Daily Archives: January 29, 2022

Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters toletters@bangordailynews.com.

A recent BDN articlewas headlined: Doctors dispute police warning that touching fentanyl can be deadly.

Indeed, anyone whos life touches fentanyl on the black market may find death. The police arent wrong, nor are the doctors. There are different ways to interpret the term touching.

Anyone who gets involved with fentanyl is gambling with the probability that their life will be ruined and then they will die. This drug is that powerful.

Fentanyl is showing up in other counterfeit drugslike valium, Xanax and cocaine. Fentanyl can be found in illegal tobacco products and black-market cannabis. Cannabis or tobacco laced with fentanylis very dangerous as it reaches a broader marketplace, a larger segment of the population, it may even enter the illegal vaping market, there are so many opportunities for intrusion.

I am compelled to write this warning as the adult child of another friend has lost their life due to using fentanyl without being aware of it.

The 50-year drug warhas escalated at warp speed due to the power of fentanyl. The war must come to an end before everyone has a family member as a casualty in the failed American drug war. The American drug war is being used by American adversaries to destroy our country from within, that is apparent.

Doing the same thing over and over with the expectation of a different outcome is the definition of insanity. End the drug war for the good of the country and its people. War is not the answer.

Patrick Quinn

Winterport

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Letter: End the war on drugs - Bangor Daily News

By Express News Service

HYDERABAD:Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday said that the State government is planning to revive the Telangana Organised Crime Act to curb the use of drugs, ganja and illicit liquor in the State and directed DGP M Mahender Reddy to chalk out a plan to revive the Act.

During a meeting he had with Police and Excise officials to discuss ways to tackle the issue of drugs in the State, the Chief Minister also instructed the police officials to register Preventive Detention cases against habitual drug peddlers, besides establishing a counterintelligence cell to completely eradicate the menace.Rao also announced that the government would give awards, rewards and promotions to police personnel who successfully tackle the drugs problem in the State.

During the meeting, Rao also stressed the need curb the use of ganja, cocaine and LCD, which he said were still in a nascent stage in the State. If you do not nip it in the bud, the use of drugs may increase, which will ultimately damage the development taking place in the State, he said.

Asking officials to adopt innovative methods to curb drug peddling, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said Controlling use of drugs should be considered a social responsibility.

"Set up a counterintelligence cell with 1,000 police and excise personnel. The government will provide funds for the cell. Dont spare anyone in controlling the drug menace. Dont entertain any recommendations from any politician while dealing with drug cases, he added.

The Chief Minister also directed the officials to adopt a two-pronged strategy in controlling the drugs and ganja use in the State. First, identify the drug addicts and send them to de-addiction centres, with the help of their family members. Secondly, crush the drug supply network. Use modern weapons and completely eradicate the drug mafia, he said.

Rao also suggested that police officials follow the steps taken by the Scotland Yard police in curbing the drug mafia. If necessary visit Scotland and other countries, where drugs menace was successfully controlled, and study their methods, he told the officials.Asking the State police officials to get training from Punjab police, he said: Whatever you want you do it to curb the drug menace, the government will fully support you.

If ganja is found more than five times in any village, then all the government subsidies would be cancelled to that village. Special funds and incentives would be given to drug-free villages. It is the responsibility of the villagers to see that ganja and drugs were not used in their villages, the CM said.Rao said that if any farmer is found to be cultivating ganja, the government would cancel Rythu Bandhu and other subsidies to him. Bring necessary Acts in this direction, Rao directed Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar.

He also suggested conducting counselling sessions for students. The forensic science lab too should be modernised. Some factories, which were shut down, are being turned into hucca centres and the officials should keep a tab on them, Rao added.

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War on drugs: KCR wants to revive Organised Crime Act - The New Indian Express

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Photo: Atlantic Records

The War on Drugs

The War on Drugs frontman Adam Granduciel must have a thing for 1980s-era Bruce Springsteen. The bands fifth LP I Dont Live Here Anymore, effectively melds the grandiose Heartland Rock of Born in the U.S.A. with the melancholic introspection of Tunnel of Love, yielding the Philly-bred sextets most accessible record yet.

Of course, Granduciel, who relocated to Los Angeles a few years back, has long revelled in the sounds of dreamy, 80s-lacquered Psych Pop. Burning, from the bands breakthrough third record, 2014s Lost in the Dream, recalls an unlikely mix of The Cure and Tom Petty doing a cover of Rod Stewarts Young Turks. 2017s A Deeper Understanding moved into a jammier, more cinematic realm clocking in at 66 minutes, its awash in atmospheric synths, propulsive rhythms and Granduciels trademark searching guitar lines and modest, Dylan-esque vocals.

