith, Debra Jo Rupp, Danny Masterson, Topher Grace, Laura Prepon, Wilmer Valderrama to name a few.

Britney Spears is a Breaking Bad fan?  Did she or didn't she?

The Jael Strauss story blows away all those “Faces of Meth” ads.  Some of our local dopes and meth heads have the money to keep up appearances yet the slow decay will show up over time.  (bad, bad boys, too - William Paxson - William Konrad - Jerry Boeff - Paul Woellert).  Not everyone is as lucky with the looks department and shades can only cover up so much.  Drugs are fairly available behind bars but for the lucky ones they can stay off while they do their time.  Other  bodies have been known to deteriorate more rapid as you can observe if unfortunate enough to watch them try and work.

The playing field of Santa Barbara is not equal in the world of Rich man, poor man, methamphetamine. That is a grim fact of life. It was recently stated in a local news report that the Mexican cartels have taken over the local street gangs.  What will that mean for other dealers and abusers?  It doesn't get much more bloody, outside of a war, than the escalation in Mexico.  On our local shores the War on Drugs has been kicked up a few notches with the recent murder of a federal law enforcement officer.  We don't see how it helps when the privileged use illegal slave labor from Mexico or the US to do their dirty work.

Meth users often end up in the justice system.  From Hollywood actors to lawyers, from race car drivers and minor league baseball players to children of pastors, from surfers to teachers … from any walk of life you care to name, methamphetamine has found its takers, its so-called tweekers.

The justice system's bad case scenario and they can roam, they just can't hide from the law forever when meth is only one of their many Illegalities.   Birds of a feather do flock together.  Will meth change who you are?
   It sure did a number on Aaron Carter.

Federal Agent Killed When Drug Smuggler Rams Coast Guard Boat

Dec 2, 2012 A federal law enforcement officer was killed when a dope smuggler’s small craft rammed a Coast Guard boat in a midnight intercept of a marijuana load off the California coast, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Four suspects are in custody and a manhunt is under way for at least two others who may have escaped to a coastal island.
According to sources, the incident took place early this morning, at approximately 1 a.m., when the Coast Guard intercepted two boats — a pleasure craft and a panga boat, which is a small, fast launch — near San Clemente Island, in Santa Barbara County.

Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne III, 34, of Redondo Beach was second in command of the Halibut, an 87-foot patrol cutter based in Marina del Rey.  Coast Guard News
In Memoriam – Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne III

Redondo Beach:  Horne later moved to Redondo Beach, where he lived with his wife, Rachel. Neighbors told multiple television outlets Sunday that Rachel Horne is pregnant with the couple's second child.

A smuggler's vessel rammed a small U.S. Coast Guard boat off the Southern California coast, killing one Coast Guard member and injuring another

Noozhawk: Coast Guard Officer Killed When Boat Rammed
Santa Barbara Independent:  Panga Rams Coast Guard Boat, Kills Chief Officer
Ventura County Star:  Coast Guard member dies after boat collides with panga

Cops Say Legalize Drugs

Raging Panga!  

Edhat:  Panga rams Coast Guard boat, kills Chief Officer.
Edhat:  A Blackhawk helicopter full of armed Sheriffs.
Edhat:  I have an elderly friend (Vietnam Combat Vet) that needs a referral for medical marijuana.

Coast Guard Member Dies In Crash With Smuggler's Boat Off Calif. Coast (VIDEO)
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday that Horne and fellow crewmembers of the Halibut "were engaged in an at-sea interdiction when they came under threat by a small vessel that rammed their small boat."

Risky Business

12/5/12 UPDATE SPECIAL REPORT: Details Revealed in Coast Guard Officer’s Death

Also How, When, and Why Pangas are Pushing into Santa Barbara Waters

Let's end the prescription drug death epidemic

Don't miss Dr. Sanjay Gupta's "Deadly Dose" documentary. 

