\’Operation Cookout\’: Enough fentanyl to kill 14 million seized in massive drug bust by Zachary Halaschak August 30, 2019
35 people were arrested, and enormous amounts of narcotics were seized as part of the largest drug takedown in Virginia in over 15 years.
Law enforcement officers seized over 30 kilograms of fentanyl, 30 kilograms of heroin, and five kilograms of cocaine after busting a drug ring that spanned three states. In addition to the drugs, $700,000 was recovered as well as 24 firearms, according to CBS.
“This opioid crisis is not an issue that is happening someplace else, or to someone else. It\’s happening right here in Norfolk,” U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger said.
In the course of the investigation, dubbed “Operation Cookout,” authorities found that one member of the ring ordered fentanyl from Shanghai. Fentanyl is a powerful artificial opioid that is used as a filler in other drugs and can be fatal in extremely small doses. Most of the chemical comes from labs in China.
72pc of west Dublin teens getting HSE help for drug addiction take cannabis
Sean McCarthaigh — 28 August 2019
Twice as many teens said they used cannabis (72pc) as cocaine (36pc) in the HSE report
Cannabis remains the main problem drug among teenagers from west Dublin receiving treatment for addiction.
A report by the HSE Adolescent Addiction Service in Bally- fermot found cannabis was the primary substance of use by patients using the service last year, with 72pc reporting taking it.
The report said there was no record of patients using opiates, solvents or head shop-type products last year.
It also noted there was a decrease in the number of patients who reported taking alcohol, benzodiazepines and amphetamines.
The report documented that some teenagers also had issues with indebtedness and absconding.
Ninety-three per cent of those availing of the service last year were male while 11pc were non-Irish nationals, the HSE said.
It said the number of young people who had previous contact with child and adolescent mental health services was up eight percentage points on 2017 to 48pc but was lower than at any other stage over the previous 22 years.
The existence of substance abuse within the patient\’s family was recorded in 52pc of cases last year.
More than half of all patients also came from families where their parents had separated.
Nine teenagers were out of education or training at the time of being referred to the service.
The HSE said it submitted four child protection notifications in relation to patients last year.
÷ CANNABIS: Taken by 72pc of users
÷COCAINE: Taken by 36pc of users
÷AMPHETAMINES: Taken by 30pc of users
÷BENZODIAZAPINES: Taken by 12pc of users
÷KETAMINE: Taken by 7pc of users
For complete article go to https://www.herald.ie/news/72pc-of-west-dublin-teens-getting-hse-help-for-drug-addiction-take-cannabis-38443238.html
SAM Leader Highlights Flaws in Studies on Marijuana Access and Opioid Deaths
August 23, 2019 by Staff Reports
The marijuana industry has made a list of claims finding legalization to be an unmitigated success (and why not, their profits depend on it!). One such claim rests on the idea that greater access to marijuana leads to a reduction in opioid problems. This was first presented in a 2014 study claiming a 25% reduction in opioid deaths in states with medical marijuana–and it has since been emblazoned across billboards nationwide.
More recently, a study published in Economic Inquiry purports to show marijuana legalization is responsible for a 21% reduction in opiate mortality. These studies represent outliers, however, and suffer from major methodological weaknesses.
First, the 2014 study has been updated in 2019 by Stanford researchers. They found when the study was extended to include states legalizing marijuana between 2010 and 2017, marijuana legalization was associated with a 25% increase in opioid fatalities.
The Economic Inquiry study ignores data from half of the country and fails to control for numerous other possible explainers/factors.
What\’s more, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, medical marijuana users make up around 2.5% of the population of any given state. Knowing this, it is logically unfeasible that such a small population is responsible for a whopping 25% reduction in opiate mortality.
Furthermore, another 2019 study, this time in Substance Use and Addiction, a JAMA-related publication, concluded “medical marijuana law enactment was not associated with a reduction in individual-level non-medical opioid abuse, contradicting the hypothesis that people would substitute marijuana for prescription opioids.”
