Daily Archives: July 21, 2022

Despite the irrepressible love that Boris Johnsons government has shown for illegal parties, it is now taking the opportunity to tighten drug laws on its way out of the door. There is perhaps no more fitting tribute to the hypocrisy of this government than the latest drugs proposal from the Home Office.

Swift, Certain, Tough: New consequences for drug possession is a word-salad of a white paper and a last-gasp attempt to codify the Johnson governments preoccupation with punishing middle-class coke-heads and recreational drug users. The only certainty is that the prime minister and home secretary behind the paper will have been evicted from office by the time it progresses through the legislative process.

But we shouldnt downplay the significance of this attempt to penalise drug users. This style of punitive politics has become increasingly characteristic of the British state, at the same time as our politicians are failing to find answers to the big economic and constitutional questions of the day. While countries such as Georgia, Germany, Uruguay and the US have all been moving away from the failed war on drugs strategy forged in the 1970s, which sought to prohibit drugs and criminalise drug users, the Johnson administration has spent much time trying to breathe new life into these discredited policies.

Research shows these policies disproportionately affect the poorest and most vulnerable communities and racial minorities, and contribute to higher rates of imprisonment among these groups. Yet the government has spent the last few years taking every opportunity to insist that drug prohibition would magically work if it instead targeted middle-class drug users. The white paper was meant to be the moment when we found out how this new plan would be achieved. Perhaps arresting someone for drug possession would now be followed by a test of their middle-class credentials: could they distinguish the salad fork from the dessert fork? Whats their reaction to Mumford & Sons? In the end, it turns out that the strategy for attacking recreational users is just a mix of tough language and overt cruelty wrapped around a tacit recognition that the mass criminalisation of drug users is utterly pointless.

One of the ideas here is to give fixed-penalty notices to first-time offenders, and refer them to drug-awareness courses. There isnt much difference between this proposal and Sadiq Khans plan to pilot diversion schemes for cannabis possession in Lewisham, Greenwich and Bexley. Similar schemes are already being run by a number of police forces, including Durham and Avon & Somerset. They allow police officers to divert people from the criminal justice system and towards rehabilitation or counselling programmes. Yet when Khan announced his plans in London, Priti Patel condemned the London mayor and said he has no powers to legalise drugs (diversion schemes do nothing of the sort).

The basic argument behind diversion schemes is that its impossible for the police and courts to try to criminalise everyone caught in possession of drugs. In the white paper, the government seems to accept this obvious premise. Even so, the paper includes a pointless, punitive directive that people should be made to pay for rehabilitation courses. And just in case anyone mistakenly thought this policy showed compassion towards drug users, the paper even explores the feasibility of setting the payment for rehabilitation courses above cost, meaning those attending would be paying more than it costs to run the programme, and the government would be profiting from their misfortune.

These new proposals also include a three-tier system of escalating punishment, which echoes the notorious three strikes system in the US that resulted in waves of incarceration during the 1990s. This white paper policy is less extreme but nonetheless draconian: if the offender doesnt pay the fixed-penalty notice or attend the drug-awareness course, they could be prosecuted. If arrested a second time, theyre issued with a caution alongside another drug-awareness course and a period of mandatory drug testing. Finally, if caught a third time, the offender would be charged and, if convicted, subject to new civil court orders that could exclude them from bars, confiscate their passport or driving licence and place them in ankle tags to monitor their blood for drugs. Any failure to comply could result in prison.

This paper is a mess of contradictory objectives: it attempts to increase the punishments imposed on drug users while also diverting drug users from the criminal justice system. It reflects the utterly confused approach that Britains politicians show towards drugs. They know the system doesnt work, but cant let go of it because they have little to offer voters beyond promises to be tough on crime. They want to speak to the persistence of inequality but are unwilling to implement reforms that would reduce the wealth gap so instead proffer an attack on middle-class drug users. This is cynical, performative politics: the government has no intention of dealing with the problems afflicting Britain, so instead it produces soundbite policies that play to public fears while leaving the status quo untouched.

