Jaunted

Tags: Drug Travel / Drugs / SFO / Marijuana / → All Tags

San Fran Lets Medical Marijuana Take To Its Skies

Thanks to the TSA, travelers have all kinds of hoops to jump through when it’s finally time to catch your flight. Everyone knows there’s some math formula with the number three and something about one ounce when it comes to the rules regarding liquids and plastic baggies. Well if you have something else that weighs an ounce and comes in a plastic bag you won’t have to do much to get through security. Medical marijuana patients can now pass through the San Francisco International Airport and other Bay Area airports without any issues, or so they say.

As long as you have the proper paperwork you can carry up to eight ounces of marijuana with you. That’s the city’s policy, and it’s up to city police to make the final ruling. The TSA kind of has no authority over the issue, but if we had some healing hooch we’d still probably be a little discrete when going through airport security. The US Department of Justice pretty much told US attorneys to not bother passengers when they are just following the state’s rules and regulations.

more ›

Tags: Drug Travel / Drugs / MIA / Crime / → All Tags

A Drug Bust Of Bootleg Little Blue Pills Is Keeping Men Down

Drugs and airplanes hanging out together is nothing new, after all we’ve seen a lot of smuggling rings busted over the last year. Just recently officials caught up with a group that thought cocaine should get a first class seat aboard American Airlines. Well US Customs and Border Protection made another discovery, but this time the drug was a little more uplifting than the usual white powder or wacky tobacky.

Last week officials at the Miami International Airport seized over 20,000 counterfeit Viagra pills. That’s like fifty pounds of bootleg medication. It was a shipment from India that looked a little sketchy, and once they cracked it open they knew the pills were not on their way to your local Walgreens.

more ›

Tags: Drug Travel / Drugs / American Airlines / Crime / Southwest Airlines / → All Tags

The Cocaine Smugglers Of American Airlines Spotlight Puerto Rico's Drug Problems

They say it never snows in Puerto Rico, but there was a whole bunch of white powder hitting the fan when some crew were arrested over the weekend after their cocaine smuggling operation of over a decade was found out.

According to the AP, the workers, a "mix of baggage handlers and other members of the ground crew, were part of a ring suspected of sending at least 9,000 kilograms (19,840 pounds) of cocaine over the past decade to destinations that include Miami and Orlando, Florida, and New Jersey. Of course this just throws the spotlight onto Puerto Rico as a major stepping stone to the US for drug traffickers, what with the lack of customs since Puerto Rico is already American soil.

more ›

Tags: Drug Travel / Drugs / American Airlines / Crime / → All Tags

American Airlines Crew Busted After Decade Of Smuggling Cocaine

You won't see it offered with in-flight meal service, but that doesn't mean your flight crew hasn't got a stash of it in the back; it's cocaine, and $20 million dollars worth of the nose candy has apparently been ferried into and out of Puerto Rico by American Airlines staff since 1999. The drug traffickers were recently arrested in a sting, with most cuffed in Puerto Rico where they would load up the suitcases stuffed with illicit substances.

While crossing international borders may be as easy as going to the drug store for flight crews, this one seems to have made it a drug store business. Along with the arrests, the police seized some $18 million dollars worth of property owned by the men, so they weren't exactly playing it cool. Still, it did take the DEA some ten years to catch them; we would have thought they'd have quit by now to live in the lap of ill-gotten luxury, but greed for more had properly caused them to hold onto their menial American Airlines jobs so long.

more ›

Tags: Drug Travel / Drugs / National Parks / → All Tags

Wacky Tobaccy Infiltrates Yosemite National Park

Free weekends at the country’s national parks may be over for the summer season, but there’s still plenty of excitement to be found—especially at Yosemite National Park. There is a lot of new plant life to discover, especially if you are looking to find some of the illegal variety. However, you better hurry up!

