LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) Another 20 people have been charged with drug offenses as part of Laurel County Sheriff John Roots War on Drugs.

According to the sheriff, detectives, deputies, and the departments K-9 teams were part of the round up.

While conducting unrelated drug investigations, answering complaints and at traffic stops, investigators found subjects with meth, heroin, Xanax, hydrocodone, gabapentin, assorted pills, scales, hypodermic needles, glass pipes with white residue, cut straws with residue and other paraphernalia, and U.S. currency,. the sheriff said.

Some subjects were also found with outstanding warrants and outstanding warrants for failure to appear on drug charges.According to the departments Facebook page, those arrested and the charges against them are:1. Lee Merritt Sr., Age 55 arrested off Hawk Creek Road charged with possession of a controlled substance first-degree first offense methamphetamine; possession of drug paraphernalia; public intoxication controlled substances.2. Justin Mullins age 27 of Old County Road, McKee, Ky arrested on Hal Rogers Parkway in London charged with trafficking in a controlled substance first-degree first offense; trafficking in a controlled substance third-degree first offense; possession of a controlled substance third-degree; prescription controlled substances not in proper container first offense; resisting arrest.3. Destiny Hobbs age 19 of Mildred Road, McKee, Ky arrested off Wendell Way in London charged with possession of a controlled substance first-degree first offense methamphetamine.4. Steven Wayne Helton age 35 of Hanes Baker Rd., Corbin arrested off West Cumberland Gap Pkwy. charged with possession of a controlled substance first-degree first offense methamphetamine; possession of a controlled substance second-degree; prescription controlled substances not in proper container first offense; possession of drug paraphernalia.5. Kenny Blake Wagers, Jr age 21 of McWhorter Road, London arrested off McWhorter Road charged with possession of a controlled substance first-degree first offense methamphetamine; possession of a controlled substance first-degree first offense heroin; possession of drug paraphernalia.6. Charles Nantz age 30 of Clancy Ln., Lily arrested off Clancy Lane charged with trafficking in a controlled substance first-degree first offense methamphetamine; wanton endangerment degree; three counts of possession of a controlled substance third-degree; possession of drug paraphernalia.7. Ricky Lee Miracle age 33 of Cecil Wyatt Rd., Corbin arrested off West Cumberland Gap Pkwy. charged on a Whitley Circuit Court bench warrant of arrest charging court order violation regarding charges of possession of a controlled substance first-degree first offense methamphetamine; possession of drug paraphernalia.8. Kimberly Ann Hubbard age 33 of Blake Dr., London arrested off Miracle Lane in London charged with public intoxication controlled substances stated had been using meth; disorderly conduct second-degree; an outstanding Laurel District Court bench warrant charging failure to appear in court.9. Ashley R. Smith age 24 of Barr Creek Rd., Oneida, KY arrested off East Laurel Rd. charged with possession of a controlled substance first-degree first offense methamphetamine; possession of drug paraphernalia; possession of marijuana.10. Christopher Adam Cole age 32 of Runnels Branch Road, Littcarr, KY arrested on KY 490 charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence first offense; possession of drug paraphernalia with meth residue; operating on suspended or revoked operators license.11. Rebecca Caudill age 32 of Runnels Branch Road, Littcarr, KY arrested on KY 490 charged with public intoxication controlled substances; possession of drug paraphernalia with meth residue.12. Joseph Chad Curry age 45 of Curry Rd., London arrested off Curry Road charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.13. James Marcum age 46 of East Laurel Rd., London arrested off East Laurel Rd. charged on a failure to appear warrant.14. Mary Melissa Roark age 36 of Fire House Rd., East Bernstadt charged with possession of a controlled substance first-degree first offense methamphetamine.15. Landon Collins age 32 of Locust Grove Rd., London arrested off East 4th Street in London charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.16. Irvin Johnson age 34 of Taylor Subdivision Rd., London arrested off Tobacco Road in London charged with possession of drug paraphernalia; wanton endangerment second-degree police officer is victim.17. Angela Shepherd age 43 of Sallys Branch Rd., London arrested off Slate Lick Road charged with trafficking in a controlled substance first-degree second offense methamphetamine; trafficking in a controlled substance third-degree second offense.18. Linda Jane Wallace age 50 of Van Hollow Road, McKee, KY arrested off Slate Lick Road charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence second offense; driving on DUI suspended license first offense; trafficking in a controlled substance first-degree second offense methamphetamine; trafficking in a controlled substance third-degree second offense; prescription controlled substances not in proper container first offense; driving on DUI suspended license first offense.19. Johnny Gregory age 51 of Highway 472, Manchester arrested off Slate Lick Rd. charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.20. Marsha Denny age 41 of Sallys Branch Rd., London arrested off Slate Lick Rd. charged with public intoxication controlled substances; possession of drug paraphernalia.

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20 charged as part of sheriff's 'War on Drugs' - ABC 36 News - WTVQ

Longer than the nearly two-decades long War on Terror, notes Amaryllis Foxhost of Netflix's newest documentary series, The Business of Drugsis the War on Drugs (declared by Richard Nixon in 1971).

And whats been profitable for syndicates and cartels is also profitable for television and Netflix, which has an almost-unending queue of narcotics-based documentaries: Dope, Drug Lords, Inside the Real Narcos, the practically celebratory Have a Good Trip, the list goes on.

Helping us navigate this series of drug investigations is Fox, who introduces herself and her career:

Fox worked primarily on weapons. That algorithm she described used a variety of metrics to identify hotbeds for terrorist activitya ratio of hookah bars to madrassas and percentage beneath livable wage a border guard gets paid, Fox told the New York Times in an interview for her novel, Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA. She was recruited by the agency at 22.

Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA

For eight years, Fox posed as an art dealer abroad, recruiting assets for the CIA and helping prevent terror groups from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. (For a separate operation in Shanghai, Fox writes, she and her husband allowed themselves to be surveilled by the Chinese government while the CIA also watched; the CIA was spying on the spies.)

Fox left the agency in 2010. She now lives in Los Angeles with her daughter from a previous marriage; her now-husband is Robert F. Kennedy III, son of Robert Kennedy Jr. (the two met at Burning Man).

Foxs book is currently being adopted into a an Apple TV series starring Brie Larson. There is no release date yet.

The book met some criticism, however, when former intelligence officers questioned some of Foxs accounts (of course, Fox had to change details to protect sensitive information, an editorial decision she says accounts for any discrepancies.)

Since leaving the agency, Fox has covered current events, appearing on news outlets like CNN, Al Jazeera, and the BBC. She also co-hosted American Ripper on the History Channel.

Fox said she shot most of the Netflix series while in her third trimester of pregnancy; she gave birth in January 2019.

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Here's What Netflix's 'The Business of Drugs' Host, Amaryllis Fox, Did for the CIA - Men's Health

DIRTY JOHN: THE BETTY BRODERICK STORY 10 p.m. on USA. Following the success of its first season, which adapted the hit podcast Dirty John for television, this anthology series tracks the very public unraveling of a marriage. It stars Amanda Peet as Betty Broderick, and Christian Slater as her husband, Dan, who seemed to lead an idyllic life in Southern California in the 80s until Dan, a successful medical-malpractice lawyer, hired a new legal assistant named Linda Kolkena (Rachel Keller). Dan and Bettys marriage spats and divorce played out in La Jolla for more than five years, until Betty shot and killed Dan and Linda, who had married, while they slept. The season finale wraps up Bettys case, which, as The New York Times reported in 1991, divided this normally placid city and has drawn attention to the issue of domestic psychological abuse.

SHOWBIZ KIDS (2020) 9 p.m. on HBO. With Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, it seems easier than ever for young people to achieve viral fame and to use that celebrity to break into the entertainment industry. Still, there are young aspiring actors, singers and dancers trekking to auditions and spending their days practicing or attending classes, all in the hopes of becoming the next big thing. But at what cost? This documentary, which was written and directed by the former child actor Alex Winter, looks at the history of young stardom, at a time when there are those in Hollywood who are trying to make the industry safer and more inclusive for everyone. It features interviews with Evan Rachel Wood, Jada Pinkett Smith and Mara Wilson who share what it was like to grow up or raise their children in Hollywood. The documentary follows up-and-coming entertainers and examines the sacrifices their families are making to help them achieve their dreams.

HOT ONES 10 p.m. on TruTV. What started out as a highly entertaining (and cringe-worthy, if youre hot sauce-averse) way to conduct a celebrity interview has been transformed into a TV game show. On its midseason premiere, the host Sean Evans challenges two best friends on their trivia knowledge and threshold for spicy chicken wings.

THE BUSINESS OF DRUGS Stream on Netflix. In the trailer for this new series, its host, the former C.I.A. analyst Amaryllis Fox, says that the only way to bring the war on drugs to an end, is to understand the economics that drive it. Over six episodes, Fox travels the world to understand the lucrative and often deadly global drug trade, from a new heroin route in Kenya to Californias legal marijuana market.

MARJOUN AND THE FLYING HEADSCARF (2019) Stream on Eventive. Its been five years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and 17-year-old Marjoun (Veracity Butcher), the protagonist of this film, is trying to get her father out of jail. Hes been arrested on charges stemming from his alleged connections to Hezbollah. In her quest to clear his name, Marjoun confronts her relationship with god and her identity as a Muslim American in her hometown, Little Rock, Ark.

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Whats on TV Tuesday: Dirty John and The Business of Drugs - The New York Times

One of Iowas most notorious murderers and meth dealers is scheduled to die this week.

While Iowa outlawed capital punishment more than 50 years ago, the federal government is pressing forward with executions of four federal inmates, part of the Trump administrations tough-on-crime posture. The U.S. Supreme Court decided against the convicts legal challenge last month, allowing the first executions since 2003 to proceed.

One of them Dustin Honken, called an Iowa drug kingpin by the media and police was convicted in federal court in the 1993 killings of five people in Northern Iowa, including two children.

When Honken dies, there will be one fewer criminal in the world. But if the goal of our justice system is to prevent another criminal from taking other innocent lives, we have to take a sober look at the conditions precipitating his crimes.

Honken did not just go out killing indiscriminately. After he was first charged with federal drug crimes, he targeted two former drug trade associates who became government informants, along with one of their girlfriends and her two children.

In other words, Honken killed to protect his illegal business. The killings he committed are despicable and wholly inexcusable, so this is not an excuse, but it is one explanation.

The drug war is an actual war, and Honken was fighting in it.

If the drug war were effective at stifling the drug trade, maybe we could calculate a macabre yet acceptable trade-off a little more violent crime in exchange for less drug-related harm. But thats not how it works in practice the prevailing prohibition and enforcement regime has proved impotent at anything besides wrecking peoples lives.

Over the past 20 years, Iowa officials have waged a war against methamphetamine, led with concerted enforcement efforts by local, state and federal authorities, and new laws restricting access to meth manufacturing ingredients. We appear to be worse off for their efforts.

Meth: Iowas on it, too, more than ever before

Iowas annual report on drug control last year showed indicators of methamphetamine harm and trafficking are rising in the state deaths from meth and other psychostimulants, the portion of patients entering treatment who list meth as their primary substance, the number of people imprisoned for meth-related charges and the volume of meth seized by authorities.

A key figure is the price of methamphetamine the average price per gram dropped about 20 percent between 2010 and 2018, while the average purity grew by 20 percent, according to the Iowa Counterdrug Task Force. That suggests more potent methamphetamine is more easily available than ever before. Its clear Iowa is losing the war on meth.

Sometimes drugs make people more violent, but that effect is overstated. And, as we have seen, prohibition has a poor record of mitigating risky drug use anyway. The other cause of drug-related violence and the one we can meaningfully address through public policy is prohibition itself.

Maybe you have noticed that bootleggers of the U.S. alcohol prohibition era and marijuana smugglers this century have used violence to protect their supplies. But modern beer distributors and medical marijuana dispensaries dont do that. The difference is the legality.