In the 2019 Stanford study, the lead author concluded, “Is passing medical cannabis legalization a good strategy to prevent opioid overdose death, and I think our study gives pretty good evidence, that it\’s not.”
Such studies present legitimate threats to viable and well-established methods of facilitating recovery among victims of opioid abuse. The data, when misinterpreted, has the potential to downplay the importance of access to medically assisted treatment, as well as the role of naloxone in overdose prevention.
Given that research has shown marijuana users are in fact more than twice as likely to abuse prescription opioids, more likely to require higher doses of opiate medications for pain, and more likely to use marijuana in conjunction with opioids, we must stop perpetuating the false notion that marijuana is an answer to opioid abuse.
In the midst of a true addiction epidemic, the risks are too great.
For complete article go to https://www.addictionpro.com/article/sam-leader-highlights-flaws-studies-marijuana-access-and-opioid-deaths
The reality of life in a \”Dopesick\” country: \”It is just a state of misery\”
The data which was featured in the Washington Post showed that 76 billion pills were sent to such areas of the country. When you look at the worst-hit communities per capita, these are places where the pharmaceutical sales reps went in and told these lies. They were able to find doctors to work with. Who do people trust? They trust their doctors. The companies purposely lied to the doctors, who then prescribed the pills in those communities at the same time the jobs were going away.
It was a perfect storm of not only people getting addicted very quickly – because there has never been a drug, an opioid, this strong before – but also the users start diverting the drugs because they were in such oversupply. The pills were being sold on the black market as a way for desperate people to pay their bills. This was much the same way that their ancestors had done with moonshine.
In these rural communities hit by the opioid epidemic it is just a state of misery. I was visiting my little nephews in rural Ohio – which has the second[-highest] overdose death rate in the country – and we were getting chili dogs at this little hot dog stand in a former factory town. We were going to the park and the 11-year-old says, \”No Aunt Beth, we don\’t want to step on heroin needles.\” And literally this is a town where nobody used to lock their doors. Rural America has changed so much.
There are so many moral hazards in this story of America\’s opioid epidemic. First, people are addicted to pills by companies making money from their sickness. In turn there are few if any jobs in these communities so the people there are self-medicating. Then there is mass incarceration and for-profit prisons which make money from locking people up who do not have access to drug treatment. It is dystopian.
What is the intersection between emotional pain and physical pain for the people you interviewed and got to know for your reporting in \”Dopesick\”?
How do the executives and other senior personnel in these pharmaceutical companies which are selling opioids to these communities rationalize their behavior?
Is there any moment of stepping back where the corporations and their management say to themselves, \”Maybe this isn\’t the best thing for these communities?\” Or is it always profits over people?
For complete article go to ‘It is always decisions — not conditions that make saint or swine.’ (Frankl)
SURGEON GENERAL, HHS SECRETARY ISSUE BLUNT WARNINGS ABOUT MARIJUANA
Parents from every part of the country tell us that their teens claim “marijuana is safer than alcohol.” That’s because many teens take messages from social media and fake news.
The Surgeon General and Secretary of Health and Human Services issued a blunt warning today, clarifying why cannabis is not safe. Together with the heads of SAMHSA and NIDA, Dr. Jerome Adams and HHS Secretary Alex Azar spoke at a Press Conference today, detailing the risks of pot.
Watch ABC News Video about HHS Marijuana Press Conference Here
For their long- term mental health, the U.S. health officials advise our children to stay away from marijuana. There’s no safe amount of marijuana for adolescents, young adults up to age 24 or for pregnant women because of the risks this drug poses to the developing brain. For the mature adult brain, one or two glasses of beer once a week will not lead to a long-term problem. The same cannot be said about marijuana. No one can guarantee that one joint a week is safe.
A book released in 2009 popularized this misconception with youth. While 65% of the adult population drinks and only 5% use marijuana, of course alcohol causes more car crashes and deaths. When the public’s use of marijuana gets closer to the amount of alcohol used, the tables will turn.
Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz emphasized that more 18-24-year-olds suffer from mental health issues, more than ever before. This age group is using lots of marijuana, and pot use compounds these issues.