In reality, making drug users pay to undertake drug-awareness courses will mean the wealthy dodge the three-strike system, while those without the means to pay will face further punishment. Meanwhile, any rise in stop and search that results from this punitive approach to drug possession will affect poor and minority communities far more than middle-class users. In short, if these policies become law, they will lead to the incoherent punishment of a small minority. Its an appropriate last will and testament for the Johnson regime.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com

Continued here:

British drugs policy is punitive and contradictory. And now itll go backwards - The Guardian

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) The fentanyl epidemic in the US is unprecedented, and the DEA has seized enough fentanyl to give a lethal dose to every person in America.

San Diego is the gateway for the majority of those pills coming over the border, and the special agent in charge of the DEA says everyone in the community needs to be aware of the fentanyl epidemic, before you make a deadly mistake.

KUSIs Ginger Jeffries has spent endless hours getting to the bottom of this epidemic, getting facts on how it is impacting Americans, specifically our children.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. It was originally developed for pain management applied in a patch on the skin. However, because of its high-powered ability drug dealers started to add it to heroin to either increase the potency or even disguise it as a cheap alternative.

It works by binding the areas of the brain that control pain. Someone on fentanyl will experience sedation, often confusion, and extreme emotions. A lethal dose is as small as 3 granules of salt.

The DEA launched the One Pill can Kill public awareness campaign in September of last year, to attack this growing problem on every level.

The majority of the counterfeit drug production is happening in other countries, mainly China and Mexico, and then trafficked here to the US.

Common emojis for fake prescription drugs include, a blue dot, or a banana for Oxy and Percocet.

Other signs to watch out for is how a dealer will try to advertise by using the plug or money bag and how potent a batch is and if they have a lot or a little.

As a parent, knowing what your kids are communicating about could be the difference between life and death!

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'One Pill Can Kill': How Fentanyl changed the war on drugs - - KUSI

My son, Robert, passed away in January 2017. He died of an accidental overdose of opioids. For me and my family, the last five years have been filled with minutes, hours, and days of tremendous sadness with grief gripping every ounce of us. How can we use our horrific loss and heartbreak? We can wield it in anger and bitterness, or we can use it to support life-giving solutions.

Recently I recalled some of my thoughts from the night of Roberts death. I thought of all the moms who lost their sons and daughters in war. Someone had appeared at their doorstep with the horrific life-altering news that their precious child had died in battle. The one held most dear to their heart had passed from this world. I remember thinking they died for a cause.

Our present-day battle is the War on Drugs, where we are using our criminal justice system to handle a health crisis. For the loved ones we lost in its collateral damage, bringing an end to it is perhaps the best way to honor them.

I can't help but wonder what our lost loved ones would say if they were able to speak. Would their message be for more jailing to heal the problem? Would their message be for long sentences? Or would it be listening to the stories of people using drugs and in addiction?

Would our loved ones want more and more punitive reactions? Or would they want us to look for the best way to keep people in the struggle alive and functioning?

What would those who have died want for other people using drugs who are still here?

Perhaps they would challenge us to sit in on an open AA meeting or any support group, coming face to face with people who are in the struggle. Those who are walking the walk. The people in these groups are real people exposing their thoughts and fears. Each one can share and is understood. Being able to totally relate gives strength and courage.

I pray those we have lost have not died in vain. And their legacy collectively can be for more understanding and compassion and less shame. Maybe they will be known in years to come as trailblazers in the fight against the War on Drugs. And their lives will be viewed as a sacrifice to upend the old way of using the criminal justice system to tackle our drug problems. Maybe this is part of the battle. Maybe our loved ones have died for a cause. I feel that would be the most amazing blessing that could develop from this tragedy that is being played out before us.

Will apathy progress us? Will turning a blind eye advance solutions? Will the same old path of punishment lead us to a better place? It hasn't yet. How can we fight for the betterment of those still on earth, those still enveloped in the struggle? I think I know what our loved ones would say. Let's give them a voice.

Lee Malouf is an advocate for health-centered responses to drug use. She can be reached at missyazoo@aol.com

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OPINION: Honor our lost loved ones by ending the war on drugs - HubcitySPOKES.com

The war on drugs has been long, hard-fought and expensive.