On the early albums, I definitely wasnt confident as a writer or a singer, Granduciel said in a conversation with Interview Magazine last November.

I saw vocals as an accompaniment to the music I was making with my friends. I just wanted to have fun and make art. This is our fifth record, and Im by no means a master of the craft writing songs and producing music still doesnt come easy but theres more to sing about. Theres actually something to feel, that I can attempt to translate into music. I dont think I went into this record focused on that, but I think thats what drew me to the songs that I ended up choosing.

The War on Drugs plays PromoWest Pavilion at OVATION (101 W. Fourth St., Newport) on Sunday, Feb. 6. Doors open at 7 p.m.

All attendees must show proof of either full vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative COVID test taken within the previous 72 hours.

Tickets and more info: promowestlive.com.

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The War on Drugs Bring 80s-lacquered Psych Pop to PromoWest Pavilion at OVATION - Cincinnati CityBeat

Opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of Rolling Stone editors or publishers.

In my experience as a drug policy reform advocate and cannabis community member, Ive witnessed time and time again an outdated ethos reign forth: cannabis exceptionalism, or the idea that cannabis is the supreme drug of choice.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy characterizes cannabis exceptionalism as a certain attitude common among some cannabis users including many within the drug policy reform movement that cannabis is inherently and categorically different from other types of drugs.

This dogma justifies the criminalization, prohibition and stigmatization of other drugs and claims cannabis is an unproblematic, all-natural medicine, while other drugs are considered purely recreational street concoctions without any therapeutic value.

This mentality is incorrect and inherently contradictory. Cannabis exceptionalism ultimately reverses social progress made toward ending the drug war. Read on to learn why I believe this mindset is harmful to the larger drug reform movement that is due credit for historically popularizing the push for cannabis legalization.

Cannabis exceptionalism creates a nonexistent delineation between good versus bad drugs. Drug addiction is a serious medical condition that should be further supported by federally funded treatment services. However, its important to remember that not everyone who uses drugs medically and/or recreationally develops an addiction.

The moralistic dichotomy of good and bad drugs suggests the legal status of drugs can and should be based on how harmful drugs can be. For instance, on the Drug Enforcement Agencys list of federally controlled substances, heroin retains Schedule I drug status due to its potential for addiction. Meanwhile, cannabis is also listed in the same category as heroin as a Schedule I drug. While consuming any drug (even prescription pharmaceuticals) involves inherent risk, the legality of drugs appears to me to be inconsistent.

The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for Influencers, Innovators and Creatives. Do I qualify?

Cannabis exceptionalism falls back on drug-war logic because it keeps certain drugs criminalized, prohibited and stigmatized. However, I see this line of reasoning as faulty and easily fragile. In certain parts of the country, cannabis, psychedelics and other drugs are legalized on a state or municipal level. Meanwhile, alcohol and caffeine are two drugs that are federally legal and socially accepted for regular consumption, despite both having potential health hazards if consumed in excess.

Though the government justifies drug-war logic as a means to discourage drug use, this rarely if ever actually works. Take the failed D.A.R.E. (Drug Abstinence Resistance Education) program, a program borne out of the Just Say No campaign of the 80s. Twenty years ago, Rolling Stone reporter Jason Cohn disputed the programs legitimacy and wrote, despite all the scientific claims to the contrary, drug-prevention education at least the abstinence-based model that reigns in Americas schools is just as likely to have no effect or to make kids curious as it is to persuade them not to use drugs.

From my perspective, the dichotomy of good versus bad drugs hurts other adjacent drug reform movements (e.g., the push for safe consumption sites, medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder and safe supply for stimulants). When we focus on cannabis reform exclusively, we dont leave enough room for discussion of other potential innovations, such as ketamine for post-traumatic stress (PTSD) treatment and cocaine for anesthesia. Plus, cannabis exceptionalism for the most part rejects all-drug decriminalization, which weve seen implemented in other countries like Portugal. As Time reported, all-drug decriminalization could hold a potential answer to the War on Drugs. Were even seeing this play out in Oregon where voters voted to decriminalize nearly all drugs but are still tackling implementation challenges.

Most importantly, cannabis exceptionalism usually ends up stigmatizing people: particularly street-based drug consumers, who are especially worthy of our support and solidarity. Due to state-based legalization, cannabis consumers are afforded new privileges street-based drug consumers are not. For example, cannabis use is no longer a punishable, jailable offense by law in many state-level jurisdictions while nearly all other drugs remain criminalized. As advocates of social justice and drug reform alike, I believe we have to extend the rights of cannabis consumers to other drug consumers who are routinely criminalized by drug-war-focused policing.