Marijuana is more harmful to the brain, particularly the young brain, than alcohol. Parents Opposed to Pot knows of deaths from marijuana, such as when it triggers heart arrhythmia, severe cannabis hyperemesis syndrome or suicide. The mechanisms are different from overdoses of opioids or alcohol, because marijuana doesn’t cross the brain stem. Yet in many ways marijuana is far worse than alcohol and opioids.
Link to Full Text of the Surgeon General’s Advisory
Watch the Full U.S. Government Press Conference on Marijuana Risks Here
Britain’s Drug Disgrace — Iain Duncan Smith:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7400859/IAIN-DUNCAN-SMITH-time-break-cycle-addiction.html
Re: Britain’s Drug disgrace (28/08/19)
Dear Sir,
A vital start to tackling the problem of drugs is surely to tell the public, especially the young, exactly what drugs do to our bodies.
The official Government website FRANK was created in 2003 to provide information on the harm of drug use. Not only has it failed to do this properly, the focus was and still is on harm reduction rather than prevention.
Under ‘Physical Effects of Ecstasy’ the first paragraph reads ‘because the strength of ecstasy pills are so unpredictable, if you do decide to take ecstasy, you should start by taking half or even a quarter of a pill and then wait for the effects to kick in before taking anymore — you may find that this is enough’. Ignoring the grammatical mistakes, does this not actually amount to condoning drug use? Is this not a criminal act?
Under ‘Cannabis’ there is no mention of violence, homicides or suicides, reports of which are escalating. Mass murders include The Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh who killed 168 in 1996 and Manchester terrorist Salmon Abedi blew himself up and killed 22 in the United Kingdom on 22 May 2017. Addiction is addressed but no warning that it occurs in 1 in 6 who start as teens, and so on.
Iain Duncan-Smith says, ‘It is time to grasp this issue and we must see bold and ambitious reform, from the development of effective prevention strategies in schools ………..’.
Our Government needs first to put its own house in order if we are ever to ‘Break this Cycle of Addiction’
Mary Brett, Chair,
Cannabis Skunk Sense,
Nepal: MoHA issues guidelines to curb drug abuse across the country
The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued ‘Guideline to Local Levels for Control and Prevention of Drug Abuse,’ to ensure that all municipalities and rural municipalities conduct remedial and promotional activities against growing abuse of psychoactive substances.
As per the guidelines, local levels shall launch anti-drug campaign in line with the federal and provincial laws and policies. Existing law has defined production, transportation, sale and distribution, storage and use of drugs as a punishable crime.
“Most of the drug users are youths and it is the need of the hour to keep them away from drug abuse to realise the theme of ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali.’ Therefore, the campaign will focus on cities and villages to raise awareness on social, economic and psychological impacts of drug and alcohol abuse,” it read.
The guideline requires every local level to form a 13-member committee, led by its chief. The committee will consist of representatives of youths, students, women, civil society and police force. It shall maintain a tight vigil to prevent production, smuggling, possession, sale, distribution and consumption of drugs. The country has a total of 753 local levels with 6,743 wards.
The campaign will cover over 250 million population.
The guideline has stressed the need to overcome social and economic impact of drug abuse. It warned that drug abuse adversely affects health and life of the abusers, and the social well-being of the concerned family and community.
Factors such as curiosity or desire for an experimentation, desire for fun or peer pressure, family problem and study problem, are leading youth to drug abuse, it stated. The annual growth rate of drug users since 2007 has remained 11 per cent.
For complete story https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/moha-issues-guideline-to-curb-drug-abuse-across-the-country/
The Evidence of Harm — Canada One Year Post Legalization of Pot
by Pamela McColl: Op-Ed.