Its a radical idea, but if people with methamphetamine use disorder had easy access to safe and legal substances, maybe people like Honken would be put out of business peacefully. Maybe if we ended the federalized and militarized response to drugs, people like that would have less reason to use lethal force.

Honken does not have many sympathizers. Iowa Catholic bishops are calling on President Donald Trump to commute Honkens execution sentence, but there is no mass outpouring to save his life. The killings are too grisly and the facts are too solid to elicit that kind of response.

But this isnt about Iowas meth kingpin. Its about his five victims, and countless others who have been killed or had their lives torn apart, chalked up to collateral damage in the war on drugs.

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Honken will pay for his crimes. But who pays for the system that helped create this unthinkable tragedy? Thats on us.

adam.sullivan@thegazette.com; (319) 339-3156

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The drug war is a real war, and Iowa's death row inmate was fighting in it - The Gazette

The cat is finally out of the bag in Manipurs war on drugs. Decorated police officer Thounaojam Brinda Devi MPS has stated in a sworn affidavit before the Manipur High Court that she came under tremendous pressure from chief minister N Biren Singh and a close acquaintance of his to not press charges against politician-cum-drug lord Lhukhosei Zou.

Brinda had arrested him two years ago along with 4.595 kilograms of No 4 heroin powder estimated to be worth about Rs 30 crore in the international market; 280, 200 world is yours party drug tablets worth about Rs 28 crore, and more than Rs 57 lakh in cash.

She is now facing contempt proceedings for her tirades against the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Court, which she posted on social media after the judge agreed to release Zou on bail for medical reasons.

Brinda stated in her affidavit that on the intervening night of 19 June 2018, a team from the Narcotics and Affairs of Border department of Manipur Police arrested Zou along with seven others.

The operation, which started around 4.30 pm that day and lasted till well past midnight, was led by her as she was the additional superintendent.

Once the crackdown began, some of the arrested persons revealed that drugs were hidden in different places including the quarter of an Autonomous District Council member at Lamphel.

When the police team was about to enter the quarter, a WhatsApp call came from one Moirangthem Asnikumar, a Bharatiya Janata Party state unit vice-president, who enquired about any developments in drugs-busting operations. Brinda told him that she was in the middle of an operation then.

The BJP leader then made her speak to the chief minister who had been briefed about the situation. Biren Singh told her to go ahead and arrest the ADC member if drugs were found there. The last cordon and search was conducted at the quarter along with a team of Lamphel Police (Imphal West Police) led by then SP (lmphal West) Themthing Mashnngva.

He, however, did not enter the premises of the ADC quarter, Brinda said in the affidavit. Before and after the drugs were found, the ADC member, who turned out to be Zou (chairman of the ADC, Chandel district), repeatedly requested the lady officer to settle the issue. Brinda refused to do so. After the drugs were seized, Zou asked her to allow him to call the director general of police and the chief minister.

She refused to do so as well. On the morning of 20 June, Asnikumar went to Brindas residence at Yaiskul Janmasthan. She spoke to him in the presence of her husband in the bedroom, according to the affidavit.

During the conversation, Brinda has stated, the BJP leader told her that the arrested ADC member was the right hand man of one Olice, a close acquaintance of Biren Singh. Asnikumar informed her that the CM had ordered Zou to be exchanged with his wife or son, which Brinda refused as the drugs were seized from him and not his wife or son.

Helpless, Asnikumar left but he went back a second time. He said that the CM and Olice were extremely unhappy with Brindas defiance of their order. He again asked her to release Zou.

Brinda told the BJP leader that the culpability of the ADC chairman should be left to the court. Informing him that there were over 150 personnel present in the entire operation along with independent witnesses, she asked what she would tell the team and the public when asked how the ADC chairman vanished after arrest. Asnikumar left the scene.

Then around 11 am on the same day, Brinda stated that Asnikumar came back for a third time and told her that the CM and Olice were adamant that she release Zou under any condition.

According to the affidavit, she replied, I do not need this job. I came back to this service at the request of New Delhi on the promise that I would be supported in the work I do and can leave the job anytime if I am not satisfied. This attempt of the CM is to finish my career by destroying my credibility. I will not release the man.

In the meantime, Mashnngva also went to her residence. Along with him, Asnikumar and Brinda discussed the matter. She told both of them that it was not possible to release Zou.

She warned about the danger of the CM involving himself in a narcotics case of such magnitude, especially since the BJP government in Manipur was young at the time.

On 14 December 2018, SP of the NAB informed Brinda that the DG had called for a meeting at 11 am that day. The DGP enquired about the whereabouts of the charge sheet of the ADC case.

Brinda informed him that it had reached the court but the DGP said the CM wanted it removed from there. She replied that it was not possible as the charge sheet had already been submitted.

Later, that evening, SP NAB informed her that he had just come back from meeting the CM and the latter was infuriated that the charge sheet had still not been removed. On 11 January 2019, Yumkham Rather, Special Judge NDPS Manipur, wrote a letter to the DGP and secretary of the Bar Council of Manipur describing a grave development that had taken place in the Zou case. In that letter, the judge stated that on 14 December 2018, Imphal West SP Jogesh Chandra Haobijam IPS and H Chandmjit Sharma, senior advocate, reportedly came and met T Bipinchandra, the special public prosecutor, at his office.

They asked the investigating officer to withdraw the charge sheet against Zou, the affidavit stated. Brinda further said on 31 March 2019, an Imphal-based daily published the news about how Sharma and Chandra tried to meddle in the trial. Around 8.30 am that day, SP NAB told her to come to office.

When she asked why, he replied that an order had come from the DGP that the NAB make a written public clarification that there was no pressure to remove the charge sheet. Upon her refusal to do so, the SP (NAB) issued a press statement to that effect.

After Brindas revelation became public through local media and went viral online, Biren Singh issued a statement that nobody would be spared, even if they were family or BJP members, in the fight against the drug menace as well as the ongoing case.

The Opposition went hammer and tongs with state Congress Party president M Oken saying that a Cabinet meeting of the government should be urgently called, and the case of Zous arrest along with the seizure of drugs handed over to an independent body like the Central Bureau of Investigation. In yet another turn of events, Mashnngva, now DIG, filed a criminal contempt case against the publisher and editor of an Imphal-based English daily for carrying portions of Brindas affidavit in their newspaper.

The lady officer was also named by him and the matter has been listed for hearing by the Manipur High Court. Manipur Polices public relations officer, W Basu Singh has also released a press statement saying that there were no political interferences in the investigation being carried out in the Zou case. Brinda, who is the daughter-inlaw of former United National Liberation Front supremo RK Meghen, entered Manipur Police Service only after she had moved the High Court over the refusal of the then Congress government to induct her, given her family ties with the UNLF chief.

Then she resigned from service after reporting that her Commanding Officer was withdrawing money in her name for petrol expenses.

Her protests elicited no response from both the government and police authorities. Only after pressure was mounted on the state government by the Union ministry of home affairs through the Intelligence Bureau, she rejoined service. A no-nonsense officer with grit and determination, Brinda has said on record that she doesnt mind being sent to jail for her convictions. But observers feel that the High Court should exercise judicial activism and help curb the drug menace in Manipur.

The writer is the Imphal-based Special Representative of The Statesman.

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Standing up to vested interests - The Statesman

Reuters has appointed key editorial roles in bureaus across Asia:

Soccer Football - Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Milan ahead of signing for AC Milan - Milan, Italy - January 2, 2020 AC Milan fans hold up mobile phones with the media outside Casa Milan as they wait to see Zlatan Ibrahimovic ahead of him signing for AC Milan REUTERS/Daniele Mascolo

Angie Teo has been appointed Indonesia Bureau Chief and will lead Reuters coverage across the worlds fourth most populous country. Angie joined Reuters in 2010 reporting on palm oil pricing in Malaysia before joining Reuters Video News and in 2014 moved to Jakarta to run Reuters video operation. Angie has anchored various major stories in Asia including the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines MH370, the assassination of Kim Jong Nam and the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka.

Karen Lema has been appointed Bureau Chief, Philippines. Karen joined Reuters in 2006 as a contractor before becoming a staff treasury correspondent in 2008. As acting bureau chief previously, Karen led the team during a period that saw the fallout from the $81 million Bangladesh Bank cyber heist and the meteoric rise of Rodrigo Duterte to the presidency in the 2016 election. Karen has also been central to the bureaus coverage that won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on Dutertes bloody war on drugs.

A.Ananthalakshmi becomes Bureau Chief of Malaysia and Brunei after moving to Kuala Lumpur as deputy bureau chief in 2016. Anantha distinguished herself in reporting on everything from the assassination of Kim Jong Nam to investigations of migrant deaths in detention and the palm oil industry to the surprise fall of Najib Razaks government and the return of Mahathir Muhammad in 2018 elections and then Mahathirs own fall earlier this year. Anantha joined Reuters in Bangalore, where she covered U.S. companies in the industrial, aerospace and auto sectors and previously anchored coverage of gold and other precious metals in Asia.

Ed Davies moves to one of two new positions of News Editor, Southeast Asia, responsible for helping shape the day-to-day coverage from the region. In his previous role of Indonesia Bureau Chief, Ed led the team reporting on a series of natural and transport disasters, the turbulent 2019 presidential election and a period that saw a growing tussle over the influence of Islamic groups in the worlds biggest Muslim majority country. Ed joined Reuters in 1996 in Hong Kong before moving with the Asia Desk to Singapore, and then headed to Seoul as an editor for South Korea. As deputy bureau chief in Indonesia, he reported on the country as it became one of the hottest emerging market investment destinations.

Martin Petty also becomes News Editor, Southeast Editor, moving from his former position as Bureau Chief, Philippines. While Martin led the Philippines team, he also reported from Mindanao on the five-month battle for Marawi, during which he broke news of President Dutertes secret backchanneling with insurgents and gained exclusive access to the abandoned hideout of Islamic States Southeast Asian leader. Martin also joined a Reuters team on an old fishing boat to the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea to become the first foreign media there since it was seized by Beijing. Martin joined Reuters in Bangkok, initially as a sports reporter, before becoming a senior correspondent.

[Reuters PR blog post]

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Heather Carpenter

heather.carpenter @ tr.com

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Reuters appoints Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia and Brunei bureau chiefs and editing roles in Southeast Asia - Reuters

Marie & Allen of Legacy Coterie / MD Numbers. Photo credit: Jennifer Skog / MJ Lifestyle

When someone has the passion to dive into the cannabis business, many is need to be dotted and ts crossed. Its impossible to know everything, especially when entering the biz for the first time. Thats where this list of top five cannabis industry consultants come in makes this business one of always learning, instead of knowing it all. Far less expensive than hiring on a full-time employee, cannabis consultants are uniquely geared to doing it right the first time, every time. Then, they can move on to the next project a win/win for the entrepreneur who has more money than time. Read on to learn more about Andrew DeAngelo, Marie & Allen of Legacy Coterie, Danny Murr-Sloat of AlpinStash, Kimberly Dillon of Plant & Prosper, and Emma & Matt of Eminent Consulting.

As a consultant, my real excitement comes from seeing my clients succeed. I get in the trenches ... [+] with them with that singular focus in mind. Thats the true reward of being a consultant: you get to build the entire industry, not just one company. After building Harborside for 13 years, Im excited to help others get to the point Harborside is at today and beyond.

Who are you? Andrew DeAngelo, Cannabis Industry Consultant and Strategic Advisor

Whats the mission of your consulting business? I want to help as many different clients as possible. My goal is, and has always been, to create a new industry with new values for society. Being a consultant allows me to do that much more widely, so that I can continue to influence the local and global cannabis industry to live by the values this plant teaches us. I want to work with any client, large or small, anywhere in the world who shares that mission.

Whos your ideal client? So that I can serve a diverse clientele, Ive created a consulting ecosystem that will enable any clientlarge or small, local or internationalto get moving in the right direction and build real momentum. When a client has complex needs, I partner with Global Go, a cannabis-centric advisory firm that provides the highest-level services in the areas of compliance, permitting, corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, logistics, and finance. Paul Rosen is the Executive Chairman of Global Go, and he leads a team of sophisticated professionals who know how to do projects for Fortune 500 companies, and any cannabis venture large in scale and scope. I will also donate time or provide rate discounts to social equity clients, and legacy operators who want to get legal.