Since the 1970s, America has battled wave after wave of new, more lethal drugs hitting our streets from crack cocaine to heroin, crystal meth, OxyContin, fentanyl and synthetics, to name a few. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the death by opioid overdose tally at nearly 500,000 people from 1999 to 2019.

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We can't surrender in war on drugs - Grand Haven Tribune

To the Editor:

Addiction is the only disease that tells you that you dont have a disease.

This is a powerful statement about the disease of addiction. The silent voice and inner thinking that goes on with addiction - what is it exactly that makes it so difficult to stop? Those who do not understand addiction often believe that if the addict/alcoholic just tries hard enough, or just wants to badly enough, they can stop.

Shouldnt their damaging behaviors indicate to the addict/alcoholic that what they are doing to themselves and others in their lives is bad enough to make them want to change?

This lack of understanding results in people who have addictive behaviors being considered immoral, weak, or even cursed with a behavior defect that even incarceration or punishment cannot change. A better understanding of the nature of addiction could correct these damaging misconceptions.

Addiction does not discriminate. It affects people of all ages, races, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, religion or education.

There has never been a drug free society in human history. Drugs and alcohol have been around for more than 10,000 years. Yet, American society continues to fight a War on Drugs that it cannot win.

In 2019, more than 70,000 people died by overdose in the United States. Add to that, about 88,000 Americans die as a result of alcohol every year in the United States, and it is clear that the War on Drugs is not the answer.

Deaths associated with alcohol, drugs and suicide took the lives of 186,783 Americans in 2020, a 20% one-year increase in the combined death rate and the highest number of substance misuse deaths ever recorded for a single year.

The silent killer of addiction is here to stay unless American society re-evaluates its current War on Drugs. Shouldnt we, instead, be focusing more on drug prevention and education? Shouldnt we be focusing our attention on the effects drugs and alcohol can have on the individual, the family, and on our society itself?

Finally, shouldnt we be focusing on community-based services that would allow addicts/alcoholics every opportunity to find treatment for their addiction, help them with housing, employment and education in order for them to become active members of their community?

We do not treat other diseases by shaming and incarcerating the people who have them. We treat them with compassion and give them the care they need to get better.

Many of our family members, friends, co-workers and members of our communities are in the grip of a deadly disease, the silent killer known as addiction. How many more of these people do we need to lose to overdose, alcohol-related deaths, and/or suicide before something is done about this matter?

I would like to hear your views and opinions on how to better serve those struggling with addiction. I may be reached by letter at 559 West Broadway Street, Winona, MN 55987 or by email at gottahavehope38@gmail.com.

Respectfully submitted,Mark JacobsonPeer Support SpecialistWinona, MN

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Letter to the Editor: The silent killer | The Standard Newspaper - Waukon Standard

Lysergic acid diethylamide, otherwise known as LSD, was discovered in 1943 by Albert Hofmann at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals in neutral Switzerland. Hofmanns research involved synthesizing plant compounds for medicinal use. Hofmann ingested 250 micrograms and became the first person to take an LSD trip. The shy chemist reported to colleagues the mind-blowing effects.

After World War II ended, the pharmaceutical industry (and the CIA) knocked on Hofmanns laboratory door.

The first wave in substantial psychedelics research and application occurred in the 1950s and 1960s, when pioneers such as Timothy Leary pursued groundbreaking studies and brought public renown to LSD and psilocybin, the psychoactive substance in magic mushrooms. U.S. spy agencies also sought (unsuccessfully and scandalously) to weaponize the drug.

But starting in 1970 and for the ensuing half century, the field of psychedelics lay dead in the water, a victim of the War on Drugs.

Today, thats rapidly changing, as a new generation of psychonauts (as they sometimes call themselves) comes to the fore. Think of it as Psychedelics 2.0.

Were in the midst of the second wave in psychedelics. The potential for social change, as well as for investment profits, are enormous. Ill get to the financial angle, in a minute.

The Johns Hopkins seal of approval

Psychedelics are shedding their countercultural baggage and becoming respectable. These drugs have evolved from acid heads in Haight-Ashbury to technicians in lab coats.

The latest case in point: The Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research announced on July 20 significant new initiatives into the study of psychedelics.