(CNN) -- It's the biggest man-made epidemic in the United States. That's how a doctor in Washington state described it to me as we sat outside the state Capitol in Olympia.

He was talking about accidental death from prescription drug overdoses. The doctor, Gary Franklin, medical director for Washington state's Department of Labor and Industries, recounted terrifying case after case and told me it was the saddest thing he had ever seen.
I remember him telling me about a teenager dying because he had taken too much narcotic medication after a dental procedure.  READ MORE  (video)...   Prescription drug deaths: Two stories

Edie Sedgwick  was a legendary socialite, heiress, model and actress born in Santa Barbara, California. Sedgwick is buried next to her mom in Santa Barbara County's Santa Ynez Valley, near the Neverland Ranch of Michael Jackson.... cause of her death  "acute barbiturate intoxication."

“Well you’re the boss applesauce“

Michael Jackson Used Employees' Names to Score Drugs

Billionaire hedge funder's wife arrested for 'driving under influence of drink and prescription drugs' after Hamptons car crash  

SANTA BARBARA: “Candy Man” Created Need for Drug Class for Many Patients

Two female patients taken to a hospital emergency room indicated they were among numerous people who used sex to pay for drugs from suspect Julio Gabriel Diaz.
 OUT ON BAIL  

UPDATE:  ' C A N D Y   M A N '    Malpractice Dr. Julio Diaz / Facing 200 Years in Prison.

Prescription drugs worth millions to dealers

New York man sold oxycodone pills from ice cream truck 
         Barbiturate Abuse Overview

Black market numbers crunch

Prescription Drugs On The Black Market (video)

In Depth: The black market for prescription drugs

Prescription, over-the-counter, and black-market drugs

Bob Dylan's handwritten lyrics for Just Like A Woman. /  VIDEO

Santa Barbara Dr. Accused of Drug Trafficking Has Posted Bail

Santa Barbara Dr. Accused of Drug Trafficking Has Posted Bail  Photo:  Dr. Diaz on Milpas Street
Dr. Julio Diaz to be Target of Solvang Family’s Wrongful Death Lawsuit.  Attorney says suit to be filed in patient death linked to Santa Barbara physician accused of over prescribing pain medications.

Julio Diaz Support Foundation       (  OUR BACK YARD  )

January 2012 LA TIMES:  Dr. Julio Diaz has been under investigation for allegedly prescribing addictive painkillers and other commonly abused drugs to patients who had no legitimate need for the medications.
The affidavit details the deaths of 12 patients. A Times review of coroners' reports identified several additional cases in which patients were treated by Diaz or received prescriptions from him and later died of overdoses.
In an interview with The Times in October, Diaz initially said he was aware of only one fatal overdose within his practice. After being questioned by reporters about individual cases, he acknowledged multiple deaths and said he shared blame in some of them.
"I do feel responsible," Diaz said in the interview, conducted in an examination room in his two-story office, which is wedged between a sports bar and a discount store. "I was the one providing the medications and perhaps there were some hints there that I should have known they were going to overdose."
Looking back, he said, the overdoses "gave me a good lesson."
Among those who died: A 49-year-old father who overdosed on painkillers after recently completing a 60-day drug rehab; a 35-year-old mother found dead in her bedroom by her young daughter, who was hosting a friend for a sleepover; an out-of-work county bus driver who overdosed on painkillers and other drugs as she grew increasingly depressed over the upcoming anniversary of her 20-year-old son's overdose death, which she attributed to her son taking painkillers that Diaz had prescribed to her.
The woman's husband, Amos Barajas, was one of several deceased patients' loved ones who raised concerns about Diaz's alleged overprescribing.