What sets you apart from other consultants in the cannabis space? Ive been trading cannabis for 37 years. I helped legalize cannabis in multiple states, and I co-founded Harborside 13 years ago in Oakland, California. Ive started trade associations like the California Cannabis Industry Association, and non-profits like Last Prisoner Project, which works to free those incarcerated for nonviolent cannabis convictions. I ran the daily operations of Harborside for 13 years. I took the company from 0 to $40M in top-line revenue by relentlessly building the gold standard of cannabis retail and paying careful attention to the customer and the team. Additionally, Harborside had to defend itself in two lawsuits with the federal government and is still standing strong. Perhaps most importantly, Ive had to articulate a vision of cannabis in society, often in front of cameras, and be able to persuade an audience that my viewpoint is correct. As a co-founder of Harborside, I created every department in the organization from Inventory to HR, and worked in various roles from General Manager to Chief Revenue Officer. I helped Harborside expand into four shops, become vertically integrated with a large greenhouse farm, go public on the CSX, and create a culture for our team and customers that was unique in the industry. I want to use all of those experiences to help others succeed. And when thats combined with the collective experience of the executives at Global Go, it creates an unparalleled track record in global cannabis. I also bring integrity, trust, and humor to my endeavors. Not only will I help you grow, well have a blast doing it together.

Part of the MD Numbers family of brands, Legacy Coterie draws from decades of cannabis business ... [+] expertise and its family of vertically integrated subsidiaries to meet the demands of modern-day cannabis entrepreneurs.

Who are you? Marie Montmarquet & Allen Hackett, Founders of Legacy Coterie

Whats the mission of your consulting business? Legacy Coterie is a full service cannabis consulting, distribution, and sales service focused on empowering those impacted by the war on drugs and legacy operators in the cannabis space. Legacy Coteries mission is to develop an abundantly equitable future in the cannabis space by connecting passionate operators with the skills and resources to succeed.

Whos your ideal client? From legacy operators transitioning to the legal market, equity applicants looking to build their next enterprise, to multi-licensees scaling operations, Legacy Coterie pairs your cannabis vision with equitable, proven, world-class solutions. Legacy Coterie is interested in working with clients at all phases of product development, and seeks those interested in working with like minded companies. We want to help secure foundational and everlasting success with individuals with integrity and sensitivity to the sacrifices so many have made to make this industry possible.

What sets you apart from other consultants in the cannabis space? Our team comes from a very diverse background and is 100% women and minority owned. Not only that, but women hold every executive position in the company. We have extensive practical knowledge building out each part of the California supply chain with over 40 years of proven experience.

Owning a cannabis business, especially a small one, is difficult and stressful enough as it is. As ... [+] a consultant, my goal is to ultimately save my clients money and stress. As growers of craft cannabis we are all in this together and I truly take this to heart.

Who are you? Danny Murr-Sloat, Founder & Craft Cannabis Cultivation Consultant at AlpinStash

Whats the mission of your consulting business? At AlpinStash, we are completely dedicated to craft cannabis and compliance. Everything we do from hand mixing our soil, hand watering, hand trimming to glass curing is focused on providing flower of the highest quality. Teaching this to our clients and empowering them to have both the knowledge and skills required to own and operate a boutique grow is a personal passion and what we do best. We specialize in using Nectar For The Gods nutrients and growing in living soil.

Whos your ideal client? Since our specialty is craft cannabis, the clients we seek, whether big or small, are those who wish to provide a connoisseur level product. We are not interested in working with strictly production driven clients or those who wish to cut corners. We seek clients who are forward thinking, who want to operate a sustainable business within this growing sector of the industry, and who wish to be completely compliant as this is, by far, the most important value for a cannabis business to have.

What sets you apart from other consultants in the cannabis space? Our dedication to quality is a skill we have honed over years of research and development on a commercial level. Ive been intricately involved in every aspect of a successful cultivation business this includes concept and design of the cultivation facility, compliance/Metrc use, employee vetting and hiring, social media presence, IPM/pest management, breeding, packaging, branding and more. We have unique connections to nutrient and equipment manufactures and suppliers which we share with our clients. Our goal is to educate our clients so they can become completely self sufficient, confident, and successful.

We help brands grow. It really is that simple. We are a team of fractional CMOs that brings ... [+] strategic sales and marketing expertise when you don't have the budget for a full-time role or when you have a priority project that needs to get done but can't distract your core teams. We only work with purpose-driven brands and founders because we don't take our role as cultivating the next generation of cannabis companies lightly.

Who are you? Kimberly Dillon, Founder of Plant & Prosper a Consulting Collective for the Cannabis and Hemp Industries

Whats the mission of your consulting business? We help innovative brands launch or expand in the legal cannabis and hemp markets. My focus is on product strategy, brand strategy, and coaching. Coaching is a relatively new offering, but after finishing many projects with my clients, many retained me for strategic advisory services and that work has kept me on my toes. I especially love working alongside founders and helping them scale their businesses.

Whos your ideal client? Companies who have a meaty strategic and or messy problems on their hands. Either they want to launch a novel inhalation device and need to find white space or they don't really understand what levers are driving their business. We also love things that fall out of the scope of "marketing" and just require a sharp executive mind. We are itching to do something international. I should mention that we are picky about the projects we take on and we believe in purpose-driven brands and people. We are on a mission of purpose AND profits, not one without the other.

What sets you apart from other consultants in the cannabis space? Three things. 1) I am one of the few C-suite executives who can execute as well as be strategic. While I am hired to be strategic, I understand what it takes to get the job done. In an industry that is so new, generalists are often the MVPS. 2) I was an early team member of Papa & Barkley when the product was still made in a crockpot and legalization just happened. Since then, I have helped teams raise money, solidify their messaging strategy, define their road maps, and launch new businesses. So, that makes me an OG in a way. 3) Cannabis was not my first rodeo. I have 15 years of experience building brands, managing teams, and scaling businesses both in traditional Consumer Packaged Goods, and also in a variety of startups here and abroad. My job out of college was as a management consultant, so by nature I am curious and I use those same tools to identify a problem and develop a methodology that drives to a solution. Also, I really really like the plant!

When we set up our consulting business we did so with the values of craft culture, science, and ... [+] education at the forefront. Coming from Oregons craft industry, we want to help entrepreneurs all over the world adopt business practices that not only allow them to succeed, but also allow them to have a positive impact on the planet, patients, and the community at large. Photo credit: Outer Elements

Who are you? Emma Chasen & Matt Taylor, Founders of Eminent Consulting

Whats the mission of your consulting business? Our mission is to guide and influence emerging cannabis entrepreneurs to successfully implement a craft ethos and cutting-edge business model through scientific-based educational initiatives and authentic collaborative relationships. To accomplish this we have two arms to our consulting business: one, science-forward training for industry professionals that equips entrepreneurs and employees with the knowledge to best explain cannabis and its purported effects to consumers. The other arm is consulting with a focus on strategic business development and management consulting for cannabis entrepreneurs in emerging and existing markets. Through both of these avenues, we are able to promote our mission to deliver accessible cannabis science education and ethical, craft business practices, thereby allowing more people to benefit from plant medicine.

Whos your ideal client? We have the capacity to work with a variety of clients from one-on-one coaching and mentoring, to businesses that utilize our online training program for employee training, to entrepreneurs setting up cultivation facilities and dispensaries, to established cannabis entrepreneurs who need to improve their efficiency systems. We love to work with entrepreneurs to help bring their vision to life through the creation of educational marketing collateral, brand messaging, and management support, especially in the hiring and training process. Ultimately, our ideal client is one who aligns with our values. If a client is not interested in setting up a craft cannabis business that values organic cultivation, workers rights, and patient health, then they are not the right fit for us. We prefer clients that are authentic and committed to the path of self-improvement; always looking to refine their processes in consideration of leaving a positive impact on their communities, reducing the negative impact on their environment, and a willingness to lead by example.

What sets you apart from other consultants in the cannabis space? We have a finger on the pulse of what it takes to empower employees and effectively execute on all levels of a cannabis business. Emmas academic background in the areas of medicinal plant research, ethnobotany, and oncology research inform her the expertise and lexicon in training and advising cannabis industry professionals and consumers on cannabis science. Matts background has consistently orbited DIY subcultures such as indie and punk music communities, art, and skateboarding. The common thread among these communities is the necessity to construct a community/culture in collaboration with other like-minded folks that are seeking new ideas, and celebrating creative outlets. Being among these internally constructed communities can teach you how to build bridges between many different types of people and how to discern quality. Our combined abilities, personalities, plus our experiences working in Oregons craft industry for the last five years, have given us a unique perspective and expertise when it comes to advising clients on implementing a craft ethos and priming them for success.

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The Top 5 Cannabis Industry Consultants You Need To Know - Forbes

This is the third story in a six-part series, Lessons from a Global Reckoning, in which The 74 examines how issues of race are taught or ignored in Americas classrooms. As the pandemic continues and after nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd, this series seeks to take a hard look at how educators are tackling these painful but important issues. Read the rest of the pieces as they are published here.

The world has changed since D.C.s social studies standards were created 14 years ago.

A few events stand out for State Board of Education member Jessica Sutter: The election and presidency of Barack Obama; The landmark marriage equality Supreme Court ruling; And now, historic protests and a global pandemic ravaging communities of color that has once again forced the nation D.C. included to take an introspective look at whose histories have been uplifted or buried.

To think about how we teach history and whose stories predominate It is not for the faint of heart, said Sutter, a former middle school social studies teacher.

Sutter and a newly appointed 26-member committee, however, are up to the challenge, and will spend the next half year combing and critiquing a 104-page standards document that informs schools curricula by outlining key events and skills students should learn by grade.

The work is important now more than ever, Sutter said, with culturally responsive education critical in the coming months and years as schools look to re-engage students and recoup learning loss from COVID-19.

Its just so important that students see themselves in the way theyre being taught and in what theyre being taught, said Fadhal Moore, a committee member and former eighth grade history teacher at D.C.s E.L. Haynes Public Charter School. If theres a huge disconnect between students lives and what happens in the classroom, they check out.

Though the standards were well received early on, five committee members interviewed by The 74 were quick to point out wanted changes: More space for history and culture that doesnt revolve around a white, often European, narrative; giving students better tools to be engaged citizens and voters; and introducing more diverse perspectives in the K-2 grades. D.C. Public Schools curriculum is based on the standards; as many as three-quarters of D.C. charters also use them.

Officials say the standards play a vital role as a guidepost for educators. And they reflect what D.C. considers relevant history.

It sends a signal of what are the things that we are saying we value, said Scott Abbott, DCPS director of social studies. And what is actually important.

Tying in more diversity

The mix of educators, administrators, students and experts on the committee agree that the standards dont give equal attention to non-white cultures and people. E.L. Haynes Public Charter School teacher Jessica Rucker counted the number of times the word American appears in the current standards: 171 times.

If American was replaced with the words white people it would more clearly illustrate the what and who we expect students to know, she told other committee members during their first Zoom meeting July 7.

Moore has taken notes, too. African history pre-European colonization is sparse. The standards for the Industrial Revolution dont explicitly suggest uplifting diverse voices, like that of a Latino child or Black woman. One of the most striking to Moore is there are no non-western society history standards until 7th grade. And even when continents like Africa do emerge, European history is often still the backdrop. In 9th grade World History, for example, at least 10 of 16 units center on Europe or how periods like the Renaissance influenced other cultures.

Most students interactions with persons of color outside of Europe are going to be simply victims of European expansion and growth. Not exclusively, but by and large, said committee member Michael Stevens, social studies director at Friendship Public Charter School. While that network doesnt use the standards, it hopes to adopt the updated version.

