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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDrug-Sniffing Police Dogs Are Intercepting Abortion Pills in the Mail
The InterceptHours later, Ed Steed, a police officer from the small city of Richland, just south of Jackson, walked into a back room at the post office where one of the envelopes had been set aside. Steed, a K-9 handler, arrived with Rip, his narcotics sniffer dog. Rip strode around and, when he got to the pink envelope, sat down. According to records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, Steed said this meant the dog had smelled narcotics. That claim became evidence to get a warrant to open the envelope.
This, though, was no ordinary drug bust. As it turned out, there were pills inside the package, but they were not the kind that Rip or other police K-9s are trained to detect. The envelope contained five pills labeled AntiPreg Kit. They were made in India, and their medical purpose is to induce abortion. Dwayne Martin, at the time the head of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Jackson, told me this was exactly what the initial tipster had suspected.
About two-thirds of abortions in the U.S. in 2023 were done with mifepristone and misoprostol, the two-pill combination found in AntiPreg and similar products. Most were prescribed by clinicians at brick-and-mortar offices or through telehealth appointments. The World Health Organization advises that the pills are so safe in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy that supervision by a medical clinician is not needed. Taking the pills without clinician oversight is called self-managed abortion.
ThoughtCriminal
(14,241 posts)Legitimate pharmacies do not put pills in envelopes in Post Office lobbies.
Freethinker65
(10,912 posts)Use Jesus saves or similar packaging. Include religious incense.
ToxMarz
(2,221 posts)Which I'm sure never actually happened. Would you think the drug dealers pack their shipments in the post office lobby?
WarGamer
(14,713 posts)LauraInLA
(1,094 posts)even using archive.ph, and there is nothing posted on the Intercepts website excerpt indicating this is satire.
Cirsium
(481 posts)LauraInLA
(1,094 posts)BootinUp
(48,551 posts)In my opinion.
Bernardo de La Paz
(50,505 posts)BootinUp
(48,551 posts)you believe what you want
Cirsium
(481 posts)Here is an excerpt from a statement by the Intercept from about 4 years ago:
The narrative Glenn presents about his departure is teeming with distortions and inaccuracies all of them designed to make him appear as a victim, rather than a grown person throwing a tantrum. It would take too long to point them all out here, but we intend to correct the record in time. For now, it is important to make clear that our goal in editing his work was to ensure that it would be accurate and fair. While he accuses us of political bias, it was he who was attempting to recycle the dubious claims of a political campaign the Trump campaign and launder them as journalism.
We have the greatest respect for the journalist Glenn Greenwald used to be, and we remain proud of much of the work we did with him over the past six years. It is Glenn who has strayed from his original journalistic roots, not The Intercept.
BootinUp
(48,551 posts)The again, almost all of the headlines from every outlet smell like cheap journalism to me.
BootinUp
(48,551 posts)I hear you.
glad anyone bothered to mention it though
WarGamer
(14,713 posts)And literally NO hits.
Except the Intercept.
eShirl
(18,718 posts)good to know
WarGamer
(14,713 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(50,505 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(50,505 posts)Reading articles helps make useful posts.
Cirsium
(481 posts)The article seems legit to me. What are you seeing?
WarGamer
(14,713 posts)Many of the elements to the story exist elsewhere or are supported by other reporting. The relatively minor part about the one specific dog sniffing event may not be reported elsewhere, but that would not be surprising. The story is not mainly about that one incident, and I do find the reporting on that incident to be credible.
I applaud your due diligence, by the way. If the story about the dog is fabricated, that would discredit the reporter and the article. I don't see any evidence that is was fabricated, but of course it could have been. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. I find the story credible, but of course I could be wrong.
WarGamer
(14,713 posts)Cirsium
(481 posts)Which part of the long article would be "a HUGE story, for many reasons if true?" The part about the drug sniffing dog? If that is what you think is important, I disagree.
The ongoing war against reproductive freedom is the "huge story." That is what the article is about.
WhiskeyGrinder
(23,585 posts)that was mentioned in the tip, JFC.
Cirsium
(481 posts)That would be my guess.
Tactical Peek
(1,251 posts). . . only that the author, Debbie Nathan, is indeed a reporter at the Intercept.
And that Dwayne Martin is the name of a former USPS postal inspector.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dwayne-martin-b6854910b_it-has-been-a-bitter-sweet-day-i-have-retired-activity-7047161142384705536-phOp
And that a Ed Steed has worked in law enforcement in the area.