Steps toward ending the drug war as we know it are possible and within our reach. We have much to gain and very little to lose, because ultimately the drug war is harmful. The cannabis community should work to dispel cannabis exceptionalism to avoid perpetuating these harms.

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Why I Believe Cannabis Exceptionalism Hurts the Drug Reform Movement - Rolling Stone

Pablo Escobar was born in Medelln, Colombia, 1949. He was the founder and leader of the Medelln Cartel. Courtesy Colombian National Police

I was a child in Colombia when Pablo Escobar carried out terrorist attacks throughout my hometown, Bogot. I shopped a couple times at a mall where he blew up a car bomb and killed eight people.

Thirty years ago, I began to consider that the legalization of the cocaine business would be the best strategy to reduce bloodshed in my country. I have not changed my mind, but I think people should learn to distinguish between a war on drugs and a war on the mafia because the latter does not end with legalization alone.

Former U.S. President Richard Nixon officially declared a War on Drugs in June 1971. Since this policy took hold in the United States, the Colombian authorities have been fighting drug traffickers for the last 50 years. More than 262,000 people were killed in the Colombia conflict from 1958 to 2018. The main killers in this conflict have been criminal organizations that were initially motivated by political ideals and later became drug cartels.

It is rumored that mafias have been trying to get power over Colombia since 1974 when drug traffickers would have offered to pay the foreign debt. In 1982, Escobar had managed to get a seat in Congress, and he showed intentions to stay in politics to run for president.

Escobar posed as a philanthropist, as a rich man who loves to share his money with the poor. He was fooling everyone until 1983 when some publications of Guillermo Cano in the newspaper El Espectador and direct accusations from the Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla revealed that this rich man was a criminal.

After that, Escobar would leave his comfortable status as a politician to hide for the rest of his life, and he never stopped ordering murders. He paid assassins to kill Lara in 1984 and Cano in 1986.

In 2015, the administration of former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos claimed that people could suffer cancer when using the pesticide Roundup, and later the Constitutional Court of this country banned the use of it over the coca leaf. Since then, cultivation of this plant has boomed, increasing the production of cocaine in Colombia. It happened during conversations about the peace agreement in Havana, Cuba, between Santos and Farc, a Colombian communist drug cartel. This prohibition seemed like a concession Santos made to Farc because it changed the way Colombian authorities fight against drug cartels.

Santos announced the end of the war in Colombia after signing the agreement with Farc in 2016. The Norwegian Nobel Committee spread this misconception worldwide, giving the Peace Nobel to Santos and announcing that he had brought one of the longest civil wars in modern history to a peaceful solution.

It was a huge lie. Colombians have seen several peace agreements between our government and rebel groups like M19 and Auc, but in the end we have never seen peace because the main driver for this bloodshed, far from a civil war, is the drug trafficking. Farc was the biggest group, but it was just one among many others that committed crimes throughout Colombia. Also there are thousands of Farc members who never put down their weapons, and are still among the main traffickers and killers in the country.

Since the Farc-Santos accord was signed in 2016, the variety of drug cartels that exist in Colombia quickly took over the business Farc left abandoned. Different from peace, the Havana accord brought more confrontation among cartels for the cocaine business. It also increased the migration of peasants who have always been in the middle of the conflict in my country, before and after the Farc-Santos peace agreement.

From 2016 to January 2021, 400 human-rights defenders or social leaders were killed, and counting. It is well-known that the drug traffickers were usually the murderers. The agreement that was meant to bring peace actually increased coca production, and criminals increased their presence all over the territory.

Some traffickers harassed social leaders before killing them because those leaders belong to the program of eradication and substitution of coca crop. In this context, it is obvious that drug cartels interfere in the election of mayors in many towns of the country.

I would not say that the money that the U.S. has provided to fight mafias in Colombia was a mistake. We need resources to fight against these criminal organizations. Those mafias are in many kinds of businesses aside from drug-dealing like kidnapping, extortion, cybercrime, land theft, robbery, human trafficking, smuggling, weapons deals and illegal extraction of minerals. The authorities must confront them in all those illegal activities.

Also, authorities should track how they launder money to get their dollars through the financial system. They need to identify the way mafias invest their money in industry and business. And of course we need to spend money on all this; we need to invest in our security.

If the power of these traffickers keep escalating, my country could become a narco-state totally ruled by criminals like happens in Venezuela where the socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro is one of the leaders of the mafia named Los Soles.

Many people have participated in drug trafficking in Colombia. Drug dealers have bribed or forced entrepreneurs, politicians, judges, and members of the security agencies to do money laundering and to commit a wide variety of crimes.