Students feel this imbalance of perspectives in the classroom. In a lunch time Zoom chat with Sutter in March, one student lamented how there isnt a lot of positive history about Black people thats taught. A few others said history lessons often feel stagnant, rarely connecting past oppression of communities of color to present-day struggles.

Across D.C. public schools, 66 percent of students are Black, 19 percent are Latino and 11 percent are white.

We talk about slavery, we talk about segregation, we talk about the Civil Rights era [and] a young learner, just going off the textbook, would think that racism ended there, said Alex OSullivan, a rising junior at BASIS DC Public Charter School whos on the committee. He wants more attention paid to systemic issues like housing segregation, or the war on drugs and the resulting mass incarceration of Black men.

Committee members also feel there are gaps in civics education, which encourages students to explore their identity within society and teaches them how to be more engaged citizens.

There arent any civics standards between grades 3 and 11, Moore said. He intends to push for updated standards that include skills building across grades: How to organize a protest and obtain necessary permits, craft petitions and pen letters to local politicians, for example.

You do not become a citizen at 18. You are always a citizen, hed tell his students. So what does that mean for you to start to interact with that now?

Fadhal Moores students create VOTE signs for a rally. (Courtesy of Fadhal Moore)

Standards for the younger grades, in general, need to be more robust, committee members like Sutter and Abbott said. The current K-2 standards focus on basic concepts like reading a map, identifying American symbols like the Statue of Liberty and learning to respect others. The one outlier which Abbott said he wishes there was more of is a section on Maya, Inca, and Aztec civilizations in first grade.

Sutter thinks kids can handle more. In second grade, for example, when kids learn about American citizenship, there should also be discussion about Dreamers, she said. More specifically, What does that mean, and how are these students and families supported if they are not citizens'?

I have a 4-year-old nephew who can name you every dinosaur and pronounce their multisyllabic name correctly, she said. We underestimate young children.

Holding district, schools accountable for change

Committee member Laura Fuchs is more focused on holding DCPS and charters accountable for not cherry-picking standards theyre most comfortable with.

The H.D. Woodson Senior High School teacher takes issue with current DCPS World History curriculum. It suggests, for example, that teachers spend 12 days on a U.S.-Russia Cold War unit, while another unit covering more ground the ramifications of World War II, the Cold War and colonization on Africa and Latin America, regions with largely Black and Latino populations is allotted 11 days.

The standards, thats just one thing, she said. The problems Im facing in my classroom is because the standards are being prioritized in a very poor way.

Committee member and sixth grade geography teacher Melanie Holmes felt a similar disconnect between the standards and curriculum recently. Im working on curriculum for my individual school [MacFarland Middle School] right now and [while referring to the standards] we just found so many good standards that are left out of whats provided to teachers, she said at the meeting.

Some teachers find they have autonomy to craft organic and diverse lesson plans. Emory Calhoun at Dunbar High School brings in historians to talk about Georgetowns Black history, and has students call his aunt, who lived through the Civil Rights Movement. Cosby Hunt, an AP U.S. history teacher at Thurgood Marshall Academy, takes his classes through Jacob Lawrences 60-panel art series portraying the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South.

Both acknowledged having that flexibility can depend, though, on a schools management style, and how new a teacher is to a particular subject.

Abbott, DCPS social studies director, said the district works with teachers to develop curriculum. It brought in six educators this summer to serve as race and equity fellows who are looking at the curriculum through this lens of anti-racism, anti-bias to identify short-term fixes as the standards review process continues. Abbott added the district is looking forward to expanding course offerings for its African American History and Culture elective the most popular non-AP elective last year.

The committee will submit recommendations to the Office of the State Superintendent of Education in December, and advise that office as it formally rewrites the standards in 2021. The State Board will vote on the revisions in March 2022, to go into effect the 202223 school year.

See the rest here:

Lessons From a Global Reckoning: D.C. Looks to Make 14-Year-Old Social Studies Standards More Inclusive as Cities Nationwide Grapple with Re-Engaging...

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The Business Of Drugs premiered on Netflix on 14 July 2020 is a documentaryweb television mini-series. With 6 episodes titles Cocaine, Synthetics, Heroin, Meth, Cannabis, Opioids respectively.

Amaryllis Fox, a former kid CIA agent recruited at the age 21 who hopped the globe fight on the war against terror until 2010 is the host for the series.

Drugs have existed in our societies longer than terrorism! It is deeply rooted in our system and society. The drug trade is widespread and uncontrollable and to some people their only means of survival. From human carriers to stuffing of drugs inside toys, the export of drugs is untamed.

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The series doesnt elaborate on what it starts with- how drugs are a part of wall street, freudian theory and a lot more. It tells the viewers more about how drugs are made and exported! The series features live testimonies from smugglers and dealers, who sell coke in small amounts and stay off radars.

The series initially compares the war on drugs to the war on terrorism, the two very different and distinctively important issues are put under common light making matter lighter for each! The Business Of Drugs includes interviews with experts in each episode who take us deeper in the whole production, sale and use. Alongside this, bits about the history of drugs is displayed.

Government spends a huge amount on the removal of Coca plant from Columbia- The largest importer of cocaine. But the question it left me with was- If the government can spend soo much money on removal on Coca plant, Why not spend it on developing Columbia, dealing with the root problem! Rather than just working on the surface with little to NO result.

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While the stats and information Fox brings forward is well drawn, it never really reaches to a point where the viewers feel triggered for a want to bring about change. The view point is more or less focused on the U.S.A and not on the global impact of drugs. The Business Of Drugs simply touches over various drugs and things related to them, that have been covered in various other shows and documentaries

STREAM IT! The Business Of Drugs is informative even though it misses out on some significantly important parts. This docuseries isnt the best of the genre but its worth a watch!

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The Business Of Drugs is now streaming on Netflix

Read our other reviewshere.

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See more here:

Netflix's The Business Of Drugs Review: Cocaine, Meth, and More | TechQuila - TechQuila

My turn came up earlier. Lauren Bacall, accompanied by Jon Voight, regally walked on to bestow the awards for screenwriting, both adapted and original. She put me back into the Bogart-Huston era, still looking like a lynx with those slits for eyes and that 1940s smokers voice. My nerves couldnt help but take a quantum leap upwards. God help me now. Remember, this audience doesnt want a lecture on the War on Drugs; anyway, most didnt agree with me, or they wanted a crackdown on drugs, or they just didnt want to think about it. On the contrary, the US was clearly drifting toward an expanded prison system, and the fight against crime and terrorism was a popular theme. So be cool, man, say what you gotta say quickly and get off. This was on TV now, going out to hundreds of millions across the globe. Dont fuck this up, Oliver. Midnight had won only one Oscar so farfor Giorgio Moroders tense, driving score. Neil Simon, sitting close by, the most financially successful dramatist of his time, was my competition for adaptation of his own play, California Suite; sitting separately were Elaine May and Warren Beatty for their rewrite of the original Heaven Can Wait.

And the winner isthat grand cliche of a pause as Bacall opens the envelopeOLIVER STONE! Wow. Cheers breaking all around. I knew this moment was special. I memorized it. I planted it in my heartlike a tree that would grow. I started walking toward the stage. Nothing fancy. Just walk up there, dont stumble on these stairs.

My speech this time was considerably better delivered than at the Globes, but the meaning again was botched, as I naively wished for some consideration for all the men and women all over the world who are in prison tonight. Considering that this generality includes some genuine psychopaths and cold-blooded killers was beside the point, because who really listens or cares? I was just another writer up there making a case, my hair tumbling messily down to my shoulders, and presenting a slightly stoned, out-of-it expression. But I was young enough to strike a chord and briefly be remembered in a profession in which, I would discover, writers are profoundly interchangeable. I thanked my colleagues and got off. Lauren and Jon stayed on to give the screenwriting prize for originals to Waldo Salt, Nancy Dowd, and Robert Jones for Coming Home.

Backstage was brutal, nothing like I expected. Lauren abandoned me, stars were moving left and right to get ready for the next number. Cary Grant smiled at me again. There was Audrey Hepburn! Then Gregory Peck! Then Jimmy Stewart was congratulating me, the warmest of men. Then fifty photographers were popping flashbulbs in my face in one room, and in the next, another fifty reporters were throwing tough questions at me like grenades. I did my best and, soaked like a sponge with sweat, gratefully returned to my seat for the finale with John Wayne.

I went on to the Academy Ball and other parties, giddy, drinking, ending up quite high and drunk at a Hollywood Hills mansion where so many people congratulated me it became a blur. Alan Parkers face loomed up somewhere that night. A begrudging congratulations. Nothing more needed to be said between usfor years. I remember chatting with a cerebral Richard Dreyfuss, whod won the acting award the year before for The Goodbye Girl, then being embraced by Sammy Davis Jr., who was hugging me and spreading the love, baby!

And then, out of the smoke and music, near three in the morning, emerged a goddess, now older but still desirable, her voice strained and hoarse enough to seduce any Odysseus shipwrecked on her island. Kim Novak was Circe, able to turn men into swine, but alas, she preferred her dogs and horses on her Northern California ranch, where she lived in reclusive splendor. As I talked with her quietly on the couch, she seemed to me a woman who, never satisfied with men, had found her lonely island. I yearned for her without saying it, and felt her isolation. She was amused by men, accustomed to being desired, but could never be mortal. She preferred her dream.

Three short years ago, Id been in the gutter. Now I was on a mountaintop Id never thought possible. And in three more years, Id be back in the gutter.

Adapted from Chasing the Light: Writing, Directing, and Surviving Platoon, Midnight Express, Scarface, Salvador and the Movie Game by Oliver Stone, to be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on July 21, 2020.

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The Really High Highs and Embarrassing Lows of Oliver Stones First Oscar Season - GQ

At dawn on June 26, a leafy neighborhood of Mexico City awoke to the sounds of automatic gunfire and fragmentation grenades from a coordinated assault on the citys chief of police. On the streets of Lomas de Chapultepec, home to ambassadors and business leaders, 28 assailants ambushed Mexico Citys most senior law enforcement officer, Omar Garca Harfuch, during his morning commute and hammered his armored car with military grade weaponry. The assault left three dead but Garca Harfuch, shot three times and wounded by shrapnel, survived.

While the Mexican government has yet to formally attribute the attack to any group, preliminary reports strongly suggest the powerful New Generation Jalisco Cartel (CJNG) was responsible. In a Twitter posting from the hospital, Garca Harfuch blamed the CJNG for the attempt on his life. Local press reports, citing government security sources, indicate that Mexicos intelligence services had anticipated an attack since at least June 11, when intercepts of discussions between assassins affiliated with the CJNG revealed a pending plot against an unspecified senior official. Mexicos Security Cabinet subsequently assessed the Mexico City police chief to be one of four possible targets. After the attack, a CJNG member allegedly responsible for contracting assassins for the cartel was among 19 individuals arrested.

As clearer indications of responsibility for the attack filter into the public realm, security analysts and the media have begun to raise inevitable questions of motive and meaning. Why Mexico Citys chief of police? What did the CJNG hope to gain? And how will the government respond? Preliminary accounts provide partial answers. They suggest overlapping criminal, personal, and political motives for the attempted assassination and that the CJNG, despite recent setbacks, is both willing and able to engage in direct confrontation with the Mexican state.

On a purely tactical level, the June 26 attack was an attempt by the CJNG to reduce operational risk. After becoming Mexico Citys Secretary of Citizen Security in October 2019, Garca Harfuch depleted the ranks of local CJNG-affiliated groups. He also arrested at least three local CJNG cell leaders, one of whom Mexican authorities describe as a trusted operative of cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho. The arrests put pressure on the CJNGs retail drug sales and extortion rackets in a key metropolitan center at a time when international COVID-19 measures have constrained its wholesale trade in heroin and synthetic drugs and the Mexican government has attacked its finances. Indeed, there is speculation that Garca Harfuchs unwillingness to negotiate with the crime syndicates he targeted may have precipitated the attack against him.

