Donald Trump calls for drug dealers to face death penalty
Mar 11, 2018
Donald Trump has called for drug dealers to face the death penalty in a bid to tackle the opioid epidemic ravaging the United States.
In a speech on Sunday (AEST), Mr Trump argued America should adopt similar drug policies to those in Singapore, where he claimed there was “no problem”.
The President, who announced a 90-day public health emergency in October, said he had been impressed by the Asian nation’s approach during discussions with Singaporean officials.
“These guys don’t play games,” Mr Trump told a rally in Pennsylvania.
“I said, ‘How are you doing on drugs?’ ‘No problem’. I said, ‘What do you mean no problem?’ ‘That means if we catch a drug dealer, death penalty’.
“And they don’t have a problem.”
Mr Trump argued that in the US, people convicted of murder often received a life sentence or the death penalty, but drug dealers did not, despite killing “thousands of people”.
“I don’t know if you’re ready. I don’t know if this country’s ready for it, but I think … it’s a discussion we have to start thinking about.”
Though Mr Trump’s remarks on Sunday were not scripted, he also suggested executing drug dealers earlier in the month.
And the Trump administration is said to be examining policy changes that would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty, according to The Washington Post.
Last year, a United Nations study found the US led the world for drug overdose deaths. It had 27 per cent of all fatalities, but only 4 per cent of the world population.
Meanwhile, a third of all drug overdose victims in 2016 had taken synthetic opioids like fentanyl, according to the National Institute for Drug Abuse.
Singapore has among the lowest rates of drug abuse in the world, but its drug policies are often described by critics as draconian.
The country imposes a mandatory death penalty on a person carrying a specified quantity — for example at least 500 grams of cannabis, 30 grams of cocaine or 250 grams of methamphetamine.
The burden of proof also falls on the defendant, rather than the authorities.
It means anyone who owns a car or house where drugs are found is presumed to have possessed them, while a person can also be arrested merely for being in the presence of drug users.
Critics of Mr Trump’s call have suggested capital punishment could drive drug users further underground and could lead to fewer people seeking treatment.
Public health experts have urged the government to provide more funding for cash-strapped treatment centres in the worst-hit states, such as West Virginia.
POLL: ILLINOIS RESIDENTS REJECT LEGALIZED MARIJUANA BY HUGE MARGIN
March 2018
A poll in November found that only 23% of Illinois residents support the legalization of recreational marijuana, while 69% support other options such as maintaining the current decriminalization law. Pollsters interviewed 625 registered voters in Illinois by telephone, making the margin of error plus or minus 4 percent.
We constantly hear that the majority of Americans support legalization of marijuana. What reports don’t always reveal is that results always depend on how the questions are asked. When voters know there’s the option of decriminalization, the polls are very different, as was the case in New York.
The Mason-Dixon Poll stated: “Now I want to ask a few questions more specific about marijuana policy in Illinois. Currently, possessing 10 grams of marijuana, enough for about 30 joints is not a crime in Illinois. Instead, it is a civil violation, like a traffic ticket. Many people call this policy ‘decriminalization.’ Medical marijuana use is also legal in Illinois. Knowing that personal possession is already decriminalized in Illinois, which one of the following marijuana policies do you prefer: (order rotated)
- Keep the current policy of decriminalization and medical marijuana
- Keep the current policy of decriminalization but repeal medical marijuana
- Change the current policy of decriminalization by legalizing commercial production, use and sale of marijuana for recreational use
- Make all marijuana illegal. “
In Illinois, by far the largest groups wants to keep the things the same, 47%. The voters identified as conservative, 31%, moderate, 38% and liberal, 29% and not sure, 2%. Almost half of these voters registered as Democrats, 46%, while 28% are registered as Republicans and 26% are Independents.
For Complete article http://www.poppot.org/2018/03/08/poll-illinois-residents-reject-legal-marijuana-legalization-margin/
Matt Pfisterer, the director of the Middletown Thrall Library in New York, who once revived a woman with the overdose-reversing drug naloxone. Ryan Christopher Jones for The New York Times
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – The director of the public library in this Hudson Valley town calls his assistant and security guard “Starsky and Hutch.” They have been trained to spot signs of overdose in library patrons – paleness and shortness of breath when it is heroin; sudden collapse when it is fentanyl – and administer the drug naloxone. They patrol the bathrooms and stacks at the Middletown Thrall Library, checking on anyone who is dozing.
“It’s easier to call the police, to wait for E.M.S.,” said the library director, Matt Pfisterer, who had to decide whether to use the overdose-reversing drug himself a few years ago, after he found a woman lying in the grass outside, unconscious and covered with ants.
