Question:
This is a slightly munged version of a Blue Star vector report I
sent to Dave Gross. Names have been changed to protect the
voracious.
The "Blue Star Tattoo" UL has surfaced in Pigeon Hole, New York;
coincidentally, the local boosters call Pigeon Hole "The Star Of
The North".
I first became aware of the outbreak on May 12, 1999, when I saw
bright yellow flyers with a bold, boxed legend "Play It Safe" on
the drug information shelf at St. Jude's Outpatient Clinic, an
alcohol and drug treatment facility in Pigeon Hole.
The text is as follows:
The following is provided by D.H. Krupke, U.S. Customs Service of
BigO, New York.
A form of a tattoo called "BLUE STAR" is being sold
to school children. It is a small piece of paper containing a
blue star. They are the size of a pencil eraser and each star is
soaked with LSD. The drug is absorbed through the skin simply by
handling the paper. There are also brightly colored paper
tattoos resembling postage stamps that have the pictures of the
following: Superman, Mickey Mouse, Clowns, Disney Characters,
Bart Simpson, and Butterflies.
Each one is wrapped in foil. This is a new way of selling acid
by appealing to young children. These are laced with drugs. If
your child gets any of the above DO NOT HANDLE THEM!
These are known to react quickly and some are laced with
strychnine. Please feel free to reproduce this article and
distribute it within your community, schools, friends, and work
place. This is growing faster than we can train parents and
professionals.
Asking around the clinic, I found that the flyer had appeared at
Pigeon Hole Middle School. A copy had been brought home by one
of the clinic secretary's children, and the secretary taken it to
the clinic where she retyped it and made the copies that caught
my eye.
I took it upon myself to check out "D. H. Krupke, U.S. Customs
Service of BigO, New York". Somewhat surprisingly, calling the
Customs House in BigO got me in touch with Donald H. Krupke, a
well-meaning, well-spoken T-man.
(It was at this point I began to get the shivers. Voluntarily
talking to a law enforcement officer, of whatever stripe or
disposition, is for me an unnatural act. And we all know the
folkloric consequences of those.)
Inspector (?) Krupke affirmed that he had faxed area schools the
warning as "precautionary information". What prompted him to do
so were reports of large seizures of blotter acid in the "South-
Western border region". on some law enforcement electronic medium
earlier this year. ( I wasn't gonna try to pump this guy) No blue
stars, but "other cartoon characters" were imprinted on the paper
carrier of that contraband.
"We can breathe a sigh of relief", the concerned officer said,
"none of these have shown up in our area."
Speaking to the Inspector (Deputy Inspector? Collector?; I was
too shaky to quiz him on his job title.), I gathered that he
thought that the best way to protect kids was to "disseminate
information" to warn of potential danger.
He said he was surprised and gratified at how people had taken up
the warning and propagated it on their own. I wasn't going to try
to enlighten him; not in this day of caller-ID.
So the vector pathway goes: FuzzWire bulletin to Krupke, fax to
Pigeon Hole Middle School where the fax is copied into a flyer,
flyer via kid to clinic secretary who copies it and puts copies
out on the info shelf at the clinic alongside serious stuff like
NA/AA meeting lists, and thus further infects the population. I'm
waiting for a story in the _Pigeon Hole Evening Telegram_, the
local newspaper. If one appears, I'll keep you posted. Bet they
bite.
You see, the reason I was in the clinic in the first place is
that I was attending a counseling session. I'm 6 months into
recovery from a 30-year drug and alcohol addiction the size of
Mount Marcy. (TWIAVBP note: Mount Marcy is the highest mountain
in New York State, a local landmark and byword for bigness.) I
don't need the heat that a critical discussion of the Blue Star
UL and the counterproductive effects of manipulatory
misinformation on drug abuse in children would bring.
I did print a copy of your blue star web site and gave it to one
of the St. Jude's counselors who seemed receptive. The rest of
the recovery professionals thought I was a meanyhead.
Answer:
Regarding the "Blue Star" and assorted cartoon characters
stamps-laden-with-LSD, this phenomenon, true or not, is not new. It was warned
of, all over North America (if not elsewhere), in elementary schools
especially, at least 20 or so years ago, and taken VERY SERIOUSLY by law
enforcement, healthcare, and child-care people. At the time, the favored image
was that of Mickey Mouse in wizard drag. If I recall correctly, this may have
been the first time this danger was effectively countered by public action.
Certainly their had been at least 10 years of "prankish" impregnating of
objects to dose the unsuspecting with LSD ...And that's not counting the urban
legend of KGB/CIA etc., experimentation on those unwilling or unable to give
consent.