Free Republic

The profit margin for organized crime from contraband tobacco has surpassed the drug trade according to a new report by the Virginia State Crime Commission as reported by Frank Green for the Richmond Times-Dispatch: "drug dealers are switching to cigarettes because there is plenty of money to be made, less violence and the penalties if caught are much lighter." Last year CNBC ran the documentary Cigarette Wars which claimed the United States "loses $5 billion in tax revenue every year from the trafficking of illegal cigarettes" as reported by Brian A. Shactman: "The crime has several variations, but it's extremely...

Methamphetamine use is rare in most of the United States, not the raging epidemic described by politicians and the news media, says a study by an advocacy group. Meth is a dangerous drug but among the least commonly used, The Sentencing Project policy analyst Ryan King wrote in a report issued Wednesday. Rates of use have been stable since 1999, and among teenagers meth use has dropped, King said. "The portrayal of methamphetamine in the United States as an epidemic spreading across the country has been grossly overstated," King said. The Sentencing Project is a not-for-profit group that supports alternatives...