Criminal groups related to drug trafficking and political ideologies killed five presidential candidates between 1987 and 1995. In 1991 the mafia persuaded politicians to ban extradition in a new constitution. In 1994 the Cartel of Cali financed the campaign of the former president Ernesto Samper. In 2006, during the government of former President Alvaro Uribe, paramilitaries worked many times with corrupt members of security agencies to commit horrible crimes.

Now is the moment when the cocaine business looks stronger than ever thanks to the Farc-Santos accord. Farc leaders took advantage of the political need of Santos to get him reelected, procuring his agreement.

Even Mexican drug cartels went to Colombia to participate in the boom of the coca bush, while former leaders of the Farc went unpunished after ordering human crimes like murders, slavery, kidnapping, sexual crimes against minors, and practiced abortions to minors. After they signed the agreement. they just took up seats as lawmakers in Colombias Congress without paying for their crimes.

Mafias, the far right and communists have been trying to take power in Colombia, but fortunately my country has remained as the longest-running democracy in South America. Unlike Venezuela, Nicaragua or Cuba, every four years we freely elect our president. Unfortunately, Colombia is not a perfect democracy because as I said, it has some territories ruled by traffickers.

Now, many people consider the most likely next president, Gustavo Petro, as the biggest risk for our freedom in Colombia. He seems to have the same authoritarian profile other socialist leaders have in Latin America, and according to his economic proposals he is like those who have the tendency to kick off foreign investment and ruin the economies.

Petro belonged to the M-19, a communist guerrilla group, which received amnesty from the Colombian government in 1990. I watched the TV news when this criminal group invaded the Palace of Justice in Bogot and took hostages in 1985. Some people say that Escobar financed this assault to destroy some files about his crimes that were inside the building. In the middle of the confrontation between the military and M19, the courthouse burned down, leaving 94 dead including 11 court magistrates, some of the wisest people in Colombia.

For some people Petro is a messiah capable of ending corruption and poverty. But Petro has not given any credible explanation about a video where he appears receiving many bundles of bills, something that looks like money laundering, theft or bribery.

Petro also has demonstrated that he is a terrible leader. He was mayor of Bogot, and he ruined the public finances of the city. It looks like Petro is fooling his followers like Escobar did when he took a seat in the Congress in 1983. I wonder if Petro finally would be the best way mafias could take power in Colombia.

On Oct. 25, 2021, the White House announced its new strategy to treat the war against drugs with Colombia and said nothing about legalization of cocaine, or the use of Roundup. This herbicide was forbidden to be used on coca crops, despite it being allowed in many Colombian agricultural products. Maybe Americans are confused about this prohibition as long as it clearly benefits drug cartels, and as long as Roundup is being used as well in approximately 90% of American food.

While the debate about worldwide hard-drugs legalization comes to an end, a strategy to reduce the revenues of drug cartels in Colombia would be returning to spreading Roundup on coca cropsat least on those where criminal organizations sometimes kill human-rights defenders or social leaders who work in the program to manually eradicate the plant of coca.

I am concerned about what will happen in Colombia with the current cocaine boom in the hands of criminals who increasingly increase their power in the country by sending cocaine mainly to the U.S and Europe. What will become of the legacy of those who I used to see on the news get killed when I was a child because they were facing down drug killers and taking care of my freedom? They rejected the mafias bribes and sacrificed themselves fighting against them, using free speech about democracy as their weaponlike Guillermo Cano, Rodrigo Lara, the five presidential candidates and the 11 judges burned to death in 1985.

Allowing drug cartels to produce more cocaine as Santos did is not a good way to reduce the violence in Colombia. One real way is to allow businessmen or governments from around the world to enter the production of hard drugs to satisfy the demand of their countries, leaving the Colombian mafias out of that business. That is now happening to the Mexican mafias with marijuana since some states in the U.S. produce this weed.

Nixons War on Drugs could be lost as many say lately due to unstoppable demand. Worldwide legalization of hard drugs would not bring peace, but it would help to reduce violence. It would be the least worst option. However, authorities should keep fighting mafias.

Even if the legalization comes to pass, we need to keep fighting against these criminals in Colombia because they wont be willing to kindly leave the drug or their other businesses. Probably, the mafias will decide to cover their lost money by committing more of the other crimes such as kidnapping and extortion.

This MFP Voices essay does not necessarily represent the views of the Mississippi Free Press, its staff or board members. To submit an essay for the MFP Voices section, send up to 1,200 words and factcheck information to azia@mississippifreepress.org. We welcome a wide variety of viewpoints.

