In article <2ks0gt$hn0@genesis.ait.psu.edu>, Jah  writes:
> I was just curious for any info anyone may have regarding narcs: what
> they can and can't do, anything to watch for in a suspected person?

Of course you know that any narc worth its badge will lie to you if you ask
it if it's a narc. 

If the narc is good at its job, you won't be able to tell it's a narc --
even _after_ you're busted.  

HOWEVER: you should be concerned about people who ask to see your grow room
or ask you to perform  illegal acts such as
1. scoring drugs for them.
2. telling them from whom they can score drugs.

Be concerned if the person seems unusually assertive or pushy. If the
person seems to know how to manipulate you into saying incriminating things,
or asks too many questions... be wary.  If the person makes you nervous: bail
out -- at worst you're being overcautious, at best you preserved your freedom.

You should know that narcs *are* allowed to injest illegal drugs, so just
because some guy smokes a doob' w/ you, it doesn't mean he's "cool". 

There is a special case, wrt LSD (and presumably other psychotomimetics). It
has been suggested that if  someone asks you for acid and you think he might be
a narc, tell him to  "Open your mouth and close your eyes." The idea is that
someone who wants to trip, and trusts you enough to ask you to supply them,
should trust you enough to provide them with the appropriate dosage. But, so
the theory goes, a narc, knowing full well the ego bending (or disassociative
or psychotomimetic-- pick your fave term) effect of LSD will refuse the OYM&CYE
offer because he fears the possible loss of his self- censorship and the
subsequent possibility of outing himself. 

There is some validity to this (for instance I'd be very surprised if a narc
would ever knowingly use LSD and xtc at the same time...) but there are some
major holes, too. In the case of LSD, the narc could simply absent himself from
the scene before the acid kicks in, or he could surreptitously counter-dose
himself with thorazine, a drug guarenteed to short circuit acid trips [although
the effects of thorazine should be fairly easy to discern]. 

Some other *possible* tip-offs include can include the wearing of fannypacks or
the presence of a small group of people dressed in very similar clothing,
moving as a unit. For instance, at Weedstock 92, they found a whole *nest* of
narcs. They looked like regular hempsters -- one even carried a hempstalk
walking stick (confiscated, no doubt, from some hapless WOD victim). 

These narcs initially outed themselves by their incessant solicitation at the
event: going from campsite to campsite asking for shrooms, doses and herb.
Eventually one of the narcs was spotted by a guy who'd been busted by him in
another state. The organizers soon cordoned off these soulless, contemptable,
professional liars and confronted them, which was when their "uniform" became
apparent: several (3,4?) were wearing Arab-style headdress, and they were the
only ones at the event so dressed. They moved as a group, although their
separation  was btw 5~20 meters so the group was difficult to discern.
Apparently the headgear made it easier for the DEA spotters across the valley
to keep them under watch. They all wore fannypacks to, I believe.  

As the first group of narcs was isolated, their backup materialized out of
nowhere, although to the casual observer they appeared to be interested
gawkers. They too were largely identifiable by a common apparel style, although
it was a little more subtle. One guy in particular, christened "the Snake", was
truly amazing-- he pulled off three or four costume changes in the span of
about 10 minutes! It seeemed like everytime someone blinked, he'd be in a
different style of dress; it took hours to track and eject him, i believe. So
be concerned about someone with multiple pairs of sunglasses, T-shirts, and 
hats.

At another event, I witnessed a similar set of characteristics under slightly 
different conditions: the Narcs outed themselves immediately upon arrival, on 
purpose. I guess they didn't want to have to bust anyone. They were all
dressed essentially the same, carried fannypacks, wore the same color shirts,
hats and sunglasses and moved as an amorphous unit. 

Unfortunately, this advice is mostly good only for public events, not small,
private encounters. 

There is another type of narc that's a bitch to smoke out: the Babe.  (called
the honeytrap in spy novels). Here's the secret of the honeytrap: there aren't
very many women involved in the scene, so women are welcomed fairly easily and
unquestioningly; stereotypically beautiful women even more so. It's a major
problem to deal  with because it fucks up the sociology of the group. However,
there tends to be a correlation between the Babe's apparent "availability" and 
"susceptability" and Narcness. If the female seems to be unattached and appears
to be  seriously wasted  and/or sexually available, but moves from group to
group -- especially if she implies scoring drugs will yield sexual favors --
watch out. I totally hate the honeytrap, it's extremely effective, and dealing
with it can very easily generate lots of misogynist fallout. I imagine the best
way to deal w/ this one is to look for her backup -- if you can find it -- and
to monitor a "wasted" woman very very carefully, but very very surreptitiously
and try to determine if she's really as wasted as she appears. lotsa luck. If
you're concerned, the best bet is to split from her presence.  The honeytrap is
evil. But, Please, don't _assume_ that women are narcs. 

Unfortunately, good narcs know all about this stuff and won't make mistakes.
And even more unfortunately, regular people can seem like narcs if you're
paranoid or they're clueless fools.

Of course, under NO circumstance should you ever threaten or harm a person you
suspect of narcitude. EVER. bad karma, bad move, ugly scene. While Narcs are
subhuman scum unworthy to dine on the contents of your bowels, you will get in
major legue trouble for fucking w/ them. Let them grow old and die of natural
causes without any intervention or harm from you and trust God to deal with
them in his own time. (If there's any justice in the universe they'll be
reincarnated as veal calves or drug-test monkeys.)

That's the tactics. The strategy is to keep your nose clean, don't deal,
traffic, or conspire or grow. 

Any input from the clueful?

herbally.max
dir imi.