I do wonder about a cop from Richland walking his dog through a Jackson post office etc, jurisdictionwise.
BaronChocula
(2,378 posts)I googled Debbie Nathan and satire and got no hits. Nothing else I search for regarding the facts in the story turns up anything that doesn't reference the Intercept. Hmmmm.
Hekate
(94,001 posts)I dont know what the dog smelled, but I smell BS. Women, pharmacists, and doctors in states like Mississippi are under threat of prison and somehow I dont think this story of a very public drug-buy holds any water.
Danascot
(4,853 posts)Providing contraception, including emergency contraception, is legal in Mississippi. See reference below.
Plan B is not a narcotic and is not identified as such in Federal or Mississippi state law.
Do local police have 1) jurisdiction to search a post office (Federal facility) 2) to look for substances that are not illegal?
Information on abortion law in Mississippi:
https://abortiondefensenetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mississippi-April-2024.pdf
WhiskeyGrinder
(23,585 posts)The mife/miso combo is not illegal to possess per se in Mississippi, but there are very strict guidelines for its use.
Cirsium
(481 posts)I suspect that most posters have not read the article.
slightlv
(4,047 posts)And I'm not hitting outside DU until I can eat and drink again. But it seems to me from some of the messages we've had here and on other posts that we've even got a contingent of abortion is not the big election deal, as well as coming at all angles about polls
Frankly, I don't give a crap. Why? Because if it can be imagined by someone right now, the magats will make it true when they kill democracy. Fear is all they got... that and their big guns and little d**** , blubbering how no woman will date them or 'mind' them.
Pish tosh!
Cirsium
(481 posts)Finally caught COVID after being very careful all of this time. Really miserable. Caught it from my partner who got it from a physician during a medical appointment. Said physician failed to inform his patients that he may have infected them. We found out because of an off hand comment by the receptionist at the practice.
Hope you are better soon.
slightlv
(4,047 posts)I'm really wondering if mine is COVID, or COVID exasperated. I'm gonna have hubby give me the test in a little bit. Its hard at this time of year for me, because my allergies make me feel like I've got the flu, already. But night before last, I tried to swallow a bit of potato that got caught in my gullet and burned my esophagus. I've not been able to keep anything down.. food or even sips of water since then.
Last night I really got scared and thought about heading to the ER. Like you, I've been SO careful and neither hubs nor I have caught COVID. But grandson moved in with us; he's had it more than once, and he works with young kids. So... life has changed.
I still think it's just my dumb too-narrow esophagus telling me it has to be stretched again and punishing me for not doing it before now. I'd just like to know when I can eat again! I'm getting weak with heart flutters... which may only be panic attacks, I know... but I can't even keep my meds down! And just after I did a big grocery store run with plans for good suppers for the whole week. I'm bummed and angry about it! (LOL)
WhiskeyGrinder
(23,585 posts)Cirsium
(481 posts)If people can't read the article, that would explain their comments.
eShirl
(18,718 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(50,505 posts)I got it using Firefox and loading the text only version.
Bernardo de La Paz
(50,505 posts)I block cookies by default and I am able to read the article.
Bernardo de La Paz
(50,505 posts)Revealed by FOIA documents.
Whoever is in power, the incident in Jackson provides a potential window into the future one in which freelancing local Postal Service employees and officials can call on local cops to halt women from accessing reproductive care and potentially charge and arrest those providing or using abortion medication.
My FOIA request asked for records from past years of investigations of people whod used the mail to send pills. The documents I got back show how a willing administration might go after distributors. The feds could even lend support to police in states that have criminalized abortion care as they pursue cases under local laws. Pregnant people who order the medications could get caught in the dragnet.
The documents I received after my FOIA request are highly redacted but still reveal many details about a federal investigation that began less than two years ago in Mississippi.
bif
(23,707 posts)If it isn't true.
Last edited Wed Oct 16, 2024, 07:31 PM - Edit history (1)
The headline and excerpt are clickbait. They are not very representative of the article, which unfortunately, people are unable to see.
In It to Win It
(8,992 posts)I saved it again on archive.ph
It shows the full article now: https://archive.ph/dyUE3
Tactical Peek
(1,251 posts)Much more information, a good thing.
Cirsium
(481 posts)I sent it to someone in a PM. It hadn't been archived yet when I checked.