DEA Agents Arrest ‘Candy Man’ ~ Accused of Facilitating Addiction and 11 Fatal Overdoses
A 77-page affidavit unsealed this week by the DOJ lists the medications that Diaz reportedly over-prescribed most often: Oxycontin, Percocet, Vicodin, Norco, Fentanyl, and Methadone, to name some. Most of these drugs are taken to relieve moderate to serious pain. Many are habit-forming, and extended use increases a patient’s tolerance. The affidavit explains that numerous area health practitioners – physicians, psychiatrists, nurses, pharmacists – had written to the state medical board in recent years, expressing concern about Diaz’s prescribing practices and the frequency in which his patients would overdose, experience withdrawal symptoms, or have other issues with their medications.
Diaz, known to many as the “Candy Man,” is also accused of trading pills for sex.

CRY FOR HELP, lost, alone and steps away from homeless.    PILLS FOR SEX LABOR
Sandy Parnell, the wife of the Governor of Alaska, described Sex Trafficking as “modern day slavery.”
Source: United States Attorney's Office   COMMENTS
~~~~

Where are Michael Stinchfield's mug shots? UPDATE: STANLEY TOMCHIN

Is he a white business man or something?  

If he is out on bail, we would like to know if we see him around.  

Santa Barbara Independent:  Police took Michael Stinchfield into custody at around 5 a.m. in his 1724 Garden Street home after officers witnessed the women with visible injuries screaming and fleeing and from the two-story residence. Just prior to that, multiple neighbors had called 911 reporting a disturbance.

Stinchfield, 55, is booked in County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, making criminal threats, attempted rape, sexual battery, false imprisonment, dissuading a victim from calling police, and a hate crime.

Police have so far released few details surrounding the incident, citing the open investigation. They did note that officers have had multiple contacts with Stinchfield in recent weeks and months, but couldn’t elaborate on those encounters at this time.

"Time to stop calling him 'Santa Barbara businessman.' New name? Santa Barbara perp.."  SHOREBIRD

Last month and his troubles made this headline: 

 Hour Long Pursuit Started in Ventura

Is this the same guy?

A judge gave these rich white men a ridiculously low get out of jail
bail but at least there were mug shots. That wasn't enough to end the abuse
or the life of crime.  Santa Barbara Criminal Court Corruption is alive and well.
Micheal Stinchfield isn't the only perp on the prowl.
(NOT A MUGSHOT)  KEYT-TV VIDEO

STANLEY TOMCHIN

UPDATE:  Another one bites the dust.  

Sports-Betting Kingpin Arrested in Santa Barbara

Feds: Stanley Tomchin a Top Player in National Gambling Ring 

with Suspected Mob Ties

The son of jailed mafia boss Vincent 'Vinny Gorgeous' Basciano has been arrested on charges of helping to run a $50 million betting ring that operated across five states from New York to California.

25 People Indicted for Involvement in Illegal Sports Betting Enterprise

Sandra, a successful businesswoman, lost everything: children, mother, home, business, health, EVERYTHING, to methamphetamine. She went to prison.

UPDATE: STINCHFIELD MUGSHOT

* "Another One Bites the Dust" 

SAVAGES: America's backyard

Three-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone tackles the drug war in

America's backyard

Stone has a terrifying and convincing thesis as to why the film has to be set in America, with American characters: "The point," he says, "is that wars come home, they come home to roost. And there are connections: one of the two main guys has come home from Afghanistan and Iraq, and he's brought all that with him, what I think are new levels of cruelty and combat technology we have out there."

The thriller Savages is in the same brutal, druggy realm of Natural Born Killers, but Stone has evolved in the past decade and a half, and the new film has a deeper, more complicated perspective. The violence isn't a kick. It's horrifying, senseless. Amid the mayhem, you think, "It didn't have to go down this way."   Why does it? Business.

Oliver Stone's film, Savages, with  Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Taylor Kitsch,  Blake Lively ,
Salma Hayek, Benicio del Toro,  John Travolta ,  Demián Bichir...   C A S T
Dirty, Rotten, (Industrialized) ‘Savages’!

Salma Hayek’s Fierceness Is The Only Reason We Will Be Seeing Savages