The Johns Hopkins center has launched a study to assess whether psilocybin is safe and effective for improving fatigue, pain, mood, and quality of life in people with post-treatment Lyme Disease.

Lyme Disease, which is spread by ticks, can be debilitating, with symptoms that include fever, swollen joints, tiredness, rashes, loss of muscle movement, severe headaches, and heart palpitations. No human vaccines for Lyme Disease are currently available.

In the field of medical research, Johns Hopkins is as prestigious as it gets. The Johns Hopkins center also announced that its seeking volunteer participants for continuing studies of psilocybin in Anorexia Nervosa, Alzheimers Disease, and co-occurring alcohol use and depression.

Once upon a time in America

In the early to mid-1960s, psychedelic drugs and marijuana were widely associated with peace, love and understanding. To the middle class, long-haired hippies seemed harmless. But the 1967 Summer of Love morphed into the 1969 Manson murders. By the end of the decade, as the social fabric frayed and street violence erupted, the public mood darkened toward psychedelics, pot, and the people who partook of these drugs.

The embrace of psychedelics by anti-war activists, non-conformists, and the New Left prompted the authorities to launch a crackdown, not to fight a health scourge as purported, but to exert social control. President Nixon couldnt ban protest, but he could use drugs as a pretext to persecute his political opponents.

Along with marijuana, psychedelics were banned at the federal level as Schedule I drugs by the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Government propaganda discredited these drugs as extremely dangerous. Thousands of promising clinical studies on psychedelics were buried and forgotten.

But over the past five years or so, the ice has begun to thaw. The movement to legalize marijuana has accelerated, prompting the scientific establishment to reexamine psychedelics.

For psychedelics, the decades-long dark age has given way to a renaissance.

Marijuana and psychedelics remain banned at the federal level, but an increasing number of states and localities are lifting restrictions on pot, LSD, psilocybin, and other psychoactive substances.

Watch This Video: Big Pharmas Long, Strange Trip

Many biotech firms that are researching psychedelics also are looking into marijuana. Indeed, some scientists apply a broad definition of psychedelics that includes cannabis, even though weeds compounds and effects on the brain are very different from those of classic psychedelics such as LSD and psilocybin. (The term psychedelic derives from the Greek for mind-manifesting.)

Show me the money

Lets discuss these trends in terms of cold hard cash. According to the latest research by InsightAce Analytic, the global psychedelic therapeutics market was valued at US$ 3.61 billion in 2021, and its projected to reach US$ 8.31 billion by 2028, for a compound annual growth rate of 13.2% during the forecast period of 2022-2028.

The InsightAce Analytic report anticipates a surge in psychedelic drug approvals and new product launches, as well as rising financial investment in research.

The following chart shows the status of psychedelic clinical trials with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to treatment goals:

Intriguingly, much of this research is highlighting how psychedelic drugs occupy the nexus of science and spirituality. The empirical properties of psychedelics (e.g., alleviating depression or physical pain) cant be separated from the mystical insights gleaned from tripping.

Were seeing the mainstreaming of psychedelics into society and culture, not just medicine. The investment opportunities are vast.

Meanwhile, the canards about psychedelics are falling by the wayside. Doctors are telling us that its impossible to die from an overdose of LSD or psilocybin. Neither drug is addictive, and emergency room admissions because of psychedelics are extremely rare.

Yes, the proverbial bad trip can occur (depending on that individuals psychological makeup or mood at the time), but there are no recorded instances of them occurring in controlled settings under the guidance of counselors or psychotherapists.

Dont leave money on the table. You need to invest in the massive, unstoppable trends Ive just described. Thats why I urge you to read my new book: The Wide World of Weed and Psychedelics.

My book is your definitive guide for making money in the thriving cannabis and psychedelics industries. Want to catch the second wave? Get your free copy of my book.

John Persinos is the editorial director of Investing Daily.

Subscribe to Johns video channel:

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Get Ready For The Second Wave in Psychedelics - Investing Daily - Investing Daily

The New York cannabis industry plans to prioritize those whove been disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs.

On Thursday, the citys cannabis regulators approved rules that make it possible to start accepting retail applications from injured parties.