In 2016, I testified before the Canadian Federal Task Force charged with drafting recommendations for a legal marijuana regime. I opened with this question; “How does a responsible government legalize a drug for non-medical use when that country’s top health agency has issued the following statement: “The courts in Canada have ruled that the federal government must provide reasonable access to a legal source of marijuana for medical purposes. Cannabis is not an approved therapeutic product and the provision of this information should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes, or of marijuana generally, by Health Canada. This leaflet is designed by Health Canada for patients authorized to possess cannabis for medical purposes. When the product (medicinal) should not be used:
- are under the age of 25
- are allergic to any cannabinoid or to smoke
- have serious liver, kidney, heart or lung disease
- have a personal or family history of serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia, psychosis, depression, or bipolar disorder
- are pregnant, are planning to get pregnant, or are breast-feeding
- are a man who wishes to start a family
- have a history of alcohol or drug abuse or substance dependence
The Task Force Chair Anne McLellan, in reply dismissed my question by asserting that legalization was not up for debate. I placed study after study onto the public record over my six hours before the committee, to learn at the end of the hearing that the testimony and submitted documents would be sealed from public access. Perhaps in the future the Canadian public will be afforded access and come to appreciate more fully what transpired behind the closed doors of this government appointed entity.
The Trudeau Liberal government legalized marijuana for non-medical use, supported by the NDP and the Greens. With the passing of this legislation, legal access was granted to pregnant women who are now using it in growing numbers, by those suffering from mental illness including substance use disorder-addiction, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bi-polar, and with a history of suicide ideation/activation. By those with liver, heart and kidney disease. By legalizing use for 18 years of age and older the government disregarded the stated age restriction by Health Canada. Scientific study establishes the serious risk to users who are under the age of brain maturation, which occurs in the mid to late 20s. Men who wish to start a family also now have legal access. Given the risk of testicular cancer, and the emerging science on reproductive health harms linked to marijuana products this could see serious generational health issues realized.
On departing the hearing, McLellan sent a parting shot my way, stating that it must have been uncomfortable for me to be the only one at the meeting of my persuasion. As I had recently attended meetings at the UNODC and UNGASS I assured her that I was often in company with many who shared my views and that my position was grounded in a solid understanding of the science and the evidence. I also reminded her that I was but the messenger, cited the warnings of Health Canada.
*Health Canada provides further statements regarding serious warnings and precautions associated with the use of marijuana for a medical purpose including: The use of this product involves risks to health, some of which may not be known or fully understood. Studies supporting the safety and efficacy of cannabis for therapeutic purposes are limited and do not meet the standard required by the Food and Drug Regulations for marketed drugs in Canada. Smoking cannabis is not recommended. Do not smoke or vapourize cannabis in the presence of children.
The government dismissed child rights advocates who called for a ban on smoking marijuana in the homes of children, and in doing so the federal government violated the most ratified piece of international human rights legislation — The Rights of the Child Treaty.
Just another short list of the growing issues:
- Could a cannabis substance replace opioid pain relievers?
- Adults who mix cannabis with opioids for pain report higher anxiety, depression:
- Legalising marijuana in Colorado has increased the number of youth being treated for addiction — study:
- Vaping linked to marijuana use in young people:
- BMJ Rapid Response based on the work of Professor Stuart Reece:
- Marijuana and Driving video
- Legalisation proving to be a public health disaster:
- Marijuana may boost risky effects of drinking alcohol:
- State’s highest court rules that marijuana odor can be part of evidence for a search warrant
- Weed when pregnant — far more common and concerning than people realise:
- CIVEL: Cannabis Industry Victims Industry Educating Litigators:
- Ruined minds, wrecked lives — the terrible cost of cannabis;
- Government appoints Jo Churchill as new pharmacy minister:
- Health Alert Issued on Severe Pulmonary Disease Associated With Cannabis Vaping:
- Cannabis=based health products are going mainstream — do they work?
- Cannabis means more crazy people:
- Montreal hospital sees spike in children with cannabis intoxication:
- Illegal \’Amsterdam style\’ cannabis café operating in plain sight in east London is raided in massive operation as police handcuff dozens:
- FBI investigating possible corruption in US cannabis industry:
- It’s a year since Alfie Dingley changed the law on medical cannabis. But the jury is still out on whether it really works:
- Poppot has published Janie’s tory, sent round in the last batch: