Traveling The Silk Road to the Deep Web’s Darkest Corner

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Via a popular online service, cocaine, prescription pills and heroin may just be a mouse click away from reaching your child

There is a scene in Steven Soderbergh’s 2000 film Traffic in which a teenage girl says something that has become, for the most part, a generally recognized truth about high school. “For someone my age,” the character says, “it’s a lot easier to get drugs than it is to get alcohol.”

Indeed, typing the term “easier to get drugs than alcohol” into a Google search box returns more than 12,000 pages, with thousands upon thousands of Internet users stating what many parents fear - that for their children, obtaining illegal drugs is anything but a challenge. What most parents are unaware of, however, is how the Internet is potentially making it even easier for youth to obtain drugs. In the 21st century, teens do not necessarily have to seek out dealers to procure marijuana or cocaine; in fact, scoring illicit substances these days could be as simple as turning on a monitor and making a few mouse clicks. At first glance, the Silk Road - a popular online marketplace - looks like any other website; just passing by, one likely wouldn’t be able to distinguish the service from eBay, Craigslist or any of the myriad other electronic bazaars on the Internet.

Update: Federal Civil Rights suit aimed at Alabama Sheriff who ran Scared Straight-like Program

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The Anniston Star is reporting that a federal civil rights lawsuit has been filed against a Calhoun County, Ala., Sheriff who is accused of running a program that put juveniles into close contact with hardened criminals in a manner that is similar to the "scared straight" programs.

The Star quotes experts as saying the way Sheriff Larry Amerson operated the program runs contrary to federal and state law. The suit was brought by the father of a juvenile identified as J.B. It alleges that at one point during a recent visit by J.B., a deputy and an inmate verbally and physically abused him, pushing him and hurling racial slurs at him. The suit says that Amerson later came to speak to the boy. The Star obtained a copy of a video of part of that conversation, showing Amerson  "grabbing and holding down a boy dressed in an orange-striped inmate jumpsuit. The boy, whom the suit identifies as J.B., is shackled and has his hands cuffed behind his back during the incident," wrote The Star's Cameron Steele.

The Educational Cost of Illegal and Undocumented Students.

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The State Board of Education will be required to show the amount of money it spends to educate illegal and undocumented students each year if HB 296 passes. Required information would include, teacher student ratio, the number of students who are illegal or undocumented in each school district and expenditure per-illegal or undocumented student per year. The cost will then be factored into the state budget before it’s presented to the State House and Senate appropriations committees. The same requirements would also extend to hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities. Legal analysts point out that the constitutionality of the bill may be called in question due to a Supreme Court Ruling in 1982.

New Worry for Parents: Teens Sniff Trendy Product for Huffing High

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One of the most popular body sprays for teenage boys may be used for more than body odor. In fact, some kids like the smell of AXE Body Spray so much they are inhaling it to get high. “Many parents don’t question a body spray inhalant if kids are huffing because many parents have the scent around them,” said Colleen Creighton from inhalant.org. Message boards on the Internet are buzzing with questions from parents and teens about this trend.  Some people on Facebook and other websites share instructions on how to use AXE to get high.  Users may soak a towel or a shirt sleeve and breathe it in, while others may spray it directly into their mouths. Body sprays like AXE are cheap and sold everywhere.  By contrast, Georgia regulates the sale of model glue to anyone under the age of 18.