Read more here:

Cocaine Legalization is the Least Worst Option for my Native Colombia - Mississippi Free Press

U.S. Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., is one of three co-sponsors of a bill by a Tennessee congressman that proposes to put anyone convicted of smuggling the drug fentanyl into the United States in prison for life.

For the last several years, there has been plenty of fentanyl smuggling going on. A press release from Guests office quoted information from the group Families Against Fentanyl, which says overdoses of the synthetic opioid have become the leading cause of death for American adults aged 18 to 45.

The smuggling is increasing. The press release cited U.S. Customs information that said seizures of illegal fentanyl increased by 134% during the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2021, compared to the year before.

Fentanyl is no laughing matter. A legal drug, it is many times stronger than heroin, and its blended with other illegal narcotics to increase their impact. The problem is that the people lacing the drugs dont really care how much fentanyl they put in, and it only takes a few milligrams to put a users life at risk.

Many of fentanyls ingredients appear to come from China. They are compounded in Mexico, and then smuggled across the American border, where our never-ending market of people seeking a high eagerly awaits.

The sentiment of Guest and the other congressmen to punish fentanyl smugglers with life sentences is understandable. But we have been fighting this War on Drugs for 50 years, ever since Richard Nixon was president. And if we have learned anything from the inability to convince more buyers to just say no, its that the profit motive of selling illegal drugs gives plenty of people the incentive to take the risk. Drug policy needs to focus more on treating addiction.

The text of the proposed legislation was not available online Monday, but some obvious legal questions come to mind.

First is the matter of proportion. Is it fair to give someone who smuggles a small amount of fentanyl into the country one time the same life sentence as a repeat large-scale smuggler?

Does the United States really want its drug policy to include a one-strike-and-youre-out clause? Or do fentanyl smugglers deserve the chance to change their ways?

And do we want to take this much sentencing discretion away from judges? Mandatory sentences have helped overload our state and federal prison systems.

Rep. Tim Burchett, the Tennessee Republican who introduced the bill, said in Guests press release that Congress should no longer shrug off criminal activity that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans in drug overdoses in recent years.

Fair enough. But its not just smuggled fentanyl thats killing drug addicts. There are all sorts of domestic villains as well. Many are illegal, but other medication, specifically prescription opioid pain relievers, have played a deadly role as well. How come nobodys talking about life prison sentences for that?

Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal

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Editorial: Fentanyl isn't the only deadly drug - Clarksdale Press Register

Posted: Jan 26, 2022 / 11:50 AM MST / Updated: Jan 26, 2022 / 11:50 AM MST

FILE This photo shows a vial of ketamine, which is normally stored in a locked cabinet, July 25, 2018 in Chicago. Colorados health department says emergency workers should not use a condition involving erratic behavior by people as a reason to inject them with the drug ketamine. Most states and ambulance agencies can use ketamine when people exhibit the condition called excited delirium. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford, File)

UTAH (ABC4) Delic Corp is making a name for itself in the health industry. The leading psychedelic wellness company prides itself on helping patients live out their best lives by offering them products that have proven to be more successful than traditional medicine with minimal side effects.

Many Americans turn to Delic for mental health treatment, as the corporation operates the largest network of ketamine treatment centers in the U.S., including one location in Salt Lake City.

Initially, Ketamine was used decades ago on battlefields and in operating rooms as an anesthetic. As of recently, the psychedelic drug has been making headway as an effective treatment for cases of major depressive disorder and chronic anxiety disorder when administered in small doses.

The medication did not have an easy trip into the limelight. The topic of ketamine treatment was often discussed and outwardly shamed in the War on Drugs. However, new scientific breakthroughs have ceased any skepticism of the medications abilities.

Now is a better time than ever for Ketamine treatment to advance across the nation, as Americans are more affected by mental illness than ever before. According to research carried out by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in five U.S. adults experience mental illness each year, with a total of 550,000 adults in Utah living with a mental health condition.

The majority of Americans have proven to be in favor of psychedelic medicine alternatives. As determined through Delics new Harris Poll study, nearly two-thirds (65%) of U.S. adults believe that psychedelics should be made available for people with treatment-resistant anxiety, depression, and PTSD.

Other treatments for conditions like anxiety and depression often take weeks or even months to take effect, and an individual may have to try several medications or approaches to gain relief. In contrast, when a person responds to ketamine treatment, suicidal ideation and other serious symptoms of depression can be reduced rapidly and immediately.

For more information on Delic Corps Ketamine Infusion Centers, click here.

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What is ketamine treatment and why does it work? The drug thats gaining ground in mental health care - ABC 4