RELATED: New Yorks Draft Conditional Retail Regulations Raise Practical Concerns

The regulations explain that, in order to qualify, applicants must have experience operating a qualifying business and must have faced a conviction for a drug-related offense before the state legalized marijuana. Applicants can also qualify for a conditional adult-use marijuana retail license if they have a close family member that was convicted with a drug-related offense.

While good intentioned, these regulations have been criticized in the past due to how limiting they might end up being. A person thats been impacted by the war on drugs may have had encounters with the law in the past, something that makes it difficult for them to also have experience managing and running a business.

New York legalized marijuana on March 31 2021, and has been working on how to implement it fairly and profitably over the past year. While its legal to consume marijuana and possess up to three ounces of cannabis, the sale remains illegal, a topic that has created some confusion in the state, especially since new businesses continue to appear in the form of trucks, pop ups and brick and mortar, taking advantage of the marijuana boom.

Responsible authorities have tried to control these businesses by sending out cease and desist letters while still trying to keep the police uninvolved.

RELATED: New York Senate Just Approved This Critical Marijuana Bill

Sale of untested products put lives at risk, said Tremain Wright, chair of New Yorks Cannabis Control Board. I implore these illegal store operators, and any other stores pretending to be legal operations, to stop selling cannabis products immediately.

Read the rest here:

NY To Begin Accepting Cannabis Applications From People Harmed By War On Drugs - The Fresh Toast

When people think about steroid or PED use, its often under the umbrella of professional sports. Bodybuilders, football players, even cyclists have all been caught using banned steroid substances in the past. But the truth of the matter is that steroids have grown to become an everyman drug. Its not just athletes. Its regular folk who use them as well. This was broken down in detail with the release of Vice News video How Steroids Became More Popular Than Heroin. But how accurate are the claims made in this video? In our latest GI Exclusive, the Anabolic Doc watches and reacts with his knowledge of all things steroids.

In May 2022, Vice News released a new episode in their series News On Drugs. This particular episode focused on steroid use and how it has become a sort of epidemic across the mass population. Steroids and PEDs are a major topic of discussion in the bodybuilding world. Often times, mainstream media gloss over or misconstrue facts that niche industries such as bodybuilding understand in more detail because of how directly steroid use affects the industry.

Thats why there was no better expert than Dr. Thomas OConnor, aka the Anabolic Doc, to watch and react to this recent video. The Vice video has made its rounds and gone somewhat viral with hundreds of thousands of views. What can we learn from this video and what is misunderstood? The Anabolic Doc has often bridged the gap between strength sports and the larger medical world when it comes to steroids. So his expertise in this is perfect for a reaction video. Lets jump into it.

ABOVE: The Vice News video How Steroids Became More Popular Than Heroin that the Anabolic Doc watched and reacted to.

The first segment of the video discusses the war on drugs and how the current action against steroids in the US is to keep it criminalized and prosecute anyone who buys or sells them not prescribed by a doctor. Much like the larger war on drugs the Anabolic Doc finds this to be a failed war. Even worse, it prevents effective education and change to help improve our overall health. Long term steroid users are often quietly suffering even if the substance abuse doesnt lead to a fatality.

The Anabolic Doc agrees with the core notion of the video. Steroids are no longer just a pro athletes drug. Its common place among regular folk. The doctor estimates that 15-20 million people use steroids in the US alone. This is far above the data stated in the Vice News video which was sourced from data gathered in 2010.

With that in mind, all effort must be made to prevent steroid use as being supremely illegal and taboo. This current tactic simply makes users hide their drug use, not seek help when they need it, and get their information from flawed or nefarious sources.

The Vice News video also states that a big problem is steroids being lumped in with other hard drugs such as heroin. This is a mistake. It makes steroid users feel labeled as heavy drug users which makes them feel like they need to keep it a secret and avoid medical guidance.

The Anabolic Doc believes that decriminalizing steroids is a big first step to helping make for a healthier society. The second step is convincing the larger medical culture that steroids should be treated differently than heroin. More education must be put into who steroid users are so that the medical community as a whole can better treat users and prevent future abuse.

Bottom line: the overall culture on how steroids and steroid users are seen needs to change. Yes, steroids are harmful to our overall culture and health but it shouldnt be demonized. This wont lead to change. We can reduce abuse through openness and education.