Yet, there is also a personal element to the assault. The damage that Garca Harfuch has inflicted on the CJNG over the years appears to have inspired personal animosity and made him a uniquely attractive target. According to press accounts of his career, while serving with the Federal Police Garca Harfuch coordinated operations that came close to capturing El Mencho in the mountains of Jalisco and the port city of Puerto Vallarta. He also directed investigations that led to the 2015 arrest of El Menchos son, who was extradited to the United States in February this year. In addition, Garca Harfuch is credited with having thwarted a planned CJNG alliance with the Sinaloa Cartel in 2017, which disintegrated after one of his operations led to the capture of the Sinaloa leader who was negotiating the agreement.

The choice of a wealthy and supposedly secure Mexico City enclave as an attack venue suggests a potential political motivation by the CJNG. Mexicos cartels have long used extreme violence for public messaging. A famous practice, known as calentar la plaza, uses high-profile violence to trigger a law enforcement crackdown in a targeted area, which impedes the operations of rivals and intimidates or angers the local public. The use of this tactic in the heart of the capital could be read as an effort to undermine the political standing of Mexican President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador, known as AMLO, and his ally, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum.

It is conceivable that the CJNG perceives AMLO as having taken sides however inadvertently in its ongoing rivalry with the Sinaloa Cartel. In February 2019, AMLO authorized a humanitarian visa for the mother of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaqun El Chapo Guzmn, enabling her to visit her son as he stood trial in New York. This March, AMLO travelled to El Chapos village of La Tuna in the mountains of Sinaloa a highly unusual trip for a sitting president and was caught on camera greeting El Chapos mother. Then, on June 19 he publicly admitted to having personally ordered the release of El Chapos son, Ovidio Guzmn, when the latter was briefly captured during a federal firefight with cartel forces in Sinaloa last October.

In that context, the CJNG may have intended its attack, highly visible and perpetrated near the seat of national government, to weaken AMLOs public support by exacerbating feelings of insecurity. Indeed, nearly three-quarters of Mexicans already consider their city to be unsafe, and 57% disapprove of AMLOs handling of public security. The attack also appears to be the second time in the past year that the CJNG has conducted a high-profile killing in the city governed by AMLOs close political ally, Claudia Sheinbaum. Sheinbaum, a member of AMLOs political party, has struggled to regain her balance on security issues since a CJNG-linked shooting of two Israelis in a luxury shopping center in Mexico City last July.

Finally, the attack delivers an unmistakable message of confidence by the cartel and reveals a willingness to directly confront Mexican forces. The plot was logistically complex, involving multiple operational cells, military grade weapons, and extensive surveillance. It took aim at a hard target more than 300 miles from the CJNGs stronghold in Jalisco and did so near the headquarters of the Mexican Army, Navy, and National Guard. Its boldness and sophistication discredited any notions that the CJNG was reeling from its recent setbacks. It also implies that, if more discreet arrangements cant be made with law enforcement and legislators, the CJNG does not fear incurring the full wrath of the state.

Now, the Mexican government must calibrate its response: too soft will invite more impunity, too hard will invoke references to a militarized war on drugs that AMLO has so assiduously avoided. The initial response appears circumspect. In a June 27 social media posting, AMLO declared that Mexicos security strategy would remain unchanged in response to the attempted assassination and that he would neither declare war nor negotiate with organized crime. The statement emphasized two pillars of his strategy educational and economic assistance to the young and a preference for preventive intelligence over military force and did not mention any cartels by name.

For the Mexican government to credibly deter future threats to public order and attacks on its officials, that strategy needs to evolve. A renewed focus on judicial reform, enhanced U.S. security cooperation, and greater sharing of criminal intelligence with foreign partners should be urgent priorities.

As many suspects in the Garca Harfuch attack have already been apprehended, now is the time to revisit the judicial reforms that AMLOs government tabled but quickly withdrew in January 2020. The reforms, which proposed changes to Mexicos Constitution and four federal laws, tried to address concerns that the countrys adoption of a US-style accusatorial justice system in 2016 made it harder for under-staffed police and prosecutors to get convictions. Rights groups correctly criticized many of the proposals for endangering due process and the presumption of innocence. However, several ideas, such as admitting judicially approved wiretaps as evidence and limiting legal challenges to avoid delays in extradition, are worth resurrecting. They could improve Mexicos conviction rate for murders and expedite transfers of international criminals.

In parallel, Mexico should reinvigorate its security partnership with the U.S. via cooperation frameworks such as the Merida Initiative and the Mexico-U.S. High-level Security Group, which already exist but are underused due to political differences and excess bureaucracy. As legal cases against the Garca Harfuch attackers progress, the two countries should also use their existing arms trafficking cooperation agreement to trace the origin of the weapons used in the attack and revive joint efforts to stop high-caliber arms from crossing their shared border.

Stronger intelligence ties to other partner nations will also be critical, as the most severe security threats to Mexico, embodied by the CJNG, are transnational. The CJNG is believed to operate across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Yet, Mexicos intelligence service, the National Intelligence Center, functions as a domestic agency with a small foreign arm. If it were allowed to work more overseas, gathering intelligence on cartels money laundering and logistics networks, the results could help limit the finances and firepower that enable groups like the CJNG to threaten the Mexican state.

If the attack of June 26 has taught Mexico anything, its that national security depends on the ability to manage crime proactively, holistically, and with international partners. Instead of working merely to prevent attacks, it must also prevent organized crime from growing its capabilities. Otherwise, the next time a cartel takes aim at the state, the result could leave an even more indelible mark on the country.

Andrew Rennemo is a member of Chatham House. He has held roles in U.S. government focused on transnational threats and as a management consultant with PwC for risk and compliance and forensic investigation in Mexico.

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect those of Geopoliticalmonitor.com or any institutions with which the authors are associated.

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Inside the Attack that Shocked Mexico City - Geopoliticalmonitor.com

President Donald Trumps executive order and the stalled bills in Congress to curb police misconduct are, at best, attempts to retune an instrument that was orchestrated for abuse.

As a former archivist in charge of the National Archives records for the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Prisons, it is clear to me that the history of police violence in the U.S. informs and influences why the U.S. is again facing protests over violence, racism and unjust death.

Wickersham Commission

Violence and corruption have long been the mainstay of American police. In 1929, President Herbert Hoover, stirred by stories of bootleggers who forged criminal alliances with police departments during the Prohibition Era (1920-1933), announced that his administration would make the widest inquiry into the shortcomings of the administration of justice and into the causes and remedies for them.

Hoover appointed the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement, chaired by former Attorney General George Wickersham, to investigate the failure of prohibition laws. In its 1931 report, the commission said that police made frequent use of torture as a method of law enforcement and that confessions of guilt frequently are unlawfully extorted by the police from prisoners by means of cruel treatment, colloquially known as the third degree. The Wickersham Commission defined the third degree as the employment of methods which inflict suffering, physical or mental, upon a person, in order to obtain from that person information about a crime.

Rather than reform the police, however, Attorney General Homer Cummings (1933-1939), who was appointed by Hoovers successor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, announced in September 1933 that there was a real war that confronts us all a war that must be successfully fought if life and property are to be secure in our countryThe warfare which an armed underworld is waging upon organized society has reached disturbing proportions. The prevalence of predatory crime, including kidnapping and racketeering, demands the utmost diligence upon the part of our law enforcing agencies, supported by an informed and aroused public opinion. Cummings declared a war on crime that aimed to professionalize and militarize the police.

Professionalization was supposed to train police in scientific methods to curtail torture in police work, but militarization armed the FBI and coordinated it with local police departments across the country. The war on crime was a signature program of Roosevelts New Deal, designed to win headlines for the president when Americans were hungry for strong leadership amid the Great Depression.

Kerner Commission

Thirty years later, President Lyndon B. Johnson mounted his own war on crime. He appointed the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission, to investigate the source of riots across the country in 1967.

Chaired by Governor Otto Kerner Jr. of Illinois, the commission reported that to some Negroes, police have come to symbolize white power, white racism, and white repression. And the fact is that many police do reflect and express these white attitudes. The atmosphere of hostility and cynicism is reinforced by a widespread belief among Negroes in the existence of police brutality and in a double standard of justice and protection one for Negroes and one for whites.

The Kerner Commission documented a reality that remains unchanged: police are trained to keep order in Black neighborhoods with the use of unchecked violence. Among other things, it highlighted the need for change in police operations in the ghetto, to insure proper conduct by individual officers and to eliminate abrasive practices.

The problem of police brutality was not untrained or rogue cops, but the design of Americas system of policing. The commission noted that many of the serious disturbances took place in cities whose police are among the best led, best organized, best trained and most professional in the country. President Johnson ignored its recommendations.

War on drugs

The next administration made the problem of police brutality worse. In June 1971, President Richard Nixon launched the war on drugs. Borrowing language from the war on crime, Nixon announced that Americas public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive, he said.

Nixons domestic policy chief, John Ehrlichman, later recounted that the drug war was designed to link the Black community with narcotics and thereby arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.

The war on drugs not only targeted the Black community but justified the mass incarceration of Black men. Every president since Ronald Reagan has expanded the war on drugs, from programs that equipped police with military gear to patterns of enforcement that disproportionately policed people of color. Such outfitting dressed officers as soldiers and cast Black people as combatants.

Undone reform, post-Ferguson

Protests against police violence erupted once again in August 2014 when police in Ferguson, Missouri, killed an unarmed Black teenager and left his body displayed on the street for hours. Angry crowds gathered, protested and rioted. Police responded by showcasing their military equipment including tear gas, rubber bullets, stun grenades, M-16 rifles, M-14 rifles, M-1911 handguns, tactical vests, undercover apparel, riot shields, armored personnel carriers, mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles and high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles.

President Barack Obama issued guidelines for the Justice Department in 2015 that prohibited the transfer of some military equipment to local police departments. He explained that Americans have seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people a feeling like theres an occupying force, as opposed to a force thats part of the community thats protecting them and serving them.

Obama also created the Task Force on 21st Century Policing in 2014. It recommended new policies to build trust between racial minorities and the police, but they were sparsely adopted. After police killed Alton Sterling and Philando Castile in 2016, Obama lamented that change has been too slow and we have to have a greater sense of urgency about this.

President Trump rescinded Obamas guidelines to demilitarize the police in 2017. Trumps order reinstated the military gear and sent a strong message that we will not allow criminal activity, violence, and lawlessness to become the new normal, said Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Today, the efforts of the White House and Congress to reform the police is an attempt to reinvent an old institution. Ideas advanced by Republicans and Democrats rely on the police to tear down the blue wall of silence, an unofficial loyalty oath among police that is customarily respected by judges and prosecutors, and which leads to a lack of accountability for police violence and abuse. Police culture protects itself.

Like before, America is again scrutinizing the role and function of the police in the wake of public corruption and brutality. But there is no promise that reform efforts now will lead to any more changes than they have in the past.

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Decades of promised police reforms have failed to alter a culture of abuse and racism - Milwaukee Independent

For-profit prisons hamper access to justice and violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment, says a paper published by the University of Baltimore Law Review.

The question [of] why we as a nation stand for private corporate profit in the realm of human imprisonment must be addressed and resolved, says the paper, noting that the enormous political clout wielded by the private prison industry has allowed it to evade calls for abolition over nearly four decades.

The implementation of for-profit incarceration in the United States hampers access to justice, wrote Robert Craig, associate director of Abolish Private Prisons, an advocacy group; and andr douglas pond cummings,a law professor at the University of Arkansas.

The authors said the constitutional issues raised by the private prison industry merited review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mixing profit with the core governmental function of incarceration leads to damaging consequences for prisoners, employees (of both private and public prisons), and the public at large while benefiting a small group of executives and shareholders, they wrote.

Over 120,000 federal and state detainees are currently confined to institutions operated by private corporations, according to 2017 figures. While that amounts to a relatively small fraction of the total incarcerated population in the U.S., in some states they represent a significant proportion of inmates.

In New Mexico and Montana, private prisons house 43 percent and 39 percent, respectively, of the total inmate population, according to a 2018 report by the Sentencing Project.