Hayek had plenty to draw from in the lives of 

Griselda Blanco and the "La Reina del Pacífico" (Sandra Ávila Beltrán).

(Still at large though are such notorious female narcos as Ana Cristina Aguirre Monje)

The film is based on a book with the same name by Don Winslow, but while the book was released to acclaim, the film was released to mixed reviews.  The consensus is that the performances, with the exception of Blake Lively, are riveting. 

"How liberated from an agenda is this movie? 

Savages will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 13, 2012.  

WILL SAVAGES INFORM THE REST OF THE COUNTRY 

ABOUT THIS LITTLE SLICE OF AMERICAN BACKYARD? 

 Are homespun entrepreneurs/Pharma V the Mexican drug cartels coming to a turf near you?  Presidential contender Romney knows what American addicts have known for years, send the uninsured to a nearby hospital emergency room.  Some addicts go bi-weekly and are well known by staff.  "Yes every medic and ER doc knows... "  

Why not ask them?

"Drug addiction should be treated as a potentially fatal illness and not a crime"

Russell Brand

CRY FOR HELP/RUSSELL BRAND BEFORE COMMONS SELECT COMMITTEE

"My problems have gotten worse. Now I am also dealing with health issues, and it is definite that I will be needing surgery some time in the next month or so. 
I was served an eviction notice yesterday and am facing that situation also.
I have zero income, no phone, no car, and soon no house. I am at a check mate position 
and just want to give up. I cant take this anymore."

Liver transplantation / Kidney transplantation

Lost, alone and steps away from homeless, it is not enough of a deterrent.  (the fastest-growing group of homeless people in the United States is composed of single women with two or three children)  The characters change, the locations change, the substances change, yet it is the same stories told time and again.  "After Helen persuades him that "Don the writer" and "Don the drunk" are the same person, Don finally commits to writing his novel The Bottle, dedicated to Helen, which will recount the events of the weekend. He drops a cigarette into a glass of whiskey rather than drink it. He recalls that while packing for his lost weekend his mind was on a bottle suspended just outside his window, he ponders, over a reversal of the opening shot, how many other people in New York City are in the same position as he." 1945 The Lost Weekend

It seems simple when it was just The Bottle.  Now there is an excess from street drugs to pharmaceuticals.  With no end in sight of tortured addicted souls.  Growing are the professionals who make it all too easy:   Emergency room doctors at a Santa Barbara hospital saw a disturbing trend for more than a decade – patient after patient hooked on prescription drugs shared the same physician.   Dr. Julio Gabriel Diaz  "In addition, two women taken to a hospital emergency room indicated they were among numerous people who used sex to pay Diaz for narcotics, according to an affidavit filed in the case."
"Yes every medic and ER doc knows him. His nickname is Dr. Candy. Yes, every time I ran a call and found his name on the bottles, I documented it. As did Cottage hospital. We and they can only do so much and document so much. However, there is nothing more we could do but document and file complaints. For whatever reason, someone decided to take us seriously and take the next step. It is a shame it took so long."

Drug addiction should be treated as a potentially fatal illness and not a crime, 

comedian Russell Brand has told a parliamentary select committee.

RUSSELL BRAND BEFORE COMMONS SELECT COMMITTEE

THE FOLLOWING VIDEO IS WORTH A LISTEN.

  There is a bit of a culture clash here which makes his words and reactions to the committee members comments all the more valuable.  Parliament UK


Brand told MPs that more money should be devoted to treating and educating drug users, instead of punishing them, and suggested that ministers should consider decriminalisation.
What Happened When Portugal Decriminalized Drugs?
Santa Barbara girl Katy Perry & Russell Brand Are Now Official DIVORCED!!

Teenage Russell Brand  Ay ay ay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stay off the pipe!

... and do something about sucking on those nicotine sticks!

* It is being called the worst fire season of the decade *