There is a brief segment of the Vice News video that starts discussing concepts such as roid rage, sharing needles, and penis shrinking. This part is a bit of a mixed bag, with the professional correcting the interviewer on some misconceptions but also getting some facts wrong herself.

The Anabolic Doc points out that the expert being interviewed is not a medical professional but instead a criminologist. So he understands why some of this misconceptions might have slipped through. This is why the doctor wanted to spend some time reacting to the video to straighten some stereotypes out.

The Anabolic Doc debunks the concept of roid rage stating, If youre an asshole then youll be an asshole on steroids. He further compares it to the backwards way men may speak about a womans period.

Most people in todays society know it is rude to use a period to invalidate a womans mood. This is true for steroid use and the stereotype of roid rage. Yes, steroids vastly change your hormones, just like a period. And yes, it can lead to mood swings. But its not intrinsically related to rage. It affects every individual differently.

The Anabolic Doc also debunks the notion that steroid users line up and share needles at gyms. This may have been true decades ago when health information was less available. But in todays society, most steroid users know how to be safe with clean needles and injections. This ties into lumping steroid users into the larger hard drug narrative. It creates a demonized vision of drug use where strung out users are sharing dirty needles and living in squalor. Its just not true. Theres no data to support it.

Ultimately, the Vice News video brings attention to a core fact about steroids that many people arent aware of that regular folk use these substances very frequently. Its not longer an athlete drug. The Anabolic Doc commends the video for detailing this fact and finds it encouraging that its catching waves. Changing the public perception of steroid usage is a big step towards changing how its handled.

However, the Anabolic Doc finds it important to fact check some of the misconceptions presented in the video. While it does an overall good job, much like science, these details need to be peer reviewed for viewers to be best informed.

You can watch Dr. Thomas OConnors full reaction to the Vice News video in our latest GI Exclusive above.

Read more:

The Anabolic Doc Reaction To VICE Video: How Steroids Became More Popular Than Heroin - Generation Iron Fitness Network

New York City 2020. In the shadow of the COVID-19 epidemic are two others: the opioid and overdose epidemics. Since the start of these epidemics, there have been thousands of deaths from overdoses, even when the people who OD dont even know theyve consumed opioids.

What is the difference between the two? The opioid epidemic is the epidemic of people knowingly abusing opioids. The overdose epidemic is the epidemic of people overdosing from fentanyl analogues and other opioids unknowingly, such as overdoses when non-opioid drugs are tainted by dangerous opioids such as acrylfentanyl, acetylfentanyl, ohmefentanyl and carfentanil.

What are the preventative measures to keep people from overdosing on opioids, knowingly or unknowingly? One is to keep naloxone (Narcan, Evzio) on hand to ensure that users can have their overdoses reversed. Another is to keep fentanyl test strips on hand, to catch the presence of fentanyl or most fentanyl analogues before one uses tainted substances. These methods save lives. But they require people being ready ahead of time. So what can consistently save the lives of drug addicts and others with Substance Use Disorder?

Safe consumption sites

The operation and usage of safe consumption sites are places that addicted people can go to to keep from overdosing. These provide clean needles, fentanyl test strips, naloxone rescues. Some even provide methadone and buprenorphine referrals or treatment. Around the world where these services are offered, peoples lives have been saved in more than one way.

Safe consumption site, OnPoint NYC, East Harlem location. Credit: New York Harm Reduction Educators

Whether its being rescued with Narcan or saved from the risk of HIV and hepatitis B and C, the sites work to serve working and oppressed people with Substance Use Disorder.

In the U.S., there has been a so-called War on Drugs that began in the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan, continued under the Clinton administration in the 1990s, the George W. Bush administration in the 2000s and the Trump administration in the 2010s. The decades of anti-drug measures were in fact a war on communities of color, with many young people sent to jail for life.

Now theres good news from the Journal of the American Medical Association. In a July 15 research letter to the JAMA Open Network, there is proof that safe consumption sites in the U.S. work here, just like in other countries. (tinyurl.com/4eyhbtx4)

Despite the continued demonization of people who use drugs, the city of New York authorized the two safe consumption sites by OnPoint NYC: one in East Harlem and the other in Washington Heights. From the JAMA report, its now known that within the first two months of operations of the two sites, 613 people used the services almost 6,000 times.