The private prison industry emerged as a significant player in the 1980s, driven by state efforts to reduce costs and the acceleration of the War on Drugs. Between 2000 and 2016, the number of individuals housed in private prisons increased five times faster than the total prison population, the Sentencing Project said.

Although at least eight states had eliminated the use of private prisons by 2016, the fortunes of the for-profit industry benefited from Washingtons crackdown on immigration. According to figures cited in The Sentencing Project report, the proportion of individuals held in private detention facilities under contract with the federal government increased by 442 percent between 2000 and 2016.

The University of Baltimore Law Review paper cited the work of Ira P. Robbins, a legal scholar at Washington College of Law.

Testifying in Congress a year after the countrys first for-profit prison was established in Tennessee in 1984 by a firm then known as the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA),Robbins warned of serious constitutional and pragmatic concerns connected with the rise of private prisons.

Two decades after his 1985 testimony, Robbins issued a second warning about what he called the lamentable experiment of private prisons.

It is long past time to take such warnings seriously, the paper argued.

Private prison executives and lobbyists seek to increase privatization of the industry by promising that their prisons are run more efficiently at lower costs, with greater safety records, improved facilities, and with greater outcomes for prisoners, the authors wrote.

However, studies and reports now show that these declarations by private prison executives and lobbyists are deceitful. Private prisons are increasingly being shown to cost contracting governments more, not less, are less safe, and less economical.

The evidence makes clear that a system that puts profit over quality has exposed inmates to poor food, poor sanitation, and overcrowding, asserted the authors.

And, as such, it is unconstitutional, they wrote.

The paper declared that the for-profit industry violates constitutional prohibitions of cruel and unusual punishment as well as guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law.

The unique circumstances involved with incarcerating people for profit implicates concerns that make a categorical challenge relying on modern conceptions of human dignity appropriate, the paper said.

Similar conclusions have been drawn by other researchers.

Private prisons have a 28 percent higher rate of inmate-on-inmate assaults and more than twice as many inmate-on-staff assaults, as well as twice as many illicit weapons than comparable federal facilities, according to the Justice Policy Initiative.

The papers authors wrote that the constitutional and moral concerns raised by for-profit prisons have grown more serious over the decades, and deserve new consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The evidence shows that the depths to which profit seekers will sink to earn revenues knows no bounds, and the effects reverberate through the justice system, the authors conclude.

Private prisons are abhorrent on moral grounds, including for the ways that for-profitincarceration wrecks access to justice and diminishes equality in the U.S. criminal justice system.

The authors of the paper were Robert Craig, associate director of Abolish Private Prisons, an advocacy group; and andr douglas pond cummings a professor of law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law.

[Editors Note: Prof. cummings spells his name in lower-case]

Additional Reading: Private Firms Earn Billions for Service to the Incarcerated

Amid COVID-19, Inmates Work, Private Firms Profit

The full paper can be accessed here.

Andrea Cipriano is a staff writer for The Crime Report.

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Do For-Profit Prisons Violate the Constitution? - Crime Report

ACSHadvisor Dr. Katherine Seley-Radtke, a professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, an expert in antiviral drug development, was featured today in an article in the Baltimore Sun. "UMBC medicinal chemist working on antiviral drugs, a possible alternative to vaccines, for the coronavirus" describes Dr. Radtke'snovel and exciting approach to bringing down SARS-2-CoV, the virus that causes COVID-19. It's a must-read.

Reporter Haley Miller tells us howSeley-Radtkeapplied for an NIH grant in 2016 to study whether certain drugs might be effective against coronaviruses only to have the agency reject the application because 'such viruses as a minimal threat to the United States."

Let's put that one right up there with the Red Sox sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920 for $125,000. Of course, because of the virus, neither the Red Sox nor the Yankees are playing baseball, butSeley-Radtke's work may enable the major league, as well as all other sports, to"wait till next year."

After the grant was deniedSeley-Radtke put aside her research and began to work on other viruses, such as Ebola and Zika. Miller writes, "But when COVID-19 swept into the United States in March and escalated into a deadly pandemic, her phone started ringing with demand for the same ideas dismissed just four years ago."

(See Prof.Seley-Radtke's and my opinion piece in the Baltimore Sun about why antiviral drugs may play an important role in controlling COVID-19).

More than two decades agoSeley-Radtkedeveloped potential antiviral drugbelonging to a new class called "fleximers." As the name implies, they are more flexible than standard antivirals.

The virus develops resistance to the drug over time, so you take a drug over and over until the virus figures out youre trying to kill it, and changes its binding site so it is no longer recognized...Our compounds we call them molecular chameleons ours adapt to different environments whereas more rigid drugs cant.

Prof. KetherineSeley-Radtke, July 16, 2020

Why a drug instead of a vaccine? Prof.Seley-Radtkesays, "Weve never been successful in developing vaccines for numerous viruses. Many of us in the antiviral field feel strongly that vaccines wont be the answer."

Indeed, this may be true. Despite enormous effort, no vaccines exist for HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, or herpes simplex, but all three can be successfully treated with drugs.

Once the coronavirus began to reshape the world the grant money came flowing in.Seley-Radtke was able to pay three full-time student lab workers and collaborate with Cornell University to determine the toxicity ofthe drug in mice.

Seley-Radtkeis now working withEmergent Ventures, a venture capital firm run out of George Mason Universitys Mercatus Center. She was selected"because of antivirals potential to lower the death toll and associated health care costs from COVID-19." She isalso collaborating withHealion Bio, a Maryland biotech, which is developing a new class of antiviral compounds called Healions.

I'm not sure what she does in her spare time.

(Tomorrow: An interview with the professor about fleximers. The science is fascinating.)

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ACSH Advisor Prof. Katherine Seley-Radtke's War on COVID in Baltimore Sun - American Council on Science and Health

Written by Jimmy Leivon | Imphal | Updated: July 15, 2020 9:12:22 am Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said the government will not spare anyone who is involved in drugs smuggling.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh Tuesday said the BJP government in the state will not spare anyone who is involved in the 2018 drugs smuggling case. His statement comes a day after an officer in the Manipur Police, Th. Brinda, in an affidavit that she submitted in the High Court of Manipur, alleged that politicians, including a close acquaintance of the Chief Minister, and top police officers were involved in the case.

Our governments war against drugs will continue and no party involved, whether friend or relative, will be spared under the present BJP regime in the state, said CM Biren while refraining from further comments on the allegation levelled by the police officer who is the additional SP of Narcotic Police. The matter is sub judice, it would not be legally proper to comment, he added.

Brinda is facing a suo motu contempt case for her offensive remarks on Facebook allegedly undermining and criticising the judiciary after the alleged drug kingpin Lhukhosei Zhou was granted a three-week bail by the court of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in a 2018 drug smuggling case.

Zou, who was then serving as chairman of the Autonomous District Council (ADC), Chandel, was arrested by a team of the Narcotics and Affairs of Border in 2018 from his official quarters at Lamphel reportedly with 4.6 kilograms of heroin powder and 2,80,200 numbers of World is Yours tablets estimated to be worth around Rs 28 crore.

After a year into the trial, the drug lord jumped bail and was pronounced a proclaimed offender. Subsequently, his bail bonds were forfeited after he disappeared in 2019 from JNIMS hospital where he was admitted for treatment of gall bladder stones, high blood pressure and Hepatitis B.

After Zou disappeared from the hospital, he surrendered to the ND&PS court nearly a year later, claiming he was abducted from the hospital by a Kuki-based underground group and taken to Myanmar.

In the affidavit, Th. Brinda said pressure was mounted on her from different quarters, including a person claiming to be a close acquaintance of CM, and top police officers in favour of the accused drug accused.

She said such high-profile persons were looting the state and destroying the youth, and that the governments war on drugs was only eyewash.

In response, the Manipur Police refuted the allegations levelled by MPS Th Brinda as baseless and intended to malign the image of the officers she has named in her affidavit.

The Manipur Police department has been working sincerely and relentlessly in the ongoing war against drugs, the statement by W. Basu, the PRO of the police department, stated.

The department, right from the time of arrest of accused persons of the above mentioned case till the submission of charge sheet has been taking up all requisite legal action to ensure that all the involved accused persons are booked in accordance with the law, said the PRO.

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Manipur drug smuggling case: Cop alleges pressured to favour accused, CM says no one will be spared - The Indian Express

In the wake of George Floyd's killing, the public has demanded policies like chokehold bans, access to police department's personnel files, and an end to the idea of qualified immunity. Politicians have countered with talk of body cams, anti-bias training and a harder look at municipal budgets.

Most of these efforts are well-intentioned. Many are worthwhile. But despite the recent flurry of policing and criminal justice-related reforms, there's been virtually no discussion around one of the biggest drivers of over-policing and racial injustice in America: our five-decade long War on Drugs.

If we're serious about making real change in the US then it's time we started talking about defunding the drug war.

To be fair, it's often hard to remember we're still embroiled in the expensive, expansive War on Drugs. After all, the hysteria around (Black) crack babies and dope dealers has been replaced by nuanced portraits of (White) victims of the opioid epidemic. Recent years have seen shifting sentiment around substances like marijuana and the tempering of once-absurdist drug education.

Even the rhetoric has changed. Gone are the Reagan-era invocations of "public enemy number one". They've been replaced by the compassionate though deceptive language of drug courts, dependency issue, a public-health crisis.

But make no mistake: despite its diminished presence in our public and political consciousness, the war's still very much on. Every year, our elected officials funnel tens of billions of dollars and destroy countless lives in order to prop up America's discriminatory and counterproductive drug policies.

Predictably, Black people are generally the ones who pay most dearly, and as recent events sadly demonstrate, oftentimes the price is their life.

There's a direct throughline from our drug war policies to the botched no-knock arrest that killed Breonna Taylor. It's no coincidence that a responding officer taunted the crowd by saying "this is why you don't do drugs, kids" as Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd's neck. Their deaths are visceral reminders of our country's long, sordid history of using drug use real or imagined to control, criminalize and brutalize minority communities.

As headline after headline and data point after data point demonstrate, in both its inception and its enforcement, the War on Drugsand the carceral state it has helped to createhas really always been a War on People.

And more specifically, a war on Black and brown people.

The racialized reality of American drug enforcement isn't a bug, it's a feature. From the very beginning, the explicit goal of our country's drug policies were to criminalize members of what Harry Anslinger the grandfather of American drug enforcementbelieved to be "the degenerate races".

Anslinger architected marijuana prohibition, a policy that's been a linchpin of broken-windows policing and mass incarceration, and pushed it through Congress with fabricated evidence and testimony that "reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men."

A cursory look at our militarized law enforcement agencies, prejudicial penal code, over-policed minority neighborhoods, and distended criminal justice system, demonstrates the countless ways the drug war has served to animate and exacerbate many of the racial injustices and social inequities we're grappling with today. And to add insult to injury, this unyielding crusade has done virtually nothing to curb American drug consumption.

Criminal justice reform has become an increasingly popular, bipartisan issue over the past few years. But though one of every five people currently incarcerated in American prisons and jails is there because of a drug conviction, there's been very little political movement around drug policy reform issues.

As our politicians pay lip service to ideas around decriminalization and drug courts, American police departments are still making over a million drug possession arrests each year. And unfortunately, the few drug-related reforms that have been prioritized (eliminating crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparities, drug courts, etc.) betray a superficial understanding of both the law and our criminal justice system. Marijuana decriminalization efforts, for example, barely make a dent in the number of or racial disparities related to weed-related arrests.

Even if one were to just focus on our policy of federal cannabis prohibition, we're still talking about millions of stop-and-frisks, traffic stops, summonses, arrests and probation violations each year. In fact, American law enforcement agencies make more arrests for marijuana possession than all 'violent' crimes combined.

Unsurprisingly, most of these cannabis-related encounters are overwhelmingly centered in African-American communities. Despite virtually identical rates of consumption Black people are almost four times as likely as their white peers to be arrested on marijuana charges.