Last week, park rangers destroyed almost 5,000 marijuana plants within the park, and these little green buds had a value of nearly $19 million. Not only are the plants obviously illegal, but the growers are leaving all kinds of crap in the parks as well. Rangers got rid of 400 pounds of fertilizer, 3,000 feet of irrigation hose, and 200 pounds of trash. We’re just glad the rangers got to it before Yogi and friends did.

more ›

Tags: Laos Field Trip / Laos Travel / Jaunted Field Trips / Drug Travel / → All Tags

Won't You Come Try Laos' Special 'Magic Mushroom Shakes?'

Even though the recession has hampered exotic travel, there are still those intrepid explorers going all out. All this week, our Cambodian embed Claire will share experiences from her trip to Laos.

Veng Vieng, a backpacker ghetto seven hours south of Luang Prabang by bus, is probably the seediest place along the travelers’ route, yet it can be easily skipped by people who don’t consider drinking whiskey and floating down river on an inner tube fun. Nonetheless, it's much beloved by those who do.

As I'm still in my twenties,I feel quite young, but not in Veng Vieng. The town exists for and because of 19-year-old English kids in body paint, faux-hawks and tank tops, so my similarly aged friends and I, when we left Veng Viang all with various illnesses, learned our bodies no longer have the capacity to handle spring break.

The adventure began when the bus from Luang Prabang dropped us off in the middle of the night on an abandoned road outside town. The noise of our conversation awoke angry dogs in warehouses as we walked past in the direction—we believed—of town. Heat lightning struck, knocking out the lights from occasional streetlamps. An hour or so later, we found the town and a guesthouse with an insomniac owner who could let us in.

more ›

Tags: Drug Travel / Russia Travel / Aeroflot / Drugs / Illicit Travel / → All Tags

Fly the Drug-Addled Skies of Aeroflot

Often we wonder why airlines still remind you, at the beginning of every flight, that "this is a non-smoking flight," because who can remember the last time open flame was welcomed in the sky? Of course, this innocent reminder goes for the flight attendants just as much as the passengers, but apparently needs to be broadened into "this is a non-bonging flight" for some Russian crew.

Thanks to Gadling, we've been turned on to this video of a possible Aeroflot crew not only smoking in the galley, but fashioning a plastic bottle into a personal bong for smoking hash. Aside from the obvious major no-nos associated with this (like setting something on fire, doing drugs on the job and doing drugs on the job when you're job is to protect the safety of others), we wonder at their stupidity to then film it and post it online.

If anyone happens to speak Russian and can translate their giggly words, which we bet are saying "oh man, this is totally going to get us fired," then let us know in the comments, because from now on, we'll be wondering what exactly is going down in the big galley in the back.

Related Stories:
· Russian flight crew smoking pot mid-flight [Gadling]
· Pilot and Stewardess smoke hashish during flight [LiveLeak]
· Drug Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Drug Smuggling / Drug Travel / Heathrow / SAA / South Africa / → All Tags

Second SAA Flight Crew Accused of Drug Smuggling

We know it's a tough time for everyone working in the travel industry, but have things really sunk this low for South African Airways employees?

For the second time in a month, the entire crew of an SAA flight from Johannesburg to London Heathrow was arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling. The first incident took place January 21, when 15 crew members were arrested at customs and £310,000 pounds of cocaine and cannabis were seized. Apparently Heathrow cops were not all that concerned, because the crew was released on bail, with a hearing set for March 23.

Then this weekend, the entire 15-person crew of another SAA flight was arrested at Heathrow, this time with £250,000 of the white stuff. Makes us wonder how many flight crews have gotten away with this sort of thing!

· Airline crew held over 'cocaine haul' [Telegraph]
· Drug smuggling coverage [Jaunted]
· Drug travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: worlddiscoverer]

Tags: Drug Travel / Where Is / Michael Phelps / Marijuana / College Tours / Rosetta Stone / → All Tags

Where is Michael Phelps' Bong?

In case you were too involved with your seven-layer dip last night and missed the news, the ubiquitous British tabloids caught Michael Phelps smoking the pot. Apparently he was rocking out at a house party at the University of South Carolina in November, when someone snapped a pic of him using a marijuana smoking device.

more ›

Tags: Crime / Dangerous Travel / Drug Travel / → All Tags

Tijuana: Now More Dangerous Than Baghdad?