“You don’t know how they’re going to react,” he said. “But when it comes down to it, you ask, ‘Do I want to see this person dying in front of me?’ ‘No.’ So you take the leap.”
The opioid epidemic is reshaping life in America, including at the local public library, where librarians are considering whether to carry naloxone to battle overdoses. At a time when the public is debating arming teachers, it is another example of an unlikely group being enlisted to fight a national crisis.
Philadelphia became the poster child for naloxone-toting librarians last year after the Inquirer wrote about a library where one woman had revived several people. Cities including Denver and San Francisco have also started training library staff to use the drug, which comes in the form of a nasal spray and is commonly known by the brand name Narcan.
Will Hopper, a former police officer, is now one of the security guards at the Middletown Thrall Library in Middletown, N.Y. Ryan Christopher Jones for The New York Times
But outside major cities, librarians are weighing whether to stock the drug, too. Across New York State, like in much of the country, they describe struggling with overdoses – one more sign of the severity of the opioid crisis, which killed roughly 64,000 people in the United States in 2016, and of the rise in heroin and fentanyl abuse.
For more https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/nyregion/librarians-opioid-heroin-overdoses.html
HIGH PERCENTAGE OF YOUTH SUICIDES IN COLORADO INVOLVE MARIJUANA
1/3/2018 Statistics and Toxicology Reports Reveal Marijuana — Suicide Link
The increasing number of youth suicides seems to be tied to two factors, bullying and marijuana. Although bullying may be a reason that youth turn to marijuana, in doesn’t resolve the underlying issues making them depressed or upset. The outcomes for trying to resolve such issues using marijuana are very poor, and in fact marijuana usually makes problems much worse.
Colorado has tracked suicides before and after legalization, and policy makers should be alarmed by the results.
The numbers show an increasing number of suicides by year and by age group. The youngest group (10 — 14 yo) have increased nearly 270% from 2005-08 to 2013-16. The next age group (15 — 19 years) increased by 133% over the same period. The 20-24 years group increased by 128% over the same time period. All of these jumps are very significant.
| Total Number of CO Suicides by 4 Yr Blocks and Age | ||||
| Total | 10-14 yo | 15-19 yo | 20-24 yo | |
| 2005-2008 (4 yrs) | 3108 | 23 | 169 | 273 |
| 2009-2012 (4 yrs) | 3674 | 45 | 171 | 294 |
| 2013-2016 (4 yrs) | 4265 | 62 | 225 | 350 |
| 2009 = Yr Med MJ Commercialization (legal sales) started | ||||
| 2013 = Yr Recreational MJ sales started |
This Graph Demonstrates Clear Relationship Between Cannabis Legalization and Suicide Rates
![](\"http://www.dontlegalizedrugs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/cannabis-suicide-graph.png\"){kind=link}
Note in the below graph that suicide rates were falling in Colorado prior
to medical marijuana legalization. Then they started to rise. They fell off slightly but then skyrocketed when Colorado voters decided to green light the recreational marijuana industry.
The percent of marijuana found in bodies of all suicide victims DOUBLED (from 8.1% prior to legal mj sale, 8.7% during the years of medical mj sales, TO 16% in recreational mj sales years) since recreational sales of marijuana started in 2013 from the preceding two time frames. THIS should be extremely concerning…. Yet legislators are plowing ahead ….
.
Toxicology on kids with completed suicide from Colorado 2004-2015 (no data for ’16, ’17).
One scientific study shows the risk of suicide amongst heavy teen marijuana users is around nearly 7x greater than non-users.
For complete article http://www.poppot.org/2018/03/01/high-percentage-of-youth-suicides-in-colorado-involve-marijuana/
Mental illness risk as ‘skunk’ drives out milder cannabis
Chris Smyth, Health Editor – February 28 2018, The Times
Almost all cannabis sold on British streets can cause psychosis after weaker forms were driven from the market.
The most potent “skunk” accounts for 94 per cent of all cannabis seized by police, up from half in 2005, according to the first study for almost a decade.
Dealers are thought to be pushing higher-strength products to get recreational users hooked, with the milder hashish form barely available, researchers say.
Skunk, also known as sinsemilla, is made from unpollinated cannabis and contains higher levels of THC, a psychoactive compound, than herbal marijuana or resin, also known as hashish.
Now researchers at King’s College London have analysed almost 1,000 samples
“The increase of high-potency cannabis on the streets poses a significant hazard to users’ mental health,” said Marta Di Forti, senior author of the paper. “It’s a big worry. It’s pretty much the only kind of cannabis you can buy out there.”
