U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Celebrating Big H.A.W.K.'s Legacy With Bun B & More

Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday that isn't a national holiday (or thereabouts), Rocks Off will have some of them here discussing issues relevant to their culture. Photo illustration by John Seaborn Gray​This Week's Panel: Bun B, Paul Wall, Lil O, Starch ... More >>

ACLU: When Facing Death, Lizards Are Treated More Humanely Than Humans

Does Cleve Foster deserve a death at least as humane as that of a lizard? The ACLU thinks so.​The pets of those on death row would be treated more humanely than their owners, if the animals were sitting in the execution chamber instead of them. According to a report released by the American C ... More >>

Houston's NORML Chapter Pees on the DEA in Protest

It's not likely to rank up there with the great protests of all time, but it has been documented forever. Members of the Houston chapter of NORML gathered outside the regional offices of the Drug Enforcement Agency yesterday to protest what they say is the agency's habit of killing pets while makin ... More >>

Texas Is a Lying Junkie When it Comes to Buying Death-Penalty Drugs, Inmates Say

Anything for a fix, man.​You know those guys who are masters at faking prescriptions or massaging paperwork in order to abuse their drug of choice? Texas might be a member of that club. Two TDCJ inmates are complaining to feds that the state's paperwork shows the mandatory DEA registration n ... More >>

Gerald Ratinov: Busted for Running Big Pill-Mill Operation

Bye-bye, Abundant Life and Weight Loss Center.​A doctor with the Bond-like sinister name of Gerald Ratinov, along with 18 others, has been arrested in connection with a major prescription painkiller operation, District Attorney Pat Lykos and the local branch of the federal Drug Enforcement Age ... More >>

Last Night: Ozzy Osbourne At Toyota Center

Photos by Groovehouse​Ozzy Osbourne Toyota Center January 18, 2011 See pics from last night's show, featuring Ozzy and opener Slash, in our slideshow. For metal fans like Aftermath, Ozzy Osbourne's now 42-year-long career represents a platinum standard of evil cool. You start with Black Sabb ... More >>

One Last Hit of K-2

Fake weed's final freewheeling days

Cover Story: K2 Ban Comes As Our Story Goes To Press, And We Are Kinda Happy

K2: We test-drove before the ban​I have to say, I kind of wondered when the Drug Enforcement Agency was going to crack down on K-2 and other THC-simulating substances. What's more, although I am pretty Libertarian when it comes to drugs, I was relieved. It was easy to predict the DEA ban for ... More >>

Biggest PCP Bust In DEA History Is Houston Proud

We're the biggest!​Houston is all about being the biggest and best, so if anyone should hold the record for biggest PCP bust in the history of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, it's us, dammit. And now we do. Eight Houstonians have been arrested and 57 freaking gallons of PCP confiscated, Ho ... More >>

Six Songs That Shoot First, Ask Questions Later

​If there's one musician whose advice is worth heeding, it ought to be Johnny Cash. But when the Man in Black sang "Don't Take Your Guns To Town," a whole lot of musicians must not have been listening. Perhaps they were tuning in one of Cash's other songs that takes a different point of view - ... More >>

What's My Crime 2: Bad Girls Edition

1. Gemma Lambino​Welcome to the second installment of What's My Crime?, a contest wherein you, dear Hair Balls reader, get to try to match a mugshot to a crime.We're changing things up a little this time around. First, we've shortened the list from ten mugs to five.We're also including a sixth que ... More >>

HISD Rejects Another New Source of Revenue, For Now

Photo courtesy HISD​Is the Houston ISD Police Department about to expand its drug interdiction efforts to include the seizure of teachers' and students' cars and trucks? No, HISD has no plans for that, a laughing district spokesman Norm Uhl said this morning. Last night the board approved two m ... More >>

The H-Town Countdown: Clearing the Table and Tying Up Loose Ends

Roughly 84,000 rap albums have been released in Houston since 1989. We're counting down the 25 best of all time every Thursday. Or we were. Got a problem with the list? Shove it. Just kidding. Friendship. Email it to sheaserrano@gmail.com. Well, it's over. We stretched it out just about as long as ... More >>

A Shake-Up At BARC, For Better Or Worse

​BARC went through some housecleaning yesterday -- in a big way.In addition to the firing of veterinarian Eunice Ohashiegbula-Iwunze, other BARC personnel issues Wednesday included the resignation of Administrative Supervisor Dorian Strickland and a "disciplinary procedure in process" for vet tech ... More >>