You know the violence is getting out of hand in Tijuana when Marines from nearby Camp Pendleton in California are now effectively prohibited from visiting. The new rules apply to 44,000 Marines, many of whom who have recently been in Iraq and Afghanistan or are there now, and were implemented during the Christmas holiday and extended indefinitely. Base commanders cite Tijuana's shocking rise in gang violence, with 843 killings in 2008 compared with only 337 in 2007. Marines can still visit Tijuana, but it takes plenty of planning and the proper authorization. According to USA Today, Marines now need written approval from a lieutenant colonel or higher-ranking officer to cross the border, and must also "complete anti-terrorism training, receive a military security briefing, and 'use the buddy system.'" Sounds like a lot of time and effort to go through for some R&R. The irony of preventing people who've spent time in Middle East war zones from guzzling cheap tequila in TJ isn't lost on anyone, but the military seems to have taken a better-safe-than-sorry approach. After all, Baghdad might be dangerous, but Tijuana is where authorities recently nabbed Santiago Meza Lopez, who confessed to dissolving the bodies of 300 murdered enemies of a drug kingpin in vats of acid. Any reasonable person would proceed with caution.

[Photo: USA Today]

Related Stories:
· Tijuana Off-Limits To U.S. Marines [USA Today]
· Base Commanders Issue New Restrictions on Travel to Mexico [Stars and Stripes]
· Alleged Acid Disposal Man for Mexico Gang Nabbed [AP]
· Tijuana Tourism Struggles as Violence Itensifies [Jaunted]

Tags: Drug Travel / Drugs / Crime / Laura Zúñiga / → All Tags

Miss Sinaloa Wrapped Up In Guns And Cash Rap

Laura Zúñiga, a Mexican pageant beauty from Sinaloa who was set to represent her country at Miss International 2009, was arrested Tuesday in Guadalajara, riding in an SUV packed with seven men, two assault rifles, three pistols, 500 rounds of ammo, 16 cell phones and $53,000 in cash. Cops say one of the guys is a leader of the Juárez drug cartel, an organization that has loose links to the Pacific Cartel.

The alleged drug lieutenant is also Zúñiga's boyfriend, who she claims kidnapped her and forced her into the exceedingly suspicious vehicle. That's not so hard to believe in Mexico, where even anti-kidnapping experts get taken hostage in news so ironic it'd be funny if it weren't so tragic.

Hundreds of people are kidnapped in Mexico every year, and the US State Department has this warning:

Kidnapping, including the kidnapping of non-Mexicans, continues at alarming rates. So-called express kidnappings, an attempt to get quick cash in exchange for the release of an individual, have occurred in almost all the large cities in Mexico and appear to target not only the wealthy, but also the middle class.

Related Stories:
· Mexico: Guns, Cash and a Tiara [NYT]
· Enjoy the Beach while Ducking RPGs in Mexico [Jaunted]
· Scenic Sinaloa: The Center of Mexico's Drug War [Jaunted]

[Photo: Huffington Post]

Tags: Drugs / Drug Travel / Crime / Dangerous Travel / Videos / → All Tags

Just How Dangerous Is Mexico?

When Robert Rodriguez released "Desperado" in 1995, he couldn't have known that a decade later Mexico would be locked in a horrifying drug war responsible for thousands of corpses. But that's the case, at least according to the US State Department which recently released an update to its travel alert for the country:

Some recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have taken on the characteristics of small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and, on occasion, grenades. Firefights have taken place in many towns and cities across Mexico but particularly in northern Mexico, including Tijuana, Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez.

A number of areas along the border are experiencing rapid growth in the rates of many types of crime. More than 1,600 cars were reportedly stolen in Ciudad Juarez in the month of July 2008, and bank robberies there are up dramatically. Rates for robberies, homicides, petty thefts and carjackings have all increased over the last year across Mexico generally, with notable spikes in Tijuana and northern Baja California.

more ›