And while it's true that fewer people are serving long prison sentences for weed than they were a decade ago, our draconian and ever-expanding system of collateral consequences means that a marijuana-related encounter can easily result in eviction, student loan ineligibility, and the impossibility of ever being able to access gainful employment.

Marijuana isn't a gateway drugat least not in the sense most people imagine. However, it is a gateway for Black people to arrests, incarceration, and death and defamation at the hands of the state.

The good news is, the vast majority of Americans agree that the War on Drugs has been an abject, spectacular failure. And though these highly polarized times mean it's rare to find an issue that brings together people of different political persuasions, when it comes to dismantling the drug war well, there's an angle for everyone.

Libertarians can focus on the conflict's role in the expansion of civil asset forfeiture . Conservative commentators should speak up about the civil liberties violations associated with racially biased and pre-textural stops.

Good governance groups should look into claims that the Department of Justice is devoting most of its resources to advancing Bill Barr's personal drug-related vendetta. Criminal justice-minded reformers can focus on claims that cities have ceased arrest quotas and "stops and frisks". After all, police departments continue to collect billions in taxpayer dollars that are directly tied to the number of drug-related arrests.

Even the most dispassionate observer should be concerned about tanks given to police departments by the Department of Defense for counternarcotics operations parading down small town streets.

And for those who cite the 'will of the people" to justify their inaction? 91% of American adults are fed up with our current approach to drug policy.

To be clear, drug policy reform will not end the over-policing of Black communities or eliminate the racial inequities embedded in American society. It alone will not eliminate state-sanctioned violence. Nor will it reverse the devastating and disproportionate harms of the War on Drugs.

Butif done thoughtfully, with a focus on public healtha more humane and equitable approach to drug policy will pull millions of people out of a penal system that marks them for life. It will help people get the help they need, while simultaneously reducing the unnecessary and unjust harassment of (predominantly Black and brown) communities.

It will help change a culture that for too long has looked to drug use to justify mass incarceration, police violence and death at the hands of the state. It's not a panacea, but it is a worthwhile start.

Natalie Papillion is the Founder and Executive Director of The Equity Organization, a national not-for-profit organization working towards a more just, effective and equitable approach to drug policy and criminal justice. She is also the author of the forthcoming "Reefer Madness: The Roots of Drug Prohibition in America," a history of drug policy in the early twentieth century.

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It's finally time to defund the drug war - Business Insider - Business Insider

PROGRAMMES by the United States Agency for International Development that are geared toward decreasing the quantity of opium poppy crops in Afghanistan have, in actuality, fostered growth in production of the narcotic, states a quarterly report from the special inspector seneral for Afghanistan reconstruction that was presented to the US Congress. In addition, the document refutes proclamations made by American officials that opium poppy is chiefly grown in areas under control by the Taliban movement [an organisation that is forbidden in the Russian Federation]. According to experts, by turning a blind eye to drug trafficking American military service personnel can buy loyalty from the local elite.

And that does correspond to reality. Otherwise, how can it be explained that a report from the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, which is a US government agency, states that from 2002 to March 2017 the US wasted $8.5 billion on efforts to eradicate the narcotics threat in Afghanistan, yet never managed to fulfil the objective that was set, and Afghanistan remains the largest opium producer in the world and one that is more and more actively filling demand not only in European markets for drugs, but in the American one. Heroin is a multi-billion dollar business, backed by the interests of powerful circles in the United States. From this it becomes evident that one of the goals for the occupation of Afghanistan was to restore the drug trafficking that was under their control back to its former level, and to assume complete control over drug delivery routes. In 2001, under the Taliban, 185 tonnes of opium was produced, whereas now, even given incomplete data, opium production has risen to 13,000 tonnes!

It would be beneficial to remember the history of drug trafficking in the Golden Triangle, which is closely connected to operations conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency in the area when the limited contingent of Soviet forces was brought into Afghanistan. Back then, the production of opium in Afghanistan and Pakistan was oriented toward minor regional markets and heroin was not produced there at all. The Afghan narco-economy then became a project that was meticulously developed by the CIA as a component of US foreign policy. Just as before, during the Iran-Contra affair, supporting both the Afghan mujahedeen and other forces friendly to Washington was financed specifically by these narco-dollars. This dirty money was converted into clandestine money through banks in the Middle East and CIA shell companies, and was used to support criminal groups led by American instructors that fought against Soviet soldiers, and then successfully fragmented Afghanistan. Since the United States wanted to deliver Stinger missiles and other armaments to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan, they needed help from Pakistan. By the middle of the 1980s, the CIA field office in Islamabad was one of the largest in the world The US turned a blind eye to drug trafficking in Pakistan, and especially in Afghanistan, writes Time magazine.

Afghan history researcher Alfred McCoy affirms that soon after the start of the CIA operation in Afghanistan the area along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border became the largest heroin producer in the world, and from there 60 per cent of the demand in the United States was met. In Pakistan itself, the number of drug addicts grew from almost zero in 1979 to 1.5 million, which is faster growth than in any other country.

The drug trade, as obvious facts can attest to, was completely controlled by CIA officers. When the mujahedeen captured an area of land in Afghanistan, they made peasants plant opium poppy as a tax for the revolution. On the other side of the border, in Pakistan, Afghan leaders and local syndicates sponsored by both the Pakistani intelligence services and the CIA controlled hundreds of laboratories that produced heroin. Over decades of active drug business in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Drug Enforcement Agency regional office has never seized one large shipment of heroin, nor has is made a single arrest!

According to McCoy, officials with the latest administration in Washington refused to investigate the accusations of drug trafficking levelled at their Afghan allies, since US drug policy in Afghanistan was always subordinate to the interests of fighting against Soviet, and now Russian, influence. Charles Cogan, a former CIA operations leader in Afghanistan, quite truthfully and cynically told the world about this when he admitted that the CIA sacrificed the war on drugs in favour of winning the Cold War. He says that the main objective was to inflict as much damage as possible on the Soviet Union. The role played by the CIA, even though it is expressed in many documents, is not mentioned in materials from the United Nations, which place an emphasis on internal factors. Laundered narco-dollars were used by Washington to finance the mujahedeen, and terrorists in Central Asia and the Balkans.

According to an assessment done by the UN, the global drug trade reaches several, if not dozens of, billions of dollars. The opium sold from Afghanistan amounts to a considerable portion of this trade. It is evident that the lions share of the proceeds from drug trafficking cannot be taken in by terrorist groups, as the UN affirms. Major business and financial interests back those narcotics. In that regard, geopolitical and military control over those channels of distribution for the drugs holds as much significance as control over oilfields and oil pipelines.

What sets drugs apart from legal products is that drug trafficking is an important source of income not only for organised crime groups, but for the US intelligence services, which are becoming an even more important player in banks and financial institutions. This means that the American intelligence services and large syndicates that have ties to organised crime compete for strategic control over drug distribution channels. The multi-billion dollar income from drug trafficking is invested into Western banking systems, and above all else into American banks. Most large transnational banks, via their offshore branches, launder a substantial amount of drug money. This trade can flourish only if the main players have highly-placed political patrons in the West and in Afghanistan itself.

There are many specific examples that bear witness, and quite vividly, to the fact that at present a considerable number of Americans in the US itself, and military service personnel in Afghanistan, are not interested in the war on drugs, but in supporting the drug trade. Even though a major portion of American chemical weapons programmes remain classified, it is apparent that much attention has been given to doing research on drug supplements that can boost the performance of military personnel. For example, in the US air force pilots were given dextroamphetamines before long missions to increase their ability to concentrate and reduce fatigue. And out of the American pilots that participated in operation Desert Storm in the war against Iraq in 2003, 65 per cent used narcotic stimulants. An investigation of the exercises held in the Tarnak Farms training camp in Afghanistan, during which four Canadian soldiers were killed by friendly fire and another eight were wounded, found that the American F-16 pilots were permitted to use Dexedrine. And there are many more of these kinds of examples. In addition, medicinal products delivered by the Pentagon that contain narcotic substances are now actively being taken by the Saudi pilots that are bombing mostly cities, villages, and inhabited settlements in Yemen.

In the beginning of this year, the Afghan government announced with grandeur that it had arrested five high-level police official complicit in drug trafficking in Kabul and neighbouring countries. Nasrat Rahimi, a representative from the ministry of internal affairs, declared that Ahmad Ahmadi who was in charge of the war on drugs in the countrys capital was arrested while trying to flee the country. He told the press that Ahmadi was one of the countrys leading drug dealers and mafia ringleader who was also the director of a suspicious Afghan-Swiss business group that was, over the course of several years, involved in protecting, promoting the interests of, and receiving large bribes from drug dealers in a city with more than six million people. It is true that later on the Kabul press found out about this ultra-high level of their governments activity. It turned out that the Afghan group was operating independently of the CIA, which completely controls drug trafficking in the country, and refused to pay American officers their commissions.

That is exactly why Moscow accuses the US and NATO of not being capable of stopping the flow of Afghan drugs moving into Central Asia and Russia. Washington tries to implement a policy of reinforcing measures to conduct the war on drugs in the region without launching any operations against the insurgents. Over the past 10 years, Afghanistan has produced and exported more heroin than any other country. According to an evaluation done by the UN, about 10 per cent of the gross output from Afghanistan originates from growing opium poppy. About 13,000 tonnes of opium was produced in the country, which is estimated to be worth $2 billion. This creates a vicious circle: illegal drug trafficking finances the Taliban, the CIA controls that and takes action to undermine and hinder Afghan authorities attempts to stamp out opium cultivation and come up with a method to obtain alternative income.

Trying to shirk responsibility, Washington as is its usual practice publishes rosy reports about the active war against drugs, and at the same time falsely accuses Russia of allegedly cooperating with the Taliban. Zamir Kabulov, a Russian presidential special envoy, sharply refuted the false accusations from the CIA about collusion with the Taliban, underscoring that the US is the country that has joined with the Taliban to play a part in the flourishing drug traffic out of Afghanistan, adding that the US paid numerous bribes to implement several drug-related projects in Afghanistan. He also emphasised that American aircraft can fly out of Kandahar and Bagram to anywhere, including Germany and Romania, without going through an inspection. This means that the Americans, without any form of control, transport huge shipments of drugs into Europe, and then to the US, earning criminal money on the spilled blood of the Afghan people.

New Eastern Outlook, July 15. Victor Mikhin is a member-correspondent of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.

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The US 'war' on drugs - newagebd.net

Friday, July 17, 2020 6:17 a.m. EDT by Thomson Reuters

By Karen Lema

MANILA (Reuters) - At the peak of the Philippines' war on drugs, people in the rundown neighbourhoods of Navotas in the capital Manila grew used to police knocking on doors, or bursting into the homes of drug suspects - who often wound up dead.

Now, many residents of the Navotas area, which has been particularly badly hit by the coronavirus, fear another harsh police campaign after the government said officials will visit homes of patients with mild or no symptoms and escort them to isolation centres.

Some Filipinos have labelled the plan "Tokhang 2", calling it the sequel to a police-led anti-drug campaign that became synonymous with thousands of killings.

"We are afraid of the house-to-house. We don't know what the police and soldiers will do to us," said Crisanto dela Cruz, a 46-year-old pedicab driver in Navotas.

"At the same time, we are afraid of getting infected because we are always outside."

Infections have tripled in the Philippines since June 1 and the interior ministry announced this week that health officials, with the help of local authorities and the police, will move people suffering from COVID-19 from their homes to isolation centres. It has urged neighbours to report potential cases of infected people who are evading authorities.

President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman, Harry Roque, stressed the home visits will be led by local health workers.

In a statement, he said "police presence is merely to provide support or assistance in the transport of patients".

But Roque also said anyone likely to spread the virus could be forcibly removed "if need be".

"We can still compel them but I don't think it will be in the nature as if they are being treated as criminals", he told CNN Philippines.

The United Nations has said at least 8,663 people, and possibly many more, were killed in the Philippines after Duterte launched a war on drugs in 2016. It said the killings took place amid "near impunity" for police and incitement to violence by top officials.

Most of the deaths were in poor, run-down areas like those in Navotas.

Police say their actions in the anti-drug campaign have been lawful and that deaths occurred in shootouts with dealers resisting arrest.

The coronavirus strategy was announced in a week when the Philippines recorded Southeast Asia's biggest daily jump in deaths from the disease.

While much of East Asia appears to have COVID-19 under control, the Philippines has recorded nearly 36% of its infections and 23% of its 1,660 deaths in the past two weeks. In the region, only Indonesia's death toll is climbing faster.

'FASCIST ACTIONS'

The government has defended the house-to-house approach, saying that infected people with insufficient space to quarantine themselves at home should be moved to isolation centres.

But opposition senators and human rights groups say the campaign is from the playbook of the drug war.

Senator Franklin Drilon said police had been enforcing a lockdown aggressively, and there was no need for "fascist actions to demand submission".

The National Union of People's Lawyers called it "another tool to sow fear in our communities".

"With a government that has emboldened its own uniformed personnel to violate human rights with impunity, how can we be sure that the police will not abuse this new power," it said.

A better approach, say critics, is to improve contact-tracing and testing, with just 0.9% of the population tested so far. Roughly two-thirds of the tests followed the relaxation of restrictions on June 1 to try to rescue the economy.

Navotas has since seen cases grow from 286 at end May to 906 as of July 16, prompting authorities to reimpose restrictions, with armed police in camouflage deployed to keep people indoors and threaten violators with fines.

"It's not martial law, there's no need for police to go house-to-house," said Arvin Provito, a Navotas tricycle driver.

"What they should do is do house-to-house testing."

Former health minister Esperanza Cabral said the government should rethink its approach.

"As they say, give a carpenter a hammer and all he will see are nails," she said. "As for the people, they've been so used to being treated as nails they're naturally scared of anyone who has a hammer."

(Additional reporting by Adrian Portugal, Eloisa Lopez and Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Martin Petty and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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As Philippines fights coronavirus, some fear involvement of the police - WTVB News

Vigilantes say they have no alternative but to take the matter into their own hands

Jul 18th 2020

UNDER COVER of darkness, one night in 2017, Seng Naw and some 150 like-minded men revved up their trucks and drove a couple of miles from the town of Mohnyin in Kachin state, in remote northern Myanmar. Where the rice paddies give way to forest and mountains they found something that resembled a festival, according to Mr Seng Naw: scores of youths lolling about, high on heroin and methamphetamine sold to them by several dealers on the scene. It was 4am or thereabouts, by which time Mr Seng Naw knew the junkies would be too far gone to put up a fight, though some of his crew had brought clubs just in case. They rounded up the group96 users and four dealerspacked them into the trucks and deposited them at the towns police station.

That was Mr Seng Naws biggest haul. He is vice-president of the Mohnyin branch of Pat Jasan, a vigilante group trying to stamp out drugs. It was founded in 2014 by several prominent Kachins, a largely Christian ethnic group, who were dismayed by the havoc drugs had brought to their community. In Mohnyin, Mr Seng Naw says, people would regularly use drugs in public: on streets, in paddyfields, at university, even in a cemetery. As the number of addicts in Kachin state soared, so did violent crime, says Hpala Lum Hkao, a Baptist pastor and Pat Jasans secretary-general. The government could not, or would not, tackle the crisis. So they decided to pat jasansweep and clean.

There are no reliable data on the number of addicts in Myanmar, but the Transnational Institute, an international research outfit, believes the problem is severe. The official tally of injecting drug users has risen steadily over the past decade, to 93,000. But in the past five years methamphetamine, which is typically heated and the fumes inhaled, has supplanted heroin as a drug of concern, according to the government. It is cheap and readily available. Mai Kaung Saing, a journalist who reports on northern Shan state, which borders Kachin state (see map), estimates that 30% of the local population uses drugs, primarily heroin and meth. The problem is national. Every family has been affected by drug-use issues, says Tom Kramer of the Transnational Institute.

The surge in addiction is a symptom of the countrys central role in the drug trade. For decades assorted militias, some almost completely autonomous and others at war with the government, have controlled much of Myanmars border regions, especially in Shan and Kachin states. Many of the gunmen, and some of the soldiers sent to fight them, are involved in the drug trade. In the 1970s and 1980s Myanmar became the worlds biggest source of opium and heroin, and remains the second-biggest producer today. In 2018 sales of illegal opiates accounted for 1-2% of its GDP, according to the UN.

Since the 1990s Myanmar has also been producing meth which, like heroin, was initially intended for export. Gradually, however, as supply has increased and prices have declined, a domestic market has emerged. In Lashio, a city in northern Shan state, four yaba (meth) tablets can be bought for about $0.75. Many users find meth helps them work long hours or in arduous conditions, as truck drivers or miners; others are young and bored.

The International Crisis Group, an NGO based in Brussels, reckons the drug trade contributes more than any other industry to Shan states economy. In eastern and northern Shan state, people get paid in yaba, they trade in yaba, says David Mathieson, an analyst. So when vigilante groups like Pat Jasan cracked down in 2015 and 2016, it depressed the local economy.

The authorities have little incentive to tackle the trade. Police rarely pursue drug-traffickers. Sometimes they are users and dealers themselves: members of Pat Jasan have on several occasions inadvertently arrested officers, says Mr Hpala Lum Hkao. Sometimes they are simply too scared to arrest anyone but small-time dealers, says Mr Mai Kaung Saing. Some of the militias in drug-producing areas are even more deeply steeped in the trade, either providing protection to drug rings or running them themselves.

Kachins like Mr Seng Naw have refused to stand idle as their community becomes hooked. Pat Jasan, which claims to have 10,000 volunteers at its beck and call, is the biggest, most organised vigilante group in Myanmar, and has a lot of energy, according to Mr Kramer. It says it has destroyed 3,000-4,000 hectares of poppy fields, launched numerous campaigns to educate people about the harms of drugs, and arrested dealers and users, some of whom have ended up in their rehabilitation centres. Mr Hpala Lum Hkao says the group has opened 77 in total, though some have since closed down. Treatment consists of prayer, physical activity and the odd bath to dull the pain of withdrawal. Addicts there against their will are sometimes placed in stocks or shackled for the first few days, to ensure they do not escape.

This punitive approach to treating addiction is the norm in Myanmar, says Mr Kramer, even though it is highly ineffective: around 80% of those forced into treatment will relapse. Even Mr Hpala Lum Hkao concedes that once the inmates have been released from Pat Jasans centres, they frequently fall back into their old habits. Some officials are coming round to the idea that there are more humane and effective methods of treating addiction, says Mr Kramer. But curing addiction in Myanmar will take more than an evidence-based approach to treatment. It will involve ending the long civil war in Kachin and Shan states and stemming the flood of drugs. Until then, Messrs Hpala Lum Hkao and Seng Naw will remain on high alert.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "Myanmar vice"

Link:

Illegal drugs have become deeply rooted in Burmese society - The Economist

Kimberl Crenshaw is a professor of law at UCLA and Columbia Law School. She has developed Black feminist legal theory and was named one of the top critical thinkers in the world by Prospect magazine in 2019. Based in Los Angeles, Crenshaw is the co-founder and executive director of The African American Policy Forum (AAPF), and creator of the 2014 #SayHerName social media campaign. The online effort is to raise awareness of Black women who are victims of police brutality and anti-Black violence. She hosts a podcast called Intersectionality Matters! and moderates Under The Blacklight, an AAPF webinar series to expound upon both the coronavirus pandemic and anti-Black racism.

This is the seventh part of a series wherecivil rights leaders, cultural influencers, advocatesand critical thinkersexplain race relations, societal change, community protest and the political awakening happening in the United States following the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and other Black Americans.The group, including NAACP President Derrick Johnson and #OscarsSoWhite Creator April Reign, pose their thoughts on race relations during the summer of 2020 and how America may move forward less divided. Join the conversation on social media using #PassTheMic.

Social justice means building a world where everyone can breathe

Q: How would you describe the civic unrest occurring in America right now?

A: This summer we have all borne witness to the utter expendability of Black life. The disproportionate economic and biological toll that COVID has extracted from Black communities has made the nation confront the realities of structural racism in America. The targeted lethality of police violence literally suffocating Black life has made silence untenable. And in this moment of peril and possibility, in this red summer of 2020, Black communities have risen up to shatter the silence that has hidden the disposability of Black life that is both horrific and completely banal in the United States.

Q: Is this a fleeting moment or have we reached an inflection point where lasting change is possible?

A: On the next episode of my series Under The Blacklight were going to ask this very question. I think it is perhaps the question of the moment. Whats been laid bare in recent months is that Black communities ravaged by the threat of a pandemic, by the economic abandonment from a federal government that will not prioritize their survival, and by the relentless policing and brutalizing of their kin seeking to shatter the status quo. And yet, were back to square one when it comes to integrating color-consciousness into our collective discourse. Is the discourse just behind reality? Or have our politics moved on?

Q: Is there another moment in history that relates to the moment we are living through now?

A: This summer has been a long time coming. It has roots in the war on drugs, racial profiling, paramilitary policing in Black neighborhoods, permissive use of lethal force by law enforcement, implicit and explicit bias in policing, in police-sourced solutions to mental health and chemical dependence and other social problems that all combine to produce the disposability of Black life. In that way, it has a lot in common with the Long Hot Summer of 1967, the first time we heard the phrase When the looting starts, the shooting starts. Then, like now, deeply entrenched racial inequality resulted in an outpouring of emotion and activism all over the country.

A civil rights activist, attorney and writer explain race relations, societal change and the political awakening happening in the United States following the tragic death of George Floyd. When it comes to race, systemic problems have plagued the nation for not only decades, but for centuries, says Derrick Johnson, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The summer of 2020 is proving to be a moment for multiracial coalitions to come together, according to Fatima Goss Graves, TIMES UP Legal Defense Fund co-founder and National Womens Law Center president and chief executive officer. Bestselling author George Johnson explains the revolution is being televised.

Q: What specifically needs to happen for Black lives to matter in the United States?

A: We know that where a problem isnt fully seen, it cannot be fully solved. So first, we need to understand how deeply anti-Blackness is embedded in our systems of governance, especially in our criminal justice system. Most immediately, the African American Policy Forum and the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies support the Justice in Policing Act as an important first step in overhauling policing in the United States. We are also asking that any actions taken now reflect a fully intersectional lens. Based on the lived realities of Black women who have been assaulted and killed at the hands of law enforcement, we demand investment in community-based practices of public safety; an end to qualified immunity; mechanisms to address the sexual violence perpetrated by law enforcement officers; and a federal registry of police misconduct.

But all of this is a first step in rethinking the relationship between our systems of governance and Black lives.

Q: What does social justice mean to you personally and why should others care?

A: Social justice means building a world where everyone can breathe. Building an intersectional movement means building a movement where no one falls through the cracks, where everyone is seen and counted and taken care of. Social justice means reckoning with our national inheritance: 400 years of anti-blackness and misogyny and heteropatriarchy. We are all implicated in these structures, as victims, as perpetrators, and more often than not, as both. But we dont have to be complicit, we can all find a way to begin dismantling these structures at every scale.

Q: What solutions will heal racial divisions and disparities?

A: Based on the lived experience of Black women harassed, assaulted, and killed by law enforcement, and listening to the voices of their families and loved ones, we know that racial divisions cannot be addressed until we transform American policing. Black people are overexposed to police, and that overexposure results in a heightened risk of trauma and death at the hands of police. Our goal must be to reduce the exposure of all Black people to police as a first step in creating a society that affirms that yes, Black lives matter to our nation.

Q: How do you feel about the future?

A: I am thinking of a tweet that Mariame Kaba, an important thinker in these times and a prison abolitionist, sometimes posts at the end of a long day. May Tomorrow Bring Us More Justice and Some Peace.

Read more:

Kimberl Crenshaw Wants to Build a Movement Where Everyone Is Seen' - NBC10 Boston