Two men...convicted of drugs offence...despite being caught with grounded Paracetamol and caffeine

Daily Mail [UK] ^ | 21 September 2012 | David Baker

[Slings and Arrows]

Two men have made UK legal history after being convicted of a drugs-related offence even though the substances involved are not illegal, police said.

Anthony Woodford, 23, and David Lewinson, 44, stood trial after Lewinson was found with 150kg of grounded Paracetamol and caffeine at Dover docks in Kent.

Although the substances are not illegal, investigators suspected they would be used as cutting agents for heroin, giving the Class A drug a street value of more than £5 million.

The Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate launched an investigation and identified Woodford as the organiser of the cross-Channel trip, which led on to a landmark prosecution.

The pair were charged under the Serious Crime Act 2007 with 'importing a quantity of caffeine and paracetamol which was capable of encouraging or assisting ... the supply of a controlled drug of Class A'.

At Maidstone Crown Court on Monday, a jury found Woodford, of Harlow, Essex, and Lewinson, of Colindale, north London, guilty of the offence.

[Slings and Arrows]

Coming soon to a country near you?

FWIW, I think that the perps were indeed going to deal drugs. I'm just not too thrilled with the idea of "pre-crimes."

P.S. Paracetamol is the British name for Tylenol / Acetaminophen.

[Squawk 8888]

Kinda like the third degree given to Americans who buy cold medicine. Sure the end product is horrific but let Darwin sort ‘em out.

[Moonman62]

FWIW, I think that the perps were indeed going to deal drugs.

So did the jury.

I'm just not too thrilled with the idea of "pre-crimes."

Being arrested and found guilty for carrying burglary tools has been around for a long time. Same concept.

[Slings and Arrows]

Eric Holder: "Why didn't *I* think of that?"

[2ndDivisionVet]

It's already illegal in many state, as is drug paraphernalia.

[Slings and Arrows]

The gravestone of the Constitution will bear the epitaph “It’s For Your Own Good.”

[jessduntno]

“The truck rental — $250. The fertilizer was about... it was either $250 or $500. The nitro methane was the big cost. It was like $1,500. Actually, lemme see, 900, 2,700,... we’re talking $3,500 there... Lets round it up. I just gave you the major expenses, so go to like five grand... what’s five grand?” — Timothy McVeigh, on the cost of the preparations

[Salamander]

If they had added some aspirin, they’d have had Excedrin Extra Strength.

[tdscpa]

And if they had been administered in an appropriate location a dose of approximately 300 grains of a mixture of cu and Pb, no drug laws would have even been a consideration.

[Slings and Arrows]

Very true...hey! I’ve got that stuff in my medicine cabinet! I’m a drug criminal!

[golux]

Hopefully one day we’ll be able to get these vicious perps for thoughtcrime long before they act.

[shibumi]

Just for fun I typed in "Extra, extra, extra strength" and them hit "Images." Here's some of what I got:

[Slings and Arrows]

Politicians are like condoms: They give you a false sense of security while you’re being *****ed.

[Slings and Arrows]

Doubleplusgood!

[BwanaNdege]

I often carry a screwdriver, (”Burglary tool”) especially when the Mrs has been having trouble with the Maytag... I only have to “walk up to it with a tool and a determined look on my face and it starts behaving”... or so she says.

[shibumi]

Much as I hate being serious at this (or any other) time of the night, I must point out that thoughtcrime is already a reality.

How else would you explain “hate crimes?”

They are assigning extra penalty for your intentions in doing something. Punishment should be meted out for the crime itself, not what you were feeling while you were doing it.

If you can be given extra punishment for the fact that you hated someone while you were beating him up, or burning down his house, then it’s no step at all to punish you for that hate in advance of the act.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

People like you our Founding Fathers fought against.
Then around 1900 we started to become them.

[Salamander]

Heh.

[Salamander]

FIEND!!!!

;D

[Salamander]

You are one warped dude.

[Salamander]

I don’t know of anybody who loved somebody while kicking his teeth in.

[Mad Dawgg]

"Being arrested and found guilty for carrying burglary tools has been around for a long time. Same concept."

Yep and slavery used to be legal.

But that doesn't make it right either.

[shibumi]

"You are one warped dude."

That's why we're so sympatico.

[shibumi]

"I don’t know of anybody who loved somebody while kicking his teeth in."

John Cougar Melonball said "Love Hurts So Good." Does that count?

[Salamander]

I knew you’d say that.

[Salamander]

Actually he said “Sometimes love don’t feel like it should...you make it hurt so good.”

Cool video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dOsbsuhYGQ

[huh...they raided my closet, apparently...the whips and chains make it ‘hurt so good’]

;]

[shibumi]

Then you probably also know that I’m going nite-nite now.....

(Have to return to the native soil before the first rays of the sun. You know the drill.)

[Salamander]

Someday you’ll lose that bucket of dirt and be in a world of hurt.

:)

[shibumi]

(G'Nicht!)

[glyptol]

And I have crowbar in the garage and that’s a burglars tool.
Let’s not mention the tire iron in the trunk... What could I potentially do with that?