Opioid overdoses required 19 naloxone and 35 oxygen interventions, while overall overdose prevention strategies were used 125 times overall. Other than overdose interventions, additional services were utilized at OnPoints two locations: naloxone distribution, counseling, hepatitis C virus testing, HIV testing, medical care and holistic services such as acupuncture.

The sites give a wide variety of services to the most oppressed and crushed people and provide them with love for themselves. A popular phrase used in addiction and recovery is We will love you until you learn to love yourself. The services provided at the sites demonstrate the power of that process for the actively using addict.

This is only the beginning of studies into the usefulness of safe consumption sites in the United States. And the future looks promising, indeed.

View post:

Safe consumption sites: End the war on people who use drugs! - Workers World

Editor,

Pockets of Shillong are witnessing a rise in drug-related crimes. In the past weeks the law enforcers conducted counter-narcotics programs using community-based intelligence which has worked wonders on a temporary scale but this is a long war which will test the mettle of governments now and later. In this game of interests the lines are blurred from traffickers to a porous border along the North Eastern corridor. What we have not witnessed is the rise of rival cartels backed by corrupt states similar to situations in Mexico or Honduras. Unemployment is a matter of grave concern as each year students are getting out of institutions with degrees but no jobs. Technically, the distribution channels of narcotics are gaining ground in cyberspace too.Legalisation and decriminalization have always been on the cards but whether they will be implemented in letter and spirit is a debatable matter. We cannot be swayed by the capital punishment in Singapore or the failed Plan Colombia to draw a roadmap for ourselves, but the answer lies deeper than the series Narcos. Antony Loewensteins Pills, Powder and Smoke (Inside the Bloody War on Drugs) weaves it beautifully on this powerful multi-billion dollar industry which will not yield submissively.

Yours etc.,

Christopher Gatphoh,

Via email

Editor,

Apropos the letter Plight of NEHU students by Wilbert Thangkhiew (ST, July 15, 2022) I wholeheartedly endorse the views of the author. Being a victim of the issues highlighted issues in Wilberts letter, its even more frustrating to realise that youre not the only person struggling but a part of a larger disgruntled group. NEHU has become a den of politics for personal vendetta and vested interests. Many Vice-Chancellors have come and gone and we, the indigenous people, who have had multiple generations graduating from this university, feel sorry to witness the gradual downfall of this once esteemed institution. From having professors under CBI scanner for taking bribes from research scholars in broad daylight, disruptive forces meddling with everyday affairs to officials guilty of dereliction of duty from time immemorial, it seems NEHU has come a full circle with the appointment of the current Vice Chancellor.The VC is always out of station and a simple task of issuing a bonafide certificate takes more than two weeks to process. Whenever someone tries to raise an important issue there is an acting VC in office with no responsibility. Perhaps, employees in NEHU have gone into retirement mode with the VC eternally being away from the helm of affairs. So, the question is, are all VCs expected to be in Delhi for the majority of their tenures? I believe hefty salary and facilities makes the man affluent enough to neglect his primary duty of serving the state and the nation through quality education. The grapevine is abuzz that the VC has constructed a new chamber for himself from taxpayers money while vehemently giving false assurances of improving hostel facilities amidst crunch for funds.The Tura Campus has received step-motherly treatment with false assurances time and again. The question to be asked is how did NEHU find itself in such a situation of giving a 15- day time frame to casual workers, 7- day time frame to Tura Campus and again 15- day time frame to the students to meet their demands which has lapsed a long time ago?I hence urge the Chief Minister, all stakeholders and particularly the Chief Rector- the Honble Governor to initiate an academic audit to draw a comparison of how many days the VC has been in station and the reasons for his travels out of state. This culture of having institutional leaders being a law unto themselves should be done away with once and for all. And still, if the VC does not understand, which seems very likely, we do have a popular English coaching institute- Avenues in Shillong.

Yours etc.,

Benny Shira,

Tura

More here:

War on narcotics - The Shillong Times