This is when it gets disheartening to see workers with cigarettes hanging from their mouth.  Why can't they wait to take a break?  Hiring cheap labor isn't always the best answer, but that is how some of the old Santa Barbara privileged like to roll. Old families like tradition and they've made hiring under the table to escape labor costs a way of life.  They do it year after year and it works for them.  They don't seem to mind if they depend on henchmen to keep the crews in line, some sick stories are told in the hills of beautiful Santa Barbara.  Everyone else is not as happy with that arrangement, most of all during fire season.   Sure methheads need work too, but can't you find a foreman that can stay off the pipe?

It hasn't been that long since evacuating a large part of town was reality.  Yes, it could be worse if a fire sweeps down into our little tinder box of a town, no one is that safe.  And here we sit at the mercy of faulty equipment, wealthy cheapskates full of pride with how they play their slave labor games.

Red flag fire warning issued; 

lightning, gusty winds possible

Southern California fire danger to rise Wednesday

Memories are short.

    2009 Cody Duncan:  Here’s a few more pics of the Jesusita fire

 SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) -- Firefighters struggled Friday to get ahead of a raging wildfire that has moved dangerously close to heavily populated areas around this idyllic coastal city and forced the evacuation of an roughly 30,000 people.


Larry Williamson saved his Mountain Drive home from the Tea Fire. He was unable to save his Electric Truck.

Tagged ‘Santa Barbara fire’

millionaire meth
Life while using Meth is time spent waiting for death
Rich man, poor man, methamphetamine

Raging Panga!

July 28, 2012  Thirteen people were arrested early Thursday morning after U.S. Border Patrol and other authorities intercepted a Mexican panga-style boat carrying more than 6,600 pounds of marijuana along the Santa Barbara County coast.

About 1 a.m., border patrol agents observed the boat just off the shore of Las Flores Beach near Gaviota, according to the San Diego sector of U.S. Border Patrol.

Agents responded to the area and allegedly found the 27-foot boat with three outboard motors, which had come ashore.

A total of 300 bales of marijuana, totaling 6,620 pounds, were allegedly found on board, according to officials.  Read more:  COUNTY IN BRIEF    

 "Santa Barbara's Panga problem isn't going away anytime soon."  

Panga boats are commonly used to smuggle illegal drugs and people

KEYT PANGA NEWS (video) July 26, 2012

COAST GUARD NEWS

Mysterious Panga Boats Washing Ashore in Santa Barbara County
February 14, 2012

Man tied to drug smuggling panga sentenced to nearly 6 years in prison

A Panga in Trouble Could Be Trouble

Ongoing Maritime Invasion Leads To More Drug Busts

Pangas and Isthmuses

"Pangas-r'us" by John Thomas

 BREAKING BAD

Rich man, poor man, methamphetamine

Big Santa Barbara drug bust! Does crime pay? You look at the house and tell me!
Wow a big meth bust in Santa Barbara recently and the Santa Barbara news press missed reporting on one of the story’s. Of the 2 meth bust that occurred I am interested in The second Meth bust that took place at 2078 Las Canoas 93105 home of William Paxson.

The information below was taken from Sheriff’s web page in regards to the drug bust and is in the middle of posting.
“William Paxson – 11550(a) H&S – Under the influence of a controlled substance, 11364 H&S – Possession of drug paraphernalia, 11366 H&S – Maintaining a dwelling for drug use/sales. Bail was set at $2,500.”

Really 2500 bail, wow Santa Barbara District Attorneys are really going after the white over 60, living in 2 Million dollar home “Gangsters’ that’s O.G. baby! During my harassment and 5 different illegal arrests I had bail any where from 20,000 to 100,000 for words I never said. Worse than that there is a current rumor that law enforcement caught one of there own in these arrest, can that be true? Take a look at the house yourself! *Magic in Santa Barbara June 7, 2010

 Magic in Santa Barbara makes sense, the paper of record did not report the Mission Canyon drug bust. They just don't report on any of their friends or associates, that is how they roll. $2,500 bail? Was the fix already in? 