For complete article https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/mental-illness-risk-as-skunk-drives-out-milder-cannabis-wgd58b56l
For help and great info on Skunk issue got to CannabisSkunkSenseUK
BEATING THE MARIJUANA ADDICTION NIGHTMARE
27/2/2018
It’s crazy how I feel so much hurt still; I cried while I was writing this. It’s been an addiction nightmare. The last time I wrote to you, it was just a temporary break from all of our drama. I had hoped, but my daughter was not cured of her marijuana addiction at that time. Read Marijuana Addiction is Real for background on this story. Here’s my follow-up report.
It’s been a long difficult journey with my daughter due to her drug abuse problem. She would sometimes tell me she’d hear voices and that she needed help. At first, I just thought she was kidding which I regret, but these were signs of drug abuse which I didn’t recognize at that time. She now has opened up to me, she said the first drug she tried was marijuana and it was in middle school. She also began to drink alcohol with her friends at that time. She then tried marijuana again at age 15 with her boyfriend who was known to have a marijuana drug addiction problem. It was as if that one drug was leading her to more drugs; marijuana was obviously her gateway to other illicit drugs.
She was admitted into a behavioral hospital for a few days after she overdosed on 3 tabs of LSD acid; it was scary seeing her drugged, calling for me even though I was there holding her while she attempted to open the window at a third-story apartment where we used to live. I had to call for help in fear she’d jump; she was 15 years old at that time.
Seeing a doctor, and why that didn’t work
The doctor diagnosed her as being bipolar and recommended she start taking psychiatric medications, but I refused and picked her up from the hospital. My fear was that she would start mixing the pharmaceutical pills with illicit drugs which would have caused her to get worse, and accordingly she did get worse. I tried my best to get her help with counseling and other behavioral centers that don’t medicate patients, but she always refused and per the HIPPA laws it was her choice even as a teen. Even so, her medical insurance would only have covered 50% of mental health cost.
Her mental condition worsened, and it was a continuous finding of a variety of drugs and paraphernalia in her room, some of which I didn’t understand at that time. I’d find pharmaceutical pills such as opioids and Xanax pills which were not prescribed to her. I would find my missing spoons in her room, black tar substance on the window panes, torch lighters, strange looking orange flakes. Now I know this was hash oil which I refer to as man-made marijuana crack weed. It also can be called shatter and dabs. Many of these products are sold online and accessible to anyone including teens.
For complete story http://www.poppot.org/2018/02/27/beating-marijuana-addiction-nightmare/
Xenophon wants ice \’scourge\’ tackled
SA Best leader Nick Xenophon wants to halve ice use by 2020 and force users into rehab. (AAP)
SA-BEST leader Nick Xenophon has called on the next state government to tackle the growing ice epidemic with plans for mandatory rehabilitation for users.
Ice users in South Australia should be forced into rehabilitation with Nick Xenophon calling for the \”scourge\” to be a key priority of the next state government.
The SA-BEST leader also wants to halve ice use by 2020, in a policy released ahead of the March state election.
If his party wins the balance of power, Mr Xenophon says he\’ll push for legislation establishing mandatory rehab and detox facilities for ice users within the first three months.
The former senator said police were shocked at the extent of ice use in the regional centre of Murray Bridge, east of Adelaide, during a recent murder investigation.
\”The fact that a senior respected police officer was shocked by what was found is a wakeup call for all of us,\” Mr Xenophon said on Tuesday.
Health Minister Peter Malinauskas said the government was \”open-minded\” to the idea of a mandatory rehabilitation service, and intended to consult broadly on its merits.
\”It is something that we think should be an option of last resort,\” he told reporters.
Also, on the campaign trail on Tuesday Labor pledged an extra $70 million for mental health services if returned on March 17, including $17.2 million for drug and alcohol outreach programs.
For more https://www.sbs.com.au/news/xenophon-wants-ice-scourge-tackled
The Sustainable Health Review has found a \”scary\” increase in WA health spending has to be reined in.
Spending on health is almost out of control in Western Australia and had more than doubled in the last decade representing nearly $1 in every $3 the government spends, a new report has found.
Health is the biggest cost for the state budget: employing 30,000 staff, representing almost $9 billion, or 30 per cent, and accounting for more than half of every new dollar spent between 2013/14 and 2016/17.
It is on track to reach 38 per cent of the budget in 2026.
Other major issues were a growing and ageing population, inequity in health outcomes, wealth disparity, mental health, and drug and alcohol issues, all of which impact upon the sustainability of the health system…\”The rate of growth is scary, a 49 per cent increase in emergency department attendances (2005-15) and 39 per cent per cent in hospitalisations,\” Ms Kruk said.
for more https://www.sbs.com.au/news/rise-is-wa-health-costs-scary-report