Think Obama is being over-marketed? Police in Sullivan County, New York this week discovered a drug ring that was selling heroin under the brand name “Obama.”
The above picture is from the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office and was first reported on the Smoking Gun. Reportedly, the police arrested five suspects who were involved in the distribution ring. Pushers often sell heroin in wrappers that bear different brands as to distinguish their source/quality from others on the market. This may be the first instance of heroin bearing the name of a sitting President.
These days, heroin dealers use the same marketing techniques as corporate executives for Fortune 500 companies. They try to gain brand loyalty from customers by using fancy labels and catchy brand names, like Scooby Doo or Playboy. Since Obama’s name is now selling merchandise like collectible coins, T-Shirts and commemorative plates, why not add heroin to the list?
Barack Obama himself, of course, has quite a history with drugs, hence the brand makes some sense. In Dreams of My Father, his autobiographical work that preceded The Audacity of Hope, he described how he came very close to trying heroin in his youth. Obama wrote that he did not use heroin because, when he was presented with it by a junkie, “an image popped into my head of an air bubble, shiny and round like a pearl, rolling quietly through a vein and stopping my heart.”
In The Audacity of Hope, he stated that he often used marijuana when he was younger. He also occasionally used cocaine when he could afford it. As we reported here, he is still a user of nicotine.
It seems the drug dealers have a new line for their customers. If the President did drugs, why shouldn’t you?
January 24th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
sounds like the dirty tricks department is ramping up. You would think after 8 years the repubs would let up a little, but no they are truly obcessed with national control of the American conciousness.
April 11th, 2009 at 8:58 am
This is idiodic. I could see selling cocaine or marijuana under this brand name (He actually did those), but heroin? He clearly stated he didn’t do it because he was afraid of dying (from an air bubble) but dying nonetheless. So “The President did drugs. Why shouldn’t you?” Simple. Cause you might get an air bubble that will stop your heart. He was smart enough to figure that out, why shouldn’t you be? These pushers are morons, we all know that, but this proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt.