DR. RANDALL’S LETTER EXPOSES TRUTH OF POT LEGALIZATION
In 2012, Coloradans voted to pass Colorado Amendment 64 which led to the state-wide legalization of recreational marijuana beginning in January of 2014. Since then, the number of medical and recreational dispensaries in Colorado has grown to more than double the number of McDonald’s and Starbucks combined. While individual counties could and did choose to abstain from allowing recreational marijuana sales, my county, Pueblo, was one of many that embraced Amendment 64 and the projected benefits of recreational legalization, even unofficially rebranding itself the “Napa Valley of Pot”.
A homeless camp along the river in Pueblo, one of many makeshift residences
This led to an influx of people looking to smoke without the risk of legal consequences and to cash in on the burgeoning “pot economy”. Unfortunately, many of these people arrived only to find that the supply of marijuana-related jobs was far outweighed by the demand, and few had backup plans. Since 2014, Pueblo’s homeless population has tripled, and our low-income housing have occupancy rates of 98% or more. We have seen a drastic increase in the number of homeless camps, and social services and outreach programs are buckling under the strain.
Our medical infrastructure is also reaching critical mass. Out of the 160,000 residents of our community, roughly 115,000 are on Medicaid. As a result, we have been losing primary care providers at an alarming and unsustainable rate. The largest local clinic has been looking to hire 15 new doctors, but has only been able to hire 1 in the past two and a half years. My emergency medical group has been able to fill less than half of our open positions. The average wait time to see a new primary care provider is months with the wait for a specialist even longer, and many primary care physicians in the area are no longer taking new Medicaid patients.
WATCH NOW! http://www.orcamedia.net/show/marijuana-opposition-51817
For more http://www.poppot.org/2017/05/20/dr-randalls-letter-exposes-truth-of-pot-legalization/
In Southern Ohio, the number of drug-exposed babies in child protection custody has jumped over 200%. The problem is so dire that workers agreed to break protocol to invite a reporter to hear their stories. Foster care placements are at record levels, and the number of drug-exposed new borns in their custody has jumped over 200% in the past decade
Inside the Clinton County child protection office, the week has been tougher than most.
Caseworkers in this thinly populated region of southern Ohio, east of Cincinnati, have grown battle-weary from an opioid epidemic that’s leaving behind a generation of traumatized children. Drugs now account for nearly 80% of their cases. Foster-care placements are at record levels, and the number of drug-exposed newborns in their custody has jumped over 200% in the past decade. Funding, meanwhile, hasn’t budged in years.
“Many of our children have experienced such high levels of trauma that they can’t go into traditional foster homes,” said Kathi Spirk, director of Clinton County job and family services. “They need more specialized care, which is very expensive.”
The problem is so dire that workers agreed to break protocol and invite a reporter to camp out in a conference room and hear their stories. For three days, they relived their worst cases and unloaded their frustrations, in scenes that played out like marathon group therapy, for which they have no time. Many agreed that talking about it only made them feel worse, yet still they continued, one after another.
“There’s no more outlet,” added Shelly, another supervisor. “You think you’re able to separate but you can’t let it go anymore. You try to eat healthy, do yoga, whatever they tell you to do. But it’s just so horrific now, and it keeps getting worse.”
For complete story https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/17/ohio-drugs-child-protection-workers
Callous Disregard for Human Life in Pursuit of Profit and Getting Stoned
In Washington, a man high on marijuana killed policeman Jake Gutierrez. He was holding his 6-year-old daughter while in a standoff with multiple police that lasted 10 hours. The perpetrator claimed to be a sheriff named “Zeus.” Bruce Randall Johnson, 38, had been unraveling for weeks before police fired the shots that killed him. “A regular marijuana user, he’d been smoking more lately,” according to KIRO 7. The autopsy revealed: “Johnson’s body weighed in at a spindly 104 pounds. He had no drugs in his system, apart from high concentrations of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.”
In March, Brandon Powell, an 18-year-old, went psychotic after smoking marijuana “dabs ” in Estacada, Oregon. He left home barefoot in pajama bottoms and went missing until found dead in a river earlier this month. Also in Estacada last weekend, a man carried a severed head into a convenience store and stabbed a store clerk. The incident happened after a woman was reported dead in her home. She was the mother of 36-year-old Joshua Lee Webb who has been connected to the crime. He allegedly killed his mother first. Nothing in reports links the killing to marijuana.
Marijuana madness is spreading throughout the country. In Massachusetts, two teens smoked marijuana together before one murdered and decapitated his classmate. In Texas, Davie Dauzat murdered his wife after they had smoked marijuana together last August. He said it was in a “battle between good and evil.”
Murders under the influence of marijuana often happen because the perpetrators become psychotic and hallucinate.
In Wisconsin recently, a mother murdered her toddler after smoking pot. In West Virginia, the “Pretty Little Killers” planned and killed a friend under the influence of marijuana. It is easy to judge and condemn the perpetrators of violent crimes, but what of the culture that promotes marijuana? What of the culture that tells 14-year-olds it’s ok to get stoned and go skateboarding
For more http://www.poppot.org/2017/05/19/legalization-policy-prioritizes-profit-not-human-life/
Executive Summary – In 2015, over 27 million people in the United States reported current use of illicit drugs or misuse of prescription drugs, and over 66 million people (nearly a quarter of the adult and adolescent population) reported binge drinking in the past month.1 Alcohol and drug misuse and related disorders are major public health challenges that are taking an enormous toll on individuals, families, and society. Neighborhoods and communities as a whole are also suffering as a result of alcohol- and drug-related crime and violence, abuse and neglect of children, and the increased costs of health care associated with substance misuse. It is estimated that the yearly economic impact of substance misuse and substance use disorders is $249 billion for alcohol misuse and alcohol use disorders and $193 billion for illicit drug use and drug use disorders.2,3 Despite the social and economic costs, this is a time of great opportunity. Ongoing health care and criminal justice reform efforts, as well as advances in clinical, research, and information technologies are creating new opportunities for increased access to effective prevention and treatment services. This Report reflects our commitment to leverage these opportunities to drive improvements in individual and public health related to substance misuse, use disorders, and related health consequences.
Excerpt from https://addiction.surgeongeneral.gov/executive-summary.pdf
Institute for Behaviour & Health (I.B.H) Response
Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Health A New Agenda to Turn Back the Drug Epidemic
An informed public health approach to reducing the prevalence and the harms associated with substance use disorders requires more than the brief treatment of serious cases. Particularly important are substance use prevention programs in schools, healthcare and in all other parts of the community to protect adolescents (ages 12 — 21), the group most at risk for the initiation of substance-related harms and substance use disorders. Importantly, abundant tragic experience and accumulating science show that substance use disorders are not effectively treated with only short-term care. Because substance use disorders produce 2 significant long-lasting changes in the brain circuits responsible for memory, motivation, inhibition, reward sensitivity and stress tolerance, addicted individuals remain vulnerable to relapse years following specialized treatment.1, 2, 3 Thus, as is true for all other chronic illnesses, long periods of personalized treatment and monitoring are necessary to assure compliance with care, continued sobriety, and improved health and social function. In combination, science-based prevention, early intervention, continuing care and monitoring comprise a modern continuum of public health care. The overall goals of this continuum comport well with those of other chronic illnesses: For complete article
US workers testing positive for illegal drugs hits 12yr high — report 16 May, 2017
Marijuana positivity has increased \”dramatically\” in the last three years, Quest said, due in part to recreational legalization in some US states.
Marijuana positivity through oral fluid testing has gone up by 75 percent since 2013 among the general US workforce and has also risen in both urine and hair testing. Among the federally-mandated workforce, marijuana positivity increased by ten percent from 2015.
Both Colorado and Washington state, the first two states to legalize recreational marijuana in the US, had urine positivity rates for marijuana that exceed the national average, Quest reported.
For More https://www.rt.com/usa/388589-drug-testing-workforce-study/
15 May 2017
Over just five years, the number of new hepatitis C virus infections reported to CDC has nearly tripled, reaching a 15-year high, according to new preliminary surveillance data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Hepatitis C kills more Americans than any other infectious disease reported to CDC. The data indicate that nearly 20,000 Americans died from hepatitis C-related causes in 2015, and the majority of deaths were people ages 55 and older.
\”By testing, curing, and preventing hepatitis C, we can protect generations of Americans from needless suffering and death,\” said Jonathan Mermin, M.D., director of CDC\’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. \”We must reach the hardest-hit communities with a range of prevention and treatment services that can diagnose people with hepatitis C and link them to treatment. This wide range of services can also prevent the misuse of prescription drugs and ultimately stop drug use – which can also prevent others from getting hepatitis C in the first place.\”
Hepatitis C spreading rapidly in new generations, but boomers bear biggest burden
New hepatitis C virus infections are increasing most rapidly among young people, with the highest overall number of new infections among 20- to 29-year-olds. This is primarily a result of increasing injection drug use associated with America\’s growing opioid epidemic.
However, the majority (three-quarters) of the 3.5 million Americans already living with hepatitis C are baby boomers born from 1945 to 1965. Baby boomers are six times more likely to be infected with hepatitis C than those in other age groups and are at much greater risk of death from the virus.
While surveillance data do not accurately capture hepatitis C infection rates among infants, other recent CDC studies indicate that hepatitis C virus infections are growing among women of childbearing age – putting the youngest generation of Americans at risk. Hepatitis C treatment not only cures the vast majority of people living with the virus, but also prevents transmission to their partners and children.
For more http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/317471.php
(D.L.D Commentary — “We hear that Australia distributes 100s of thousands of clean syringes each year, without accountability what so ever, yet their BBV (Blood Borne Virus) Stats are increasing http://www.health.gov.au/sexual-health. So, is more taxpayer funded syringes making the BBV issue worse or better? Are the new STI’s that are being spread the result of ‘dirty’ or shared needles, or actually the result of unprotected sex by people who are ‘high’, ‘stoned’, ‘wasted’ on the illicit drugs that taxpayer funded ‘health’ resources (NSP’s/SSP’s) equipped them to use?”)
Ireland – The Irish News 15 May, 2017 17:00
A judge has warned that those involved in the drugs trade, \”filling our community with drugs\” must expect ever increasing lengthy prison sentences.
The warning came from Judge Patricia Smyth as she sentenced 41-year-old lorry driver, Paul James Hamill to three years after he was caught tranporting cannabis in February last year shortly after getting off the Larne ferry. In addition to those drugs Hamill told police of a lock-up where they uncovered a haul of more cannabis and \’speed\’.
The Belfast Crown Court judge said it was accepted that the drugs had a potential street value of between £600,000 and £900,000, although Hamill, from Limefield Road, Moyraverty in Craigavon, was neither the owner nor beneficiary of the drugs.
It appeared that Hamill, who has young children, was specifically targeted because he was a lorry driver and \”took the offer of easy money when offered the opportunity from those higher up the chain\”.
Judge Smyth said while she accepted that Hamill was \”deeply regretful and remorseful\”, she told him that he had \”played a role\” in the drugs\’ culture, in which \”children and young adults, children like yours, are dying because of the drugs culture\”.
She added that the lives of some victims were \”blighted by ill health\”, robbing them of meaningful lives, and that the courts, almost daily, saw the affect that culture has had on others.
Department of Justice News
On May 10, 2017, Attorney General Sessions sent a memo to United States Attorneys directing them to follow all federal laws regarding charging and sentencing in federal investigations. This is a dramatic reversal from the position of former AG Eric Holder, and a return to rules and policies that reflect the law (including federal statutes and numerous Supreme Court decisions).
In 2015, more than 52,000 Americans died from a drug overdose. According to a report by the New England Journal of Medicine, the price of heroin is down, the availability is up and the purity is up. We intend to reverse that trend. So we are returning to the enforcement of the law as passed by Congress — plain and simple. If you are a drug trafficker, we will not look the other way. We will not be willfully blind to your conduct. We are talking about a kilogram of heroin — that is 10,000 doses, five kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 kilograms of marijuana. These are not low-level offenders. These are drug dealers. And you\’re going to prison.
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