After a three month long investigation which included complaints and information from the general public, Narcotics Detectives arrested six subjects suspected of dealing and using Methamphetamine during the search warrant in the 2000 block of Las Canoas Rd. in Santa Barbara. * Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department

  DON'T DO METH VIDEO

    It is curious, after a three month long investigation, or was it six months?  Either way it was a heavy burden on the taxpayers to fund that investigation.  The public deserves good results and to keep the criminals off the streets.  Why is all that money spent to bust an operation at a remodeled million dollar property?  Who do you think is doing any time?  We heard more rumors about grand larceny and mysterious high end  collections gone missing. I don't know if one of law enforcement's own was caught but from the sound of it there was a den of thieves and they were ratting on one another.  They also blame the police.  Was law enforcement on the in or out of one of the planned heists?  One miscreant is still at his old game and none of that helps the addiction.  The next time they are caught it may not go so well for them, but for now, not much has changed.  Including the legal system that is so soft for rich, old and white dudes. The area’s methamphetamine problems have not improved and the County is throwing away money.

How is it the general public would know what goes on behind closed doors in Mission Canyon?  They don't, it was all inside the circle of wheelers and dealers.  The rumor about an inside job makes more sense.  An extensive investigation of a millionaire's bust is one thing.  for another, why was bail so low?  No reporting in the Santa Barbara News-Press and no follow up in any local media.  Although some of the culprits were repeat offenders, rumors of pedophilia and suspects in far more serious crimes.  Why do they get off so easy and why isn't the public warned?

 United forever and a day:  William Konrad, Paul A. Woellert, Jerry M. Boeff, William Pickett Paxson, Blue Major, Francine Marie Gabel
The ladies that get entangled are the ones most damaged.  The never ending cycle of dependency and addiction is death to their souls.  Before and after methamphetamine.  It only gets worse and worse and worse.

 SANTA BARBARA — Symptomatic of the area’s methamphetamine problem, sheriff’s officials this week conducted raids on two individual drug rings operating in close proximity to one another.
The first investigation led narcotics officers into the upscale residential foothill area high above the famed Santa Barbara Mission on Las Canoas Road. An ongoing series of neighborhood complaints from local community members initially alerted sheriff’s detectives to a specific house, upon which search warrants were served on May 25.
* Crime Voice

Rich man, poor man, methamphetamine.  In the Washington Post story of a Santa Barbara County bust bail was set at $30,000 each.
"Drug dealer mistakenly sends messages to Calif. police officer to sell methamphetamine"  May 30, 2012

These dealers called in there own bust, no expensive investigation. $30,000 bail for each.  Doesn't that tell you something?

"Axles to Grind"

Beware of Chop Shop malfeasance.

Montecito Motors Victims Speak Out; DA Mulls Criminal Charges

Thursday, December 9, 2010
Used car salespersons throughout Santa Barbara let out a collective groan when Montecito Motors closed in early September amid allegations that its owners father-son team Chet and Adam Taylor had duped dozens of clients out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Their scheme reportedly involved selling high-end, pre-owned cars out of their Chapala Street lot on consignment but then allegedly shirking contracts by fraudulently delaying payments, offering partial payments, or failing to disclose sales altogether.

Friday, May 18, 2012
Montecito Motors Father and Son Headed to Prison
13-Year and 11-Year Sentences Planned for Chet and Adam Taylor, Respectively

Old Montecito Motors

Montecito Motors in Santa Barbara, California has listed this 2008 Fisker Latigo CS on eBay.  With a starting bid of $90,000, the coachbuilt BMW M6 was designed by Henrik Fisker who also designed the BMW Z8, Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage.

 The whole town was burning mad! 

They come in all shapes and sizes.  Beware of Chop Shop malfeasance and millionaire methheads.

First I was Meth Millionaire.... 

Millionaire Methheads

Ex-Montecito Resident Cameron Douglas Awaiting Sentencing on Meth Charge

Millionaire methheads of Montecito