More BARC News: The Hammer Comes Down On Two Vets

Photo by maarjaara The Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners has fined BARC Chief Veterinarian Eunice Ohashiegbula and former BARC vet David Rundell for violating U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and Texas Veterinary Licensing Act requirements. In Texas, veterinarians who dispense cont ... More >>

Bacliff's 4th Street Players Gang Gets Hit With Federal Prison

As Hurricane Ike threatened the Upper Texas Coast, we went to press with the story of the 4th Street Players, a predominantly white Anglo street gang in the Galveston Bay town of Bacliff. Nine members of the gang, who wore red colors in emulation of LA's Blood gangs, had been arrested in May of last ... More >>

BARC's Firing Of Vet Doesn't Add Up

On Tuesday, Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care veterinarian Gil Costas was fired for what Health and Human Services Department spokeswoman Kathy Barton said was not having proper state certification.Barton said Costas did not have "site-specific" Texas Department of Public Safety controlled-su ... More >>

The Tango Blast Houstone Gang Takes A Hit

Local and federal agents in an anti-gang task force charged with waging the much-debated "War on Drugs" have nabbed another round of bad guys, this time more than a dozen members of Texas' largest prison gang, Tango Blast Houstone. Acting Houston U.S. Attorney Tim Johnson announced today that 14 mem ... More >>

Now We Know Why Wal-Mart Has That Smiley Face

The U.S. Attorney's office has just announced the break-up of a major drug operation. It was run by Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, so you know it was convenient and cheap.Wal-Mart Stores paid the Southern District of Texas a $637,000 fine in order to close cases involving Wal-Mart Pharmacy and Sam's Club ... More >>

Mescaline on the Mexican Border

Texas is the only state in the country where peyote is sold legally. Really.

U.S. informants take part in murder and drug running in Mexico

Rants About Stuff

A Bevy of Bad News

Undercover of the Night

Violent shootouts and dangerous love collide in Mann's visceral Vice

RIP, Syd. And RIP, 'Cid.

A psychedelic pioneer and the drug that helped do him in are both sorely missed

Feel My Pain

A reporter goes after the online drug business and gets wasted

Feel My Pain

A reporter goes after the online drug business and gets wasted

Fool's Gold

Desperate clients hand over thousands of dollars for a chance at a job

The Last Ride

The HSPCA has tightened controls on its lethal "blue juice." But it's too late to matter for Anthony Helzer.

Stoner Science

Our staff risks all to determine if a plant will get them high or if it's just another Internet lie

High Scores

Students are using drugs illegally not to party down, but to get better marks on exams

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Hawk

Saturday, December 7

The Cannabis Caper

How a citizen's donation to NORML got routed to the DEA

Curiouser and Curiouser

Ex-congressman Stockman is labeled a co-conspirator in prescription fraud

Dead Man Talking

Ben Guillory helped the DEA bust some east Houston dope dealers. But he says the agency's cavalier approach has left him a marked man in his old neighborhood.

Lean & Mean

Those who drink codeine syrup call it lean because of its most obvious effect: a loss of coordination. Those who study the drug call it liquid crack. Those who abuse it can wind up dead.

War Games

With Traffic, Steven Soderbergh takes an unblinking look at America's drug policies

In Arms' Way

Phil Arms once saved Ron Garner from a life of sin. Garner tried to return the favor when confronted with evidence of the preacher's drug use. But Arms viewed it as just a Judas kiss.

Here's Johnny

Reformed and reborn, the man now pushes the word of God, not drugs. So why does it still feel like the Johnny Binder Show?

Methadone Meltdown

Dr. Amos and Cecilia Ozumba ran Houston Maintenance Clinic for four years. Have they finally run it into the ground?

News of the Weird

The Hotel Six Joker Turns Wild

A chance encounter and a federal feud endanger the sting

In Their Own Words

Judging by the idle chatter of Hotel Six politicos, the moral barometer at City Hall is in free fall

Take the Cash and Talk That Trash

The hotel six sting hits the little screen

(Not) of Counsel

In the latest chapter of Snitch Vs. Snitch, two of the city's top defense lawyers are prevented from representing a client

Snitch Vs. Snitch

In the drug world, you can't trust anybody - especially a federal informant

Air Disaster

Bruckheimer's production shows all his Con-temptible traits

Press Picks

Ritalin on Trial

While some Houston parents fight what they charge is "a river of Ritalin" running through the schools, one father has gone to court to try to prove that, for his son, Ritalin use is Ritalin abuse.

Hollow Points

Besson's bullet ballet The Professional is slick, but morally ugly