Maybe he had a big headache. /s

[R. Scott]

Using caffeine (a stimulant) to cut heroin (a depressant) ?

[Right Wing Assault]

Lewinson was found with 150kg of grounded Paracetamol and caffeine

I assume he had a car or truck and wasn't just carrying the stuff.

That brings up another point. If they had a vehicle, they should certainly be arrested since a vehicle could be used to distribute drugs. Everyone with a vehicle should be arrested for this reason alone. /s

[Right Wing Assault]

Ingredients: acetaminophen, caffeine, aspirin.

Ah-ha! They were just waiting for the aspirin shipment so they could make counterfeit legal OTC medications.

[njslim]

150 kg!!!

Man that must be some migraine......

[Slings and Arrows]

That, or he *really* didn’t like his liver.

[Slings and Arrows]

We’re all criminals; some of us just haven’t been caught yet.

[Slings and Arrows]

Caffeine is known to enhance the effects of some analgesics. Or maybe they were just following a recipe they got from an equally ignorant buddy.

[SamAdams76]

The next step will be going after the preppers, you know, those with an "excessive" amount of ammunition, fuels, and other goods in their larders. No normal person would possess that much so they must be up to no good. Lock them up, confiscate their supplies and make them felons. That seems to be the ultimate agenda.

BTW, has anybody noticed the vast amount of surveillance cameras in public areas? I was walking through Boston Common a few days ago and those cameras were mounted everywhere. These cameras are mounted in every convenience store and gas station, even along highway overpasses.

I'm sure that the technology exists to store all the video being recorded by these cameras in central data centers in log files that are searchable. It's only a matter of time before law enforcement will have the ability to search these archives with face recognition software tools and determine exactly where you have been at any given time. With OCR technology, they could even run your license plate number in a search and see where you have been driving (and how fast you were going).

George Orwell was only a few decades off but his visions are slowly coming true.

[SamAdams76]

The next step will be going after the preppers, you know, those with an "excessive" amount of ammunition, fuels, and other goods in their larders. No normal person would possess that much so they must be up to no good. Lock them up, confiscate their supplies and make them felons. That seems to be the ultimate agenda.

BTW, has anybody noticed the vast amount of surveillance cameras in public areas? I was walking through Boston Common a few days ago and those cameras were mounted everywhere. These cameras are mounted in every convenience store and gas station, even along highway overpasses.

I'm sure that the technology exists to store all the video being recorded by these cameras in central data centers in log files that are searchable. It's only a matter of time before law enforcement will have the ability to search these archives with face recognition software tools and determine exactly where you have been at any given time. With OCR technology, they could even run your license plate number in a search and see where you have been driving (and how fast you were going).

George Orwell was only a few decades off but his visions are slowly coming true.

[xrmusn]

Kinda like the third degree given to Americans who buy cold medicine
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
When did that start?
Last week I bought a Nyquil or something along that line and had some other stuff...at the checkout line the clerk said I need a birth date for this. WHAT? She held up the cough medicine (10 fl oz) and said this...I said 1939 and she said, “I need the whole birth date”....dumfoundly, I gave in, figuring I would get the same BS most anywhere.
At least when they ask for a phone # or such for batteries or anything I will pop out an area code and seven #;s and be done with it.

Almost as bad as couple of months ago bought some O’Douls (AB non/alcohol beer(??)) and the clerk wanted to check my ID because of the alcohol????
I told him he must be working for tips, thanked him and showed my ID...when I pointed out it was N/A he kind of stammered and went about ‘our’ business.

MADNESS......

[Slings and Arrows]

Well said.

[Moonman62]

People like you our Founding Fathers fought against. Then around 1900 we started to become them.

Why do you say that?

[Right Wing Assault]

and how fast you were going

Do any toll roads check car times against distance and issue automatic speeding tickets? I hope they aren't reading this and get any ideas.

[R. Scott]

It doesn’t make much sense to me.

[21twelve]

I’m a little concerned about where to hide the big box of Costco Ziplock baggies I just bought.

[Right Wing Assault]

I’m a little concerned about where to hide the big box of Costco Ziplock baggies I just bought.

And I bet you drove there in a car that could be used in the crime they will say you were planning. It had gas in the tank that could be used to make fire bombs to throw at the police when they try to arrest you.

I don't know what to tell you. Take care!

[Slings and Arrows]

They’re the drug dealer equivalent of script kiddies

[JustSayNoToNannies]

Being arrested and found guilty for carrying burglary tools has been around for a long time. Same concept.

Not the same concept - what these guys were found with were legal substances that you or a family member have probably been in possession of.

[JustSayNoToNannies]

The pair were charged under the Serious Crime Act 2007 with 'importing a quantity of caffeine and paracetamol which was capable of encouraging or assisting ... the supply of a controlled drug of Class A'.

Isn't ANY quantity capable of encouraging or assisting the supply of a corresponding amount of a controlled drug of Class A?

[Slings and Arrows]

Isn't ANY quantity capable of encouraging or assisting the supply of a corresponding amount of a controlled drug of Class A?

Got it in one!