Dazed and Confused: They were not elves delivering Christmas "gifts" to good boys and girls

***Updated***

Lexington County Deputies arrested two guys for transporting dope yesterday, a lot of dope, 55 pounds worth of the stuff.

From The State:

Officers developed information during an on-going investigation of drug dealing in the Gaston community that a large amount of marijuana would be transported to Pine Ridge, Metts said. Officers said they saw the suspects riding in a pickup truck and conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle.

Officers spotted two large plastic trash bags in the bed of the pickup, Metts said. Marijuana was seen from the open end of the bags.

In the bags were 16 plastic zip-lock bags that each held about one pound of marijuana, Metts said. Officers also said they found three bales of marijuana in the cab of the pickup. Each bale weighed about 13 pounds, he said. A shotgun and $956 in cash were also found in the truck, Metts said.

Really? In the back of a pick up truck in plastic bags, I suppose that's nondescript enough - but the bales in the cab? That's just screaming arrest me! arrest me!

And so LCSD did and now Terry Jerome Frederick, 34 of Patridge Road, and Berley O'Brian Greene, of Burch Drive, are behind bars and odds despite the German and Irish names they'll be in jail a really really long time, probably much longer than if they were German or Irish, or the wealthy white male Treasurer of South Carolina .

But Metts isn't the only one to make a big catch this week. Leon caught a doozy too.

From WIS:

A Columbia woman is behind bars after pleading guilty to her involvement in trafficking six tons of marijuana.

According to the Richland County Solicitor's Office, Angela Fuller was arrested in July of 2007 and admitted to purchasing cocaine from an undercover Richland County deputy.

She also confessed to being a part of a drug ring alleged to have trafficked 40 kilos of cocaine and 12,000 pounds of marijuana in the two years prior to her arrest.

That's a sh*t ton of pot. Six of 'em . Expect to hear about more big arrests in the coming months as the economic situation worsens. As Wanda Sykes said the price of weed never goes down. And as we reported in our first ever post last year -- it hasn't, in fact it's going up.

Is it possible that marijuana could face a it's own South Sea Bubble, or perhaps more appropriately it's own version of Tulip Mania? Who can say, but it's possible - marijuana is a recreational drug, a leisure activity, and is only used by certain people right?

It's like contemporary art, certain classes of people find an appeal to it and use it, in the case of art - the wealthy are the ones who purchase it in part because the price has skyrocketed to such that even now only the wealthy can afford art. Although that's about to change as the art bubble is about to pop.

But marijuana isn't like art, yeah it may be something purchased out of (illicit) desire, but it can also be purchased out of necessity. Thirteen states now have laws on the books respecting the medical properties of marijuana. And it's not illegal to purchase artwork, unless it's stolen, unlike marijuana and while pot proponents are cautiously celebratory, it appears that the incoming Obama Administration isn't a friend indeed to the 'movement'.

Full disclosure, I agree with the Libertarians (the real ones not South Carolina Whigs) on drug policy, and as a liberal I think we could regulate and tax it, why not we do it to cigarettes and booze. And to bring this wagon full circle - with the continued economic downturn you can expect to see a lot more arrests such as the ones above, just as you'll also note that liquor and beer makers will be a good investment for actual returns.

So, Ho. Ho. Ho. and Puff. Puff. Pass. y'all.

***Update***

As if to underscore my point RCSD has arrested a man Frederick Mansfield in the early morning hours for transporting in excess of 50 lbs of pot, and who was in possession of at least $30